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SHEKEL UPDATE:
Rosh Hashana, 5760
We have now completed our second year; two complete cycles have
been achieved. Seven lock-boxes full of Hekdesh are sitting in
the safe of the Chief Rabbinate's Office in Jerusalem. Three
boxes of Trumat HaLishka, three boxes of Motar Trumat HaLishka,
and one box of Motar Shearith HaLishka.
Today's ceremony went without a hitch, with one interesting
twist. When the Brinks' guards called in from the Chief
Rabbinate's Office to confirm that the Hekdesh was deposited in
the safe, the manager of the office, Mr. Yosef Biton, came on
the line and told me that he had a problem; the safe was all
filled up with lock-boxes, what should he do? Imagine that.
I suggested to Mr. Biton, that it is possible to combine the
three boxes of Motar Trumat HaLishka into one box. For that he
would need to request from Chief Rabbi Bakshi Doron the keys to
the three lock-boxes. I offered that as soon as he was able to
arrange it, he should call me and I would come and assist in the
transfer to make sure it was done correctly. I suppose that by
Erev Rosh Chodesh Nisan, when we come at him with two more
boxes, he'll make that call.
As we noticed last year, this Trumat HaLishka was considerably
larger than the two preceeding it. Once again, Bat Levi
Michelle Kemp boarded a plane and hand carried the Hekdesh
collected in the US to Jerusalem, and deposited it in the Chest
for New Shekels, prior to the ceremony.
At this point I would like to make a tribute to a very special
man. This one person has been responsible for the construction
of the chests for New & Old Shekels, has provided every member
of his congregation (numbering into the hundreds) with Half
Shekels for two years, has sponsored the airfare and expenses
for the Levite transporting the Hekdesh from the US to
Jerusalem, and has worked ceaselessly to involve the Jewish
instituions in his state to participate in giving the Half
Shekel. All this accomplished by one humble man for the benefit
of Klal Yisrael. Can you imagine if there were 10 more people,
or 100 more people with this kind of enthusiasm?
Here is what we can expect if only 10 more of you take
responsibility:
- Worldwide announcement on Rosh Chodesh Adar concerning the Half
Shekel.
- The opening of Moked Hekdesh, a center in the Jewish Quarter of
the Old City Jerusalem which will house the Chests for New & Old
Shekels, and eventually all 13 Chests of the Temple. (Next one
is the Chest for Frankincense if anyone out there wants dibs on
it.)
- The reinstitution of Levitical Shmirat HaHekdesh, whereby
Levites will stand guard at Moked Hekdesh to safeguard it. The
establishment of a website roster that will allow Levites from
all over the world to reserve their Shmirah for when they will
be in Jerusalem.
- The restoration of giving Ma'aser (the Tithe) to afford the
Levites a salary for their service. The more Tithe that is
contributed, the more Levites will be free to serve as Levites.
[As of today, we have only two individuals sending in Tithes on
a regular basis. On the one hand that is Gevalt! That there are
even two people who take their belief seriously. On the other
hand, it's a sad indictment for this generation that has the
freedom and ability but lacks the desire to "Restore the Crown
to its former Glory".
Here is what we can expect if only 100 more of you take
responsibility:
- The distribution of Half Shekels to the soldiers of Zahal, the
Israel Defense Forces.
- The setting up of Levitical Stands (Levi'im L'Duchanam) in every
city in Israel for the dissemination of information, the
distribution of Half Shekels and their collection.
This year we struggled to maintain the enthusiasm generated last
year by the restoration of the custom after a hiatus of 1928
years. The restored custom is now 2 years old. It is still
miniscule in its development, and largly ignored by all sectors
of the Jewish people. This will give way to greater and greater
participation as the years go by. It is not that the idea is
foreign to us, after all, we learn Mishnah Shekalim in grade
school. What is foreign is the concept that we are free today to
fulfil that which we learn about.
As soon as Prime Minister and Minister of Defense Ehud Barak
took office, we turned to him regarding distributing the Half
Shekels to the soldiers of Zahal, as Agudat L'man HaChayal had
begun avoiding returning our calls and letters. As expected, our
letter and sample coins were fowarded to Rami Dotan, chairman of
Agudat L'man HaChayal, together with a note from Barak. The
Prime Minister sent us a letter acknowledging our request and
informing us that it was being turned over to Rami Dotan for his
response. Agudat L'man HaChayal could ignore us, but they
couldn't ignore the Prime Minister, and we were granted a
response within 11 days.
As I read Dotan's negative response I recalled a similar letter
from the Bank of Israel about three years ago. I laughed to
myself. Then the Bank told us 'no' and we're minting today our
third coin. So Dotan says 'no'. Big deal. We will do it
ourselves.
Here is where you can help. We begin by inundating the Prime
Minister and Defense Minister's offices with the following
message. Please feel free to print this out as a postcard and
distribute it to your friends:
To:
Prime Minister Ehud Barak
The Office of the Prime Minister
3 Kaplan Street
Kiryat Ben-Gurion
Jerusalem 91919 Israel
Fax: (011 - 9722) 651-2631
E-Mail: doar@pmo.gov.il
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To:
Defense Minister Ehud Barak
The Ministry of Defense
Kaplan Street
Hakirya
Tel Aviv 67659 Israel
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I would like to provide a Holy Half Shekel to a soldier of Zahal for the sake of that soldier's spiritual well-being. I request that you support the effort to distribute pure silver Half Shekels to the soldiers of Zahal.
Name: ____________________________________________
Address: __________________________________________
City: ____________________ State: _____ Zip: __________
Country: ___________________________________________
E-Mail: ____________________________________________
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Last year we had almost a thousand postcards reach the offices
of Agudat L'man Hachayal. This time let's see if we can send in
10's of thousands of postcards,faxes, and e-mails to the Prime
Minister's Office. Those of you with e-mail lists, now is your
chance to make a difference. Put the word out. The more noise
we make, the quicker it will be decided to adopt the program, if
for no other reason than to make us go away.
Good Purim! Great Purim!
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