SHEKEL UPDATE:
Rosh Chodesh Nisan, 5762, New Years for Kings
and Festivals!
We enter our fifth year with funds available for the maintenance
of the Holy Temple.
Another year of growth and accomplishments! Yesterday, we
brought to completion, the restoration of the Commandment of
giving the Holy Half-Shekel with the dedication of the Chest for
Old Shekels.
As you will recall, in the Holy Temple there stood 13 chests for
the collection of funds. Two of these chests were for Shekalim.
One chest was called NEW SHEKELS and the other OLD SHEKELS. The
Chest for NEW SHEKELS is for this year’s coin, and the Chest for
OLD SHEKELS is for make up coins, for years previous in which
you did not have an opportunity to give.
Four years ago we dedicated the Chest for NEW SHEKELS, enabling
the public to begin giving current year Shekels. Yesterday, with
the dedication of the Chest for OLD SHEKELS, we made it possible
for you to ‘buy back’ those lost years, one Half-Shekel for
every year from the age of 20 till now, to make up for all the
years you might have missed fulfilling the Commandment, by
depositing the make-up coins in the Chest for OLD SHEKELS.
As with the first giving of the Holy Half-Shekel on Purim of
1998, the Levite responsible for the restoration was the first
to ‘break down the fence’ thereby clearing the path for those
who follow. The Levite was 39 years old when he gave his first
Half-Shekel in 1998, which means that he ‘owed’ for ages 20 38,
or 18 coins. Once the Chest for OLD SHEKELS was transferred to
Otzar HaMikdash (Temple Treasury see previous UPDATES), he
approached the chest, and counting out loud; 20, 21, 22, …37, 38
he dropped coin after coin into the Chest for OLD SHEKELS until
he completed making up for all the years he had missed giving.
Now the public can also bring themselves up-to-date by making up
for those years in which they had not given in the past.
In the time of the Second Temple, there were points of
collection in every city and province in Israel, and throughout
the world, for the contribution of the annual Half-Shekel.
Make-up coins, however, could only be given directly in
Jerusalem. Practically speaking today, that means that OLD
SHEKELS can only be delivered directly to the Chest for OLD
SHEKELS in Jerusalem, and can not be given at any other
collection point, anywhere in the world.
For delivery directly to Jerusalem Send Hekdesh only, to:
Otzar HaMikdash
P.O. Box 28175
Jerusalem 91281
Israel
And be sure to clearly mark them OLD SHEKELS. If you are sending
in both New and OLD Shekels, clearly mark those to be used as
NEW Shekels and those which go to OLD Shekels, as they go to
different Chests.
Or to deliver them personally, send via Couriers
(UPS, FEDEX, or to hand deliver) to:
Otzar HaMikdash
Moked Hekdesh
c/o Charlap Associates
65 Yaffo Road (In alley, 2nd floor)
Jerusalem
Israel
When we created the Chest for NEW SHEKELS we designed it in the
shape of the Altar, because the funds from NEW SHEKELS go to
maintain the Altar. In designing the Chest for OLD SHEKELS, we
designed it in the shape of the Walls of Jerusalem, as the funds
from OLD SHEKELS go to the municipality of Jerusalem to build
and maintain the Walls of Jerusalem, as well as to cover the
costs involved in preparing Jerusalem for the Pilgrimage
Festivals. For one who can not read (Hebrew or Aramaic), the
chests are immediately identifiable as NEW or OLD by their
shape; the Altar or the Walls.
We would like to thank the two principle sponsors who covered
most of the cost of the production of the Chest for OLD SHEKELS,
Mr. Woody Murray of Alabama, and Mr. Michael Craig of Texas.
As mentioned before, these two chests were for the collection of
Shekalim. There were however, another 11 chests in the Temple
Treasury. Even though we have completed the restoration of
Shekalim, we are considering creating some or all of the
remaining 11 chests. We would choose as the next one, the Chest
for FRANKINCENSE. If anyone would like to sponsor this chest, it
will cost $2500. to build and guild. Please contact us if you
would like the honor of sponsoring it. Upon its completion it
will be delivered to Otzar HaMikdash.
The second and third Trumat HaLishka ceremonies of last year as
well as yesterday’s ceremony, were performed at the offices of
Otzar HaMikdash Moked Hekdesh, in the company of Levites,
rabbis, and the public.
This year we acquired many new items for our upcoming Museum of
the Shekel, including a magnificent Shekel of the First Revolt
(Year 2), Tyrian shekels and half-shekels, and two inscribed
weights from the First Temple era, sponsored by our friends in
Odessa, Texas, as well as many Zionist Shekels and even a
promotional poster for the Zionist Shekel that the Zionist
Archives does not have. Anyone who would like to sponsor
acquisitions, please contact us.
A thought:
The day after Pesach the bakeries in Mea Shearim (an ultra
Orthodox neighborhood of Jerusalem) open and folks stand in line
to purchase all sorts of cakes, cookies, breads, and leavened
delicacies. Had that bakery opened the day before, there’d be
riots in Jerusalem. Fanatics would burn it down. People would
shun the baker for the rest of his life. The next day, everyone
is eager to hand over their hard earned money to buy his
desirable products. What makes the difference between one day
and the next? What is it that separates between absolute
rejection and absolute acceptance of this baker’s products? The
answer of course is HAVDALLAH; the ceremony that distinguishes
between one period and another.
It occurred to me that the Torah World treats the Holy Temple
like leaven on Pesach (Passover). It is desired, but it is put
‘out of our houses’, out of bounds so to speak. The proclivity
of the Torah World to parrot “we’re still in Exile” at every
opportunity, even while we stand in Jerusalem under Jewish
Sovereignty, means that a way needs to be found to make
HAVDALLAH HAVDALLAH from Exile to Redemption so that we can
see the Holy Temple as something acceptable, something that we
can not and will not live without.
A funny thing happened on the way to the Temple . . .
It occurred to me like a bolt of lightning out of the sky. The
Zionist Shekel. The State of Israel. The Holy Half-Shekel. The
Holy Temple. Check this out:
1897 | Theodore Herzl declares the Zionist Shekel at the First Zionist Congress |
1898 | The first Zionist Shekels are used to vote at the Second Zionist Congress |
1948 | The State of Israel is Resurrected 50 years later |
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1997 | The restoration of the Holy Half Shekel is declared |
1998 | The first Half-Shekels are used to fulfill the Commandment |
2048 | The Holy Temple 50 years later? |
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