Parashat Ki Tissa 5779
What is a Half Shekel Worth?
A D’var Torah for Parashat Ki Tissa
By Rabbi Irwin Huberman (’10)
About three years ago, a mysterious envelope with no return address arrived on my desk.
I opened it cautiously, slowly pulling out a blank white folded card which contained half of a twenty dollar bill.
Was this some kind of slur? Was it a practical joke? I paused for a moment, shook my head, and slipped the half bill in my desk drawer and continued with whatever I was doing.
About a month later, I rediscovered the torn bill under a cluster of papers, and later, while making a bank deposit, presented it to the teller.
“What do I do with this?” I asked. “Is there some way I can give it to charity? What is half of a twenty dollar bill worth anyway?
And she coldly replied, “It is worth nothing without the other half.” She then pulled a laminated card Read More >
