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You don’t need to be a mathematician to know that half is less than whole. But can you say that what is true in the world of numbers is also true in the world of the psyche? Are you more complete when you feel sated or when you feel wanting? Can a person ever truly be complete? Doesn’t the very nature of the human spirit dictate restlessness, a constant need to grow, always seeking more?
Nothing is as complete as a broken heart, say the Chassidic masters. A vacuum can be far more powerful than what fills the vacuum. But how can we use this principle to overcome struggles and challenges in life? How can we tap into this to build and maintain healthy relationships?
Please join Rabbi Jacobson in this Shekalim workshop as he discusses the pitfalls and dangers of comfort zones and how wanting is always better than having; how feeling sated and complete undermines your ability to grow. Discover how love is defined by the counter-intuitive power of incompleteness — how being half can be more than being whole.
The numerical value of “Shekel”, written in Hebrew, שקל is 30 + 100 + 300 = 430
Giving half of a shekel, could be understood as giving half of 430, which is 430 : 2 = 215
One of the Hebrew wards, that 215 is their numerical values, is חזר “Chazar” 200 + 7 + 8 = 215
This Hebrew word means to return, or returned.
It could be understood in both ways. We return back to the Temple what we have received earlier, meaning that we use our skills that we gained in our life to reveal what we came to do in this world (our Temple).
It also means that whatever we have been giving to the Temple, we can get back later. Meaning that our legacy, energy, is not lost, but exists forever and can be tapped by new generations (reincarnation of our souls).