Musar к Шкали́м 1:9

The Talmud's discovery of an allusion to Mordechai in the Torah can also be viewed in this light. The passage in the Torah dealing with the various ingredients of the incense offering is written after the tax of the half shekel was imposed which every male Jew above the age of culpability, i.e. the age of 20, had to give to the Temple treasury as part of the expiation for his share in the sin of the golden calf. The Torah anticipated that Haman would offer an amount of 10,000 talents of silver (600,000 half shekels) to Ahasverus to secure permission to kill the Jews. The amount that Haman offered equalled the amount contributed by the Jewish people in Moses' time in expiation of their sin. There is therefore a conceptual bridge between the place in the Torah where we find a reference to Mordechai, and to the happenings during his lifetime. The whole subject of the half-shekel the Jewish males had to contribute to the building of the sockets of the Tabernacle as a symbol of their expiation could be explained in terms of the Mazzalot, the signs of the zodiac. The system of the zodiac signs presupposes that history is predetermined, i.e. הכל קצוב, שקול לומדוד ומנוי, "everything has been pre-cut, weighed, measured and counted." Haman drew lots in order to find out under what zodiac sign the Jews were most vulnerable. He miscalculated, for he did not know that if someone had paid כופר נפש, the name used by the Torah for this half-shekel payment of atonement, he would be immune to the horoscopic constellations governing his fate. Isaiah 43,4 refers to this ואתן אדם תחתיך ולאומים תחת נפשך, "I give men in exchange for you and peoples in your stead." The prophet continues by telling us not to be afraid since G–d is near us, etc. We have proof of G–d's protection during the Haman period from Psalms 124,2: לולא ה' שהיה לנו בקום עלינו אדם, "Were it not for G–d who was on our side when man assailed us." The verse does not mention persecution by a king or kingdom but by אדם, in this case Haman who was not a king. Here we have the mystical dimension of how the כופר נפש, the soul's ransom paid by the Jewish people frees them from the influence on their fate exerted by the signs of the zodiac. Instead of Haman governing our fate, a "king," i.e. G–d, took our fate in hand. This is why the legislation of the half-shekel contribution had to precede Haman chronologically. The Mishnah Shekalim 1,1 tells us that on the first of Adar each year people were reminded to contribute the shekels. The plural of the word shekel used here is indicative of the fact that these contributions covered both of the sins the people were guilty of during the reign of Ahasverus.

In our Parshah we find that the standard value of a male Gentile slave is thirty שקלים. This is the amount that has to be paid to the owner as כופר נפש, "soul's ransom," if such a slave has been killed. All that G–d has asked from each Jew for His share in the cardinal sin of the golden calf is one 60th of that amount. This symbolises that we are to be prepared to make do with the equivalent of a half-שקל to sustain our needs during the 6 weekdays. The Mishnah in פאה 8,7, stipulates therefore that the gabba-im in charge of distribution of food to transients must not allocate less than the size of a loaf costing a pundian at the time when the price of grain is four sa-ah for a selah. Four sa-ah=24 kabbin, since a single sa-ah = 6 kabbin. The selah itself is equal to 48 pundians. This amount of bread is supposed to be sufficient for the number of weekdays in a month (1 kav=2200 ccm). Allowance is made for the cost of labour and baking, so that the amount of actual bread represents somewhat less than the gross amount of grain before grinding into flour. The baker, therefore, cannot sell a loaf the size of half a kav for only one pundian. The reason a month is considered the relevant unit for this calculation is that in Exodus 30,13, the Torah says זה יתנו וכו'. The word זה equals 12. In other words, there is a direct link between twelve and the מחצית השקל, the number twelve representing the months in the year (otherwise it could have stipulated that the contribution should be annual). Every month of the year is considered a separate unit. The first day of the month of אדר was the date on which the new contributions were called for. They fell due on the first day of ניסן. Having already in mind the contribution of the חצי שקל one month before it is actually made, sanctifies such a person and makes all the food he consumes as if he were consuming part of a sacrifice, i.e. something dedicated to G–d.