What was the purpose of this Shekel in which all Jews are equal? In the desert it was made into bases of silver, which served as foundations for the Sanctuary. "Hooks" were made of it, and they were used to hook together the uprights and join them into a single "tent". This means, that the Sanctuary was founded on the basis of the contribution made by each and every Jew. In this way Israel was shown that the existence of things shared by the entire nation was not dependent upon the gifts made by individuals, but rather upon the strength and desire of the entire nation.

         Imagine that this is the case, for what is the use of the generosity of the princes and the leaders of the people in the precious stones they offered, if there are no bases and hooks, contributed voluntarily by each and every Jew, with no difference between them? And so one must forcibly conclude that any people, any community, no matter how excellent the people it includes, can collapse if the entire nation does not undertake public service and provide for its needs.

         What was the purpose of this contribution when the Temple was standing? We learn as follows: they used it to purchase public sacrifices. Hence, no individual paid for these public needs, but rather the entire public. And so, when the Sadduccees wanted, in their pride, to pass a ruling according to which only the rich could aspire to purchase these public sacrifices, the Sages said to them: You have no right to promulgate such a ruling, because public sacrifices have to be paid for by the entire nation. Then they handed down a ruling, whereby rights to which the entire people is entitled cannot be attributed to individuals, and so public sacrifices had to be paid for from the treasury of the half-shekel, a poor contribution but one made equally by every single Jew. It became customary to collect it from every Jew, even by force, and even when the Jews lived scattered in distant lands they made sure to send their sh'kalim to Jerusalem. And after the destruction of the Temple and sacrifices were no longer offered up, this custom of the half-shekel never ceased, the leaders of the community now using it to ensure the livelihoods of the heads of the Torah Academies and of their students, until a decree was passed by two Roman emperors forbidding the sending of the shekel to Eretz-Israel. Despite the fact that five years later this decree was abrogated, at any rate twenty-five years later, 359 years after the destruction of the Temple, it was decided to use these coins to pay a tax to the Kings of Rome.

         When the Jews lived on their land and the Temple was standing, it was customary to announce the coming contribution of sh'kalim on the first of Adar, so that all the Jews would bring their contributions on time and that the Contribution of the Chamber would be made on time, on the first of Nissan. After the Temple was destroyed, it became the custom to read the Torah section of Sh'kalim on the Sabbath preceding the first of Adar – "that the rich give no more, and the poor – no less", and to read in the Prophets of the High Priest Yehoyada and the custom of collecting the sh'kalim in the Temple, so that the custom not be forgotten. When the Jews scattered amongst the nations, they would mark this Shabbat with song and praises, and R. Eliezer Hakalir mourned the giving of the half-shekels as a foreign tribute, and prayed for a restoration of the ancient custom, so that the shekel would now become not a routine affair, but rather a hope of our ancestors in Exile for freedom and national rebirth. Thus the ancient measures and weights can be found in poems and in rhyme in order to mention the status of our ancestral land in all its greatness and its glory, and to guarantee that this national law would not fade away… However one counts human beings one finds differences in wealth and assets, in status and in ancestry, and for this reason every Jew was commanded to give a certain coin as his contribution, whether he was rich or poor, so that they would realize that they were completely equal to one another before God and before the destiny of the nation. Thus, says the ancient story, the Creator minted a coin of fire and showed it to Moses, so that it should remain bright and unifying forever.

         The profound national intent of this institution has been forgotten, and its observance has withered, until our Zionist national organziation came and puffed new life into it, restoring its crown to its pristine glory, the shekel once again becoming the symbol of national unity and a foundation stone to base our organization on, the organization whose intention is to rebuild in the name of the entire people and by the entire people – the ruins of our ancestral homeland. All that is required is understanding, and our obligation is to explain everything until that unity appears, and every Jew will pay the shekel to make sure that the "letter of fire" that the Creator showed to MoPses is not extinguished.