Zohar on the Torah
Parshat Ki Tisa - Zohar, Page 187a
Translated and adapted by Mr. Simcha Treister
[To help understand the following esoteric discussion of the half shekel donation mentioned in this weeks parsha, we have used the commentary of the Holy Ari in his book as yet untranslated Mavo Shearim page 305 part one, item 89. The concept of giving half a shekel is connected with weights. Shekel is from the word mishkal meaning weight, and relates to the silver content of the coin that had to weigh 20 gera. The ancient scales consisted of two pans joined by a rod that was balanced at its midpoint. The rod connecting the pans is the secret of Daat that connects Chochma to Bina and descends down the middle column of the sefirot tree. This is also hinted in the name Havayah. The two letters Hei are the two pans and the Vav corresponds to Daat. The yud is Chochma and represents the weight placed in the pan.]
Rebbi Shimon asked the Faithful Shepherd (Moses), What is the inner meaning of the commandment to give half of the Holy shekel? This is like the sacrificial measurement of half Hahin (a liquid measurement). [This is like one of the two hey-im letters hey in the name Havayah.]
The vav in the name balances between two letters hey, and the weighing stone in the pan is the letter yud.
The weight of the shekel had to be twenty gera and this represents the yud. [The letter yud when spelled in full yud vav dalet has the numerical value of 10 + 6 + 4 = 20. The yud symbolizes the ten sephirot of Abba, and vav dalet are the secret of Zeir and Nukveh. The letter vav represents the six sephirot of Zeir Anpin Chesed, Gevurah, Tiferet, Netzach Hod and Yesod, while the letter dalet represents Malchut. The letter dalet/Malchut is called poor in relation to Zeir as it only contains the light which it receives from the sefirot above her.]
The verse goes on to state that the wealthy shall not add. This is the middle column Zeir Anpin that is not to add any more than ten. [Even though Zeir receives the great light of G-d, it only receives according to its measure, and G-d, the Infinite Being, can certainly not be counted in addition.] This is what we learnt in the Book of Creation (Sefer Yetzira 1,4), Ten Sefirot of Nothingness, ten and not nine, ten and not eleven. [The sefirot are described as Nothingness or BliMah which literally means without questioning, because it is impossible to fully understand spiritual reality. The sefirot are only ten in number, no more and no less, and this is a spiritual axiom.] The poor shall not give less than half a shekel weighing 10 gera This is the zaddik in Malchut who even though poor still has to give ten, as we have learned, ten and not nine. This is the half shekel that must weigh ten units, which is the letter yud representing the ten sefirot.