Ties that Bind

The Torah portion Ki Tisa says (30:13): “Half of such a shekel is an offering to G‑d.”

Hasidim say that the Tzemach Tzedek conducted a very unusual linguistic analysis of the word “half” (“machatsit”).

This word consists of five letters: “mem-het-tzadik-yud-tav.” In the middle of this word is the letter “tzaddik” which alludes to the righteous man of the generation, the Rebbe. The second and fourth letters of this word next to the letter "Tzadik" are "Het" and "Yud"  which form the word "Chay" (living). The first and fifth letters of this word, which are away from the letter "Tzadik", are "mem" and "tav", which form the word "mat", dead.

This teaches us that if a person is close to the Righteous, then he is alive, and if he is far away, then...

May we all be close to the righteous man - Rebbe King Moshiach!