God told Moses of His four-part plan for Israel's redemption from bondage, (which we symbolize by drinking four cups of wine at the Seder).  Moses relayed the message to the Israelites: "And Moses spoke thus to the Israelites, but they did not heed Moses out of shortness of breath and hard...

The Torah mandates that we count Jews in half-units. It's a cliche to assert that as individual selves, we are incomplete and lacking, but this week we strip away the platitudes, and show how the appropriate absorption of the self into the whole of Israel, and the message of the Half-Shekel, are...