The ancient machatzis hashekel mitzvah teaches us the proper way to view money
Childhood memories of Chanukah bathe us in nostalgia. Nothing compares to the pungent aroma of frying latkes wafting from the kitchen, receiving Chanukah gelt from Zeidy and Bubby.
My chavrusa, Rav Dovid Kamenetsky, recalls with delight how on the fifth night of Chanukah, every grandchild received five dollars from his zeidy, Rav Yaakov. And that was during the 1960s, when five dollars was a fortune for a child! Why the fifth night? It’s the only night that can never fall on Shabbos (Orchos Rabbeinu 3, Chanukah 3).
The minhag is old and universal. Which raises the question, what’s the reason behind the minhag? Why davka money, and not gifts in colorful wrapping paper, as practiced by our non-Jewish neighbors? And why only Chanukah? I’m sure our kids won’t complain if they got some Pesach gelt while we distribute kimcha d’Pischa.
The Ponevezher Rav, quoted by Rav Chaim Friedlander, suggests that the minhag has its roots in the Greek decree forbidding the study of Torah. After the victory of the Maccabim, money was distributed to Jewish youth as an incentive to get them back into learning (Sifsei Chaim, Moadim 2:134). Rav Chaim Palagi brings a similar idea with further material based on Kabbalah (Moed L’Kol Chai 27:77).
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