| Mrs. Michal Horowitz is a Torah teacher whose shiurim reach audiences worldwide. She teaches weekly in her Five Towns, NY, community and lectures nationally and internationally. A longtime presenter for the OU Women's Initiative, she inaugurated the Torat Imecha Nach Yomi program. In September 2023, she was invited by Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis to serve as the first female scholar to keynote the Annual Pre-Yamim Noraim Conference for the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth. She is the author of Abled: Living With a Disability, a Torah View (Mosaica Press, 2025) and lives in Woodmere, NY, with her family. | | | Dvar Haftorah OU Women's Initiative Founding Director Rebbetzin Dr. Adina Shmidman | | | | | | From Half a Shekel to Shared Responsibility Melachim II 11:17-12:17 | | | Shabbat Shekalim introduces one of the Torah's most deceptively simple mitzvot: everyone gives the same half-shekel. Not more if you are wealthy, not less if you are struggling. The Mishkan, and later the Beit HaMikdash, is sustained not by a few benefactors, but by collective participation. Sacred space is built through shared responsibility. The haftorah from Melachim II, chapter 12 brings that principle to life. King Yoash ascends the throne at a fragile moment of renewal. The Beit HaMikdash still stands, but years of neglect have taken their toll. Funds are collected - obligatory gifts, vowed offerings, voluntary donations, yet nothing is repaired. That gap - between contribution and impact - lies at the heart of the story. The half-shekel establishes equality, but the Haftorah presses further. Equality alone does not sustain sacred space. When Yoash places a collection box in the Beit Hamikdash, responsibility shifts. The people give not only because they must, but because they understand that the future of the Mikdash depends on them. This is unity at its strongest: not uniformity, but shared ownership. No one assumes the work belongs to someone else. The Beit HaMikdash is sustained by "us." The funds are not used for ornamentation, but for beams and walls - the work that keeps the Mikdash standing. Repairing what is broken is not secondary to avodah; it is avodah. Shabbat Shekalim asks us to think beyond how much we give. Do we show up only for moments of inspiration or also for the steady work that keeps something standing? This is not only the story of the Mikdash. It is the story of every sacred space we build together. It is the story of Torat Imecha Nach Yomi. Thousands of women learning a chapter a day, across cities and time zones, creating something lasting through consistency and care. Page by page, sefer by sefer, a structure rises. When we gather for a siyum, we are not marking an ending, but celebrating what shared commitment can build. This, too, is a kind of Mikdash. The half-shekel reminds us that no one builds alone. The Haftorah reminds us that holiness endures when everyone takes responsibility. Shekalim leaves us with one question: What are we helping to sustain? | | | The new cycle of Torat Imecha Nach Yomi starts TODAY! | | | As part of your weekly learning, join Torat Imecha Parsha with Mrs. Hyndi Mendelowitz. Register below to receive weekly recordings. | | | |
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