The following Dvar Torah was delivered at the 2026 Graduation Ceremony by graduating student Aviad Maskalchi. It was his Bar Mitzvzah parasha, Ki Tisa. 

What is G-d’s greatest gift? This question has been on my mind for the last couple of months and it has challenged me greatly. Which gift of G-d’s is the most crucial and unique of them all?

When thinking about this question I came up with multiple different answers. In the beginning I thought that it might be time, but time runs out and you are forced to see yourself losing it without being able to control it. I then thought it might be life itself, the entrapment of a soul in a body, but many people go on to live lives of suffering, so I wasn't happy with that answer. I thought it could be the trust in G-d because that has helped me a lot in my life, but I realised this gift is difficult to attain and does not work for those who do not believe in G-d. So, what is my answer to this question? 

In King Shlomo’s book of Kohelet, Ecclesiastes, Shlomo is undergoing an existential crisis. After having lived a life full of incredible experiences, he isn't satisfied and is struggling to find meaning. One of the most famous verses he ever wrote comes from this book, when Shlomo writes that ״אין כל חדש תחת השמש״; there is nothing new under the sun. What Shlomo is saying is that nothing that happens in our world is new, all experiences are repetitive and thus there is no unique meaning to life.

Shlomo has been said to have been the wisest man to ever live. However, I believe that Shlomo got this notion of the repetitiveness of life wrong and my argument for the uniqueness of life directly links to the answer of G-d’s greatest gift. Moreover, there are many examples illustrating my argument since this greatest gift is central to Judaism and is prevalent in many stories throughout the Tanach and throughout Jewish history. For example, in Parashat Beresheit, G-d mentions the loneliness of Adam and how it prompted him to create Chava. In the Talmud, there is the famous story about the death of Reish Lakish and how Rabbi Yochanan died from his sadness as he could not find a replacement for his dear friend. Even Shlomo himself maintained relatively close contact with his mother throughout his life and some say he wrote the song Eshet Chayil about her. The commonality among these three examples is my answer to the question of G-d’s greatest gift. But before I ‘spoil’ my answer, allow me to add some more evidence to my argument.

My Bar Mitzvah parasha, Ki Tisa, begins with the story of Machatzit Hashekel: a half-shekel silver coin given by every Israelite man over twenty to be counted in the census and to fund the silver foundations of the Mishkan. In Daf קפז Amud ‘ב in the Zohar (the first page of Ki Tisa) the Zohar discusses the deeper meaning of Machatzit Hashekel. It explains that to weigh exactly half a shekel, you need a stone for the scale to balance. In Kabbalistic linguistics, the letter Yud represents a stone due to its size and shape. In the book of Shemot, Chapter 30 Verse 13, it is written that “The shekel is twenty gerah.” How does twenty link to Yud? If you spell out Yud, the alphanumerical sum of the three letters is twenty. Therefore, if one whole shekel is twenty, a half-shekel is ten, the alphanumerical equivalent of the letter Yud itself. How does this relate to the question of G-d’s greatest gift? In Judaism, the number ten can represent the ten G-dly attributes that every human carries within their soul. What does the half-shekel teach us then? That even if we are a perfect ten out of ten, we are righteous and pious and have maximised all of our G-dly attributes, we are still ten, ten out of twenty: without someone else, we will never be complete, we will always be one half at most. So now, what is G-d’s greatest gift? Before I tell you, let me add one more angle to my argument.

During my trip to New York with Chabad, I had the opportunity to learn some Tanya with Rabbi Mendy at 2am when I couldn't sleep because I had the flu. The daily portion of the Tanya that we learnt happened to be Chapter לב, which also happens to be the two letters that spell “heart” in Hebrew. Rabbi Mendy explained that this was done on purpose, as this chapter discusses the “heart” of Judaism. What does the Baal Tanya argue is the core of Judaism and the Mitzvot? The commandment of ואהבת לרעך כמוך; love your friend as yourself. In other words, the Baal Tanya argues that the key to righteousness and becoming a Tzadik relies on our appreciation of those around us and the love we have for other people. Without others, no woman or man could ever become a truly pious individual. So now that I have made my argument, what is G-d’s greatest gift?

Relationships.

Relationships are the synthesis of two distinct personalities that never existed before and will never exist again. When we think about our lives and what we have been through, rarely do we think about ourselves as individuals. Instead, we focus more on the relationships we have built and the memories we have gained along the way. This is why marriage and families are so important in Judaism, why Jews gather daily to form a Minyan for prayer and why Torah learning traditionally takes place  in a Chavruta, in pairs  with someone else. We are only one half without the people around us, and the only way to become whole is by connecting with others.

Simply put, why are relationships G-d’s greatest gift? Because it is the only gift that you get more of when you share.

Thank you for listening, and thank you to everyone who has shared this journey with me and has helped me to get to where I am. I would have only been one half without you all.