Exodus 30:13

He showed him a sort of coin of fire with a weight of 1/2 shekel, and told him like this shall they give

This valuation was shown to Mosheh in the mountain as with a denarius of fire, and thus spake He to him: So shall every one who passeth to the numberment give a half shekel of the coin of the sanctuary: (a half shekel is twenty manin:) the half shekel is to be the separation before the Lord.

HALF OF A SHEKEL AFTER THE SHEKEL OF HOLINESS. Moses our Teacher instituted a silver coin in Israel, for he was a great king. He called it “shekel” [literally: “weight”] because that whole coin was a perfect weight, it had nothing defective in it and the silver contained no dross. And since the standard shekel of Valuations and the redemption of the firstborn, which are holy matters, were given in that coin, as also all shekels mentioned in connection with the Tabernacle, and all moneys the amount of which is exactly specified in the Torah, therefore Scripture calls it the shekel of holiness.
I hold that this is the same reason why our Rabbis call the language of the Torah “the Sacred Language,” because the words of the Torah, and the prophecies, and all words of holiness were all expressed in that language. It is thus the language in which the Holy One, blessed be He, spoke with His prophets, and with His congregation [when He said], — I am the Eternal thy G-d, etc. and Thou shalt have no other gods before Me,, Verse 3, and Makkoth 23b. and the other communications of the Torah and prophecy — and in that tongue He is called by His sacred names: E-il, Elokim, Tze-baoth, Sha-dai, Ya-h, and the Great Proper Name [i.e., the Tetragrammaton]. In that tongue He created His world, and called the names shamayim (heavens), eretz (earth), Verse 10. and all that is in them, His angels and all His hosts — He called them all by name. The names of Michael and Gabriel are in this Sacred Language.] signifies “who is like unto Thee, O G-d.” Gabriel [gabri E-il] means “my strength is from G-d.” In that language He called the names of the holy ones that are in the earth: Abraham,. Isaac,, Verse 19: and thou shalt call his name Isaac [of the Hebrew root meaning “to laugh”]. Jacob,, 25:26: and He called his name Jacob [“one that takes by the heel”], the word vayikra (and He called) referring to G-d (Rashi quoting the Midrash). Solomon,. and others..
Now the Rabbi [Moshe ben Maimon] has written in the Moreh Nebuchim: “Do not think that our language is called the Sacred Language just as a matter of our pride, or it be an error on our part, but it is perfectly justified; for this holy language has no special names for the organs of generation in male or female, nor for semen, nor for urination or excretion, excepting in indirect language. Be not misled by the …

TWENTY GEIRAH. It is a kind of coin.

מחצית השקל, “a coin worth half a shekel.” This was to atone for the half day they had been guilty of not doing something to destroy the golden calf, as explained in the Talmud, tractate Shabbat folio 89. According to Rabbi Akiva there the word boshesh in Exodus 32,1 usually translated as “tarried,” can be read as בשש, “at six hours,” i.e. at midday Moses came down from the mountain. The coin known as shekel (a silver coin) is valued as twenty geyrah, (copper coins). They had been guilty of transgressing all of the Ten Commandments, as transgressing the prohibition of idolatry is equivalent to transgressing all of the commandments of the Torah. The Talmud in tractate Z’vachim, quotes the oldest kabbalistic text, Pirke de rabbi Eliezer, chapter 48, where Rabbi Yishmael describes the five “fingers” on G–d’s right hand, as all involved in the process of redemption. His smallest finger was used for that purpose when He said to Noach (Genesis 6,15) וזה אשר תעשה אותה, “and this is how you are to construct it” (the ark), which would save him and his family from the deluge. The second smallest finger was used by G–d at the redemption of the Jewish people from Egypt (Exodus 8,15) as the sorcerers of Pharaoh recognised when they described the third plague, the vermin, as אצבע אלוהים, “a finger of G–d.” G–d’s middle finger, known as amah, אמה, was used when G–d inscribed the text of the Ten Commandments on the Tablets (Exodus 31,1) i.e. והלוחות כתובים באצבע אלוהים, “and the Tablets had been inscribed by the finger of Gd.” G–d’s fourth finger, known as bohen, בהן, next to the thumb, was used when He showed Moses the new moon (Exodus 12,2) also using the word: זה, “this”; and the fifth finger of G–d’s right hand, known as gudal, גודל, was used by Him when showing Moses the half shekel coin of which our portion speaks here. Finally, G–d will use His entire hand when in the future He will wipe out the descendants of Ishmael and Edom, as prophesied by the prophet Micah 5,8: תרום ידך על צריך וכל אויביך יכרתו, “Your hand will prevail over all Your foes, and all Your enemies will be cut down.”