A BISSEL TORAH: KI TISAH: THE REMEDY
BEFORE THE ILLNESS
By: Suri Davis
This week’s torah portion starts with counting of the Jews. There was a fear, perhaps, that counting them by head would encourage an evil eye to cast down on the Jews, so G-d commanded that each Jew give a half shekel to the holy tabernacle, the coins would be counted, and in that way it would be known how many Jews there were.
I initially submit the query, who needed to know the census data, it is unclear, Surely, G-d doesn’t need the coins to know how many Jews there were, since he is omniscient. If Moses needed to know, then G-d could tell him. This in fact was a paradigm for all generations in how one counts Jews, when there would be no prophesy, and the heads of Jewry needed to conduct a census.
But this did not merely act as a census method. We learn from Exodus 30:15: “The rich should give no more, the poor should give no less…to atone for your souls.” There is a lot in this sentence. All souls, whether rich or poor or even in G-d’s eyes, as G-d declares when setting forth the rules of justice, that a judge shall be blind to the wealth or poverty of those who have a case before him.
Why is this law set forth in the same torah portion as the sin of the golden calf? We see that G-d creates the medicine before the illness. The giving of the half shekel is not merely for census purposes, but for atonement for sins. We understand in the time of the holy temple, there were sacrifices brought by those who have sinned, but what happens, as is the case in history at the moment, when the holy temple is not in existence, how do we repent? One answer is that we give charity. This is confirmed on Yom Kippur when the congregation declares aloud, repentance, prayer and charity alleviate a harsh punishment decision by G-d.
As the Jews are to perform the grave sin of the golden calf, write on the heels of their receiving of the Torah on Mount Sinai, as if a bride has an affair the night after her marriage, there is hope that the Jews may gain forgiveness, by, among other things, the giving of the half shekel to the holy temple for communal sacrifice.
The giving of the shekel for communal sacrifice is an indication of the rabbis letting us know that we are all responsible for our brethren, whether we sin or they sin, we are in the same boat, and we are responsible for keeping each other on the straight and narrow path.
This Sunday is the Chabad of the Five Towns dinner at Sephardic Temple. Rabbi Zalman and Rebbetzin Chanie Wolowik work tirelessly not only for their congregants, but for the entire community, e.g., open high holiday prayer services, communal menorah lighting on Chanukkah, communal megillah reading, communal seder, communal lag b’omer in the park among other endeavors. Let’s reach out and support them at ChabadFiveTowns.com.
Shabbat shalom.
-Suri