Parashat HaShavua - Bemidbar
This week, we begin reading Sefer Bemidbar (Numbers). Its English title – Numbers – reflects the fact that the book opens with a census and contains a second census in Chapter 26. Earlier in the Torah, (Shemot/Exodus 30:13), the nation was commanded to execute censuses by collecting half-shekel coins. Interestingly, however, the censuses in Bemidbar do not specify that half-shekel coins were collected, leading some commentators to argue that these coins were not used in Bemidbar (Ralbag).
We might wonder, why does the Torah devote so much attention to seemingly mundane, insignificant statistics in a book that aspires to teach lofty spiritual lessons? Moreover, even if we can find some meaning in the idea of counting members of a community, why the insistence on counting by means of half-shekel coins? And why might Moshe disregard the obligation to use half-shekel coins for the Bamidbar censuses?
My teacher, Rabbi Yehuda Amital, suggested that by looking more closely at the underlying idea of the half-shekel coins we can also understand the deeper significance of censuses:
As we know, every individual Jew has something in common with others and something which is unique. On the one hand, every one of us is a human being, and thus similar to everyone around him. On the other hand, each person has his or her own personality and characteristics, and as such is a whole world in his own right. When we want to count things, the things that we are counting must have something in common. Thus, the census of Bnei Yisrael is carried out using a half-shekel, which expresses the message that only half of every person is the same as those around him. In order to count a whole person, we need to “complete” the missing half, the half that is different, by means of another half-shekel that they too must bring. Only when everyone brings a half-shekel can we count both aspects and thus “whole” people.
While R. Amital’s approach sheds light on the significance of counting community members through half-shekel coins, it only strengthens our final question above: According to Ralbag, ow was Moshe permitted to Moshe ignore the obligation to collect half-shekel coins? R. Amital resolves this difficulty through another detail of the census in this week’s Torah reading – that the people were counted “by their families, by their households”:
Although it is people who are being counted, this is not a simple numerical census that ignores the uniqueness of every individual. Rather it is a count in which every person receives personal, individualized attention, in accordance with his special history and his personality – “by their families, by their households.” So long as the census-takers are aware of the problematic nature of a census that is taken directly, and they address and solve the problem, there is no need for actual half-shekels; the people may be counted by name.
In concluding his analysis of the census, R. Amital observes that the process of being counted – whether by family and household or by half-shekel coin – reminds us that we are individuals with unique character traits and personalities, yet we are also members of a larger community that depends on all of our contributions.
Since every person is different, it is only through everyone together that a whole is formed. The whole truth can never exist in one person or in one group. This is what the Torah seeks to teach us through the census that is taken by means of the half-shekel, and it is for this reason that that Ralbag maintains that our census was taken “by their names,” with recognition of uniqueness, and hence the half-shekel was not necessary.
Shabbat Shalom!
Rabbi Ezra Frazer
High School Limudei Qodesh Teacher
