Parshat Ki Tisa: Coins, Cows and Counting
Original author - Shimshon Stüart Siegel, with research by Rabbi Yonatan Neril, edited by the GrowTorah Summer Inchworms 2021
View Accompanying Source Sheet Here
At the opening of Parshat Ki Tisa, Hashem commands Moshe to take a census of Bnei Yisrael by collecting a half-shekel coin from each adult. The silver from these coins is to be used to make the sockets that hold the planks of the Mishkan, which will be Hashem’s sanctuary among the people.[1]
The two previous parshiyot, Terumah and Tetzaveh, feature detailed instructions for the construction of the Mishkan and all of its utensils. At the beginning of Parshat Terumah, Hashem told Moshe to call for a donation of precious goods to be used in the project: “Gold, silver, and copper; and turquoise, purple, and scarlet wool; linen and goat hair; red-dyed ram skins, tachash skins, acacia wood; oil for illumination, spices for the anointment oil and the aromatic incense; Shoham stones and stones for the settings…”[2] The silver half-shekel, which is to be used to make the very foundation of the Mishkan, is only prescribed now, two parshiyot later. What was the Torah’s intention in delaying this instruction?
The Midrash says that Hashem showed Moshe a half-shekel coin made of fire and said, “Like this one shall they give.”[3] The Noam Elimelech (Reb Elimelech of Lizensk; Poland, 18th century) explains that money is like fire; it can be used to create, protect, and nourish, or it can be used to harm and destroy.[4] The silver half-shekel stands at the opening of our parsha as a warning of the potential dangers of wealth.
Most of the donations for the Mishkan came from the great wealth that Bnei Yisrael requested (following Hashem’s command) and were given from their Egyptian neighbors as they were preparing to emerge from slavery.[5] Mitzrayim’s wealth was based on the work of slaves; their culture so intertwined with financial status. Bnei Yisrael’s reclamation of this wealth is the first step in its transformation. The Mishkan takes the riches from Mitzrayim’s hierarchical system, and, as is shown by the half-shekel, uses it to show the equality of each member of B’nei Yisra'el. The silver is now elevated by sanctifying it in its use for Hashem. This process is a part of the paradigm shift affected by Bnei Yisrael in the desert, a shift in our relationship with the material world.
If the half-shekel is Bnei Yisrael’s warning against the dangers of placing too much emphasis on wealth, and the ensuing sin of cheit ha’egel is a mark of their failure to heed it. Just as they are poised to affect a worldwide paradigm shift, Bnei Yisrael stumble. When Moshe is on Har Sinai and fails to appear in the moment he is expected, Bnei Yisrael panic and demand a tangible representation of Hashem’s power, building a Golden Calf. In contrast to the intricate details of the Mishkan, the Golden Calf was made haphazardly, after the people demanded no more than, “Make us gods that will go before us!”[6] The Calf satiates the need for a physical god, but it is empty, disastrous, even; the golden statue is not a pathway to Hashem.
As contemporary commentator Dr. Aviva Zornberg points out, the most precious golden parts of the Mishkan (the Aron and the golden keruvim resting on top of it) were not within view of anyone, ever, except for the Kohen Gadol on Yom Kippur, and to him only through the fog of incense.[7] In contrast, the eigel hazahav, and the sins that attended it, stood exposed before all the people.[8] Proper use of material wealth modestly sanctifies Hashem’s name, and yet affects the whole world for good.
We celebrate the Exodus from Mitzrayim every year at Pesach and remember revelation and the two sets of luchot every Shavu’ot, but we often ignore what comes in between. The Exodus and revelation, from the plagues to the splitting of the Yam Suf and onto the thunderous Har Sinai, feature nature in its extremes: hail, thunder, fire, etc. used to display Hashem’s power. The eigel hazahav shows artificiality in excess: displays of wealth and human creation, possessions that separate us from Hashem and leave destruction in their wake. But the half-shekel and the Mishkan draw our attention to a quieter relationship with the world: one based on justice, equality, humility, and the careful use of our resources.
Hashem commands Moshe to collect the half-shekel in the context of a census. “Ki Tisa,” often translated as “when you count [the people],” literally means “when you lift.” The donation of a silver half-shekel allowed each member of Bnei Yisrael to contribute equally to the communal project of the construction of a resting place for Hashem, even when they could not necessarily see the results of their donation. This is transformative in and of itself. Dedicating ourselves and our resources in a modest, holy, and reparative way elevates each of us, placing us on a path toward a healthier social, spiritual, and physical environment.
Suggested Action Items:
Dedicate your resources to projects that sanctify Hashem’s name, even (or perhaps especially) in small and modest ways. Choose to buy products that are socially and environmentally conscious, even if they will cost more (in the short term).
Original Canfei Nesharim Sponsorships:
Parsha Ki Tisa is sponsored by Evonne and Jerry Marzouk in memory of Bella Greenbaum, a woman of grace and strength. May her memory be a blessing.
Click here to sponsor a parsha.
Notes:
[1] Rashi on Shemot 30:15,16
[2] Shemot, 25:3-7 (translation by Artscroll Mesorah)
[3] Rashi on Shemot 30:13
[4] Noam Elimelech on Ki Tisa, p. 130 in edition of Yarid Hasefarim, Jerusalem 1995.
[5] Shemot 12:35-36
[6] Shemot 32:1
[7] Dr. Aviva Zornberg, The Particulars of Rapture, Image/Doubleday: New York, New York, 2001. “…in Byzantine art and architecture…gold serves the ‘politics of bedazzlement’; it represents blinding power. One looks and is amazed. In the Mishkan, however, the gold remains, in an important way, invisible. [author’s italics] It is donated by the people in the most homely, familiar forms—personal jewelry, for instance. But the interior of the Mishkan is never seen by them, never grasped by their eyes. It is, strictly—and for all but those who serve in the Mishkan, the priests, and the Levites—the stuff of imagination…”
[8] Rashi on Shemot 32:6
