Ki Tisá 5777 - English

Rabbi Gustavo Kraselnik

Congregacion Kol Shearith Israel

Parashat Ki Tisa begins with the order that every man over the age of 20 must annually contribute half a shekel, and it includes the well-known story of the golden calf. 

God commands the people to turn in half a shekel per adult male (Ex. 30:12-16) as a way to perform a census (to find out the total male population over 20, you only had to multiply what was collected by two).  Hence, the rich could not give more and the poor could not give less. The money was used for the community’s atonement offerings. 

Beyond the technicalities and explanations that link the census with the evil eye (census were always made to recruit soldiers for the army or to collect taxes), I think the idea of “being counted” or “taken into consideration” through a monetary contribution is a very powerful concept even for our times. 

If the objective also was, as the Torah says, the “atonement of the souls” (Id. 16), then clearly the egalitarian contribution of half a shekel (regardless of the economic capacity of each person) is an expression of the identical value that must be assigned to each human life. 

Based on the rabbinical principle that states “there is no before or after the Torah”, the sages explain the half shekel was ordered as punishment for the golden calf (Talmud Yerushalmi, Shekalim 10a). They claim the reason the contribution was set at half a shekel – instead of a whole shekel – comes from the fact that the Israelites sinned only until noon. 

We can find another interesting connection between the half shekel contribution and the making of the golden calf. In the latter, the people ask Aaron to build them gods because Moses was taking a long time returning.  Overwhelmed by popular demand, Aaron responds: “Take off the rings of gold that are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.” (Ex. 32:2)

Rashi (France, XI Century) explains that the reason for Aaron’s request of the family jewels was a scheme to earn more time, hoping that the return of Moses would calm people down. To his surprise, the answer was immediate and decisive: “So all the people took off the rings of gold that were in their ears and brought them to Aaron.” (Id. 3)

The level of conviction and the commitment to action of the people “forced” Aaron to make the calf.  With all the negative aspects that this act entailed, the people’s decision to “reach into their pockets” for a cause they believed in stands out.  

In this way, the mandatory payment of half a shekel and the voluntary donation of jewels to make the calf constitute expressions of the values and identity of a person in relation to the collective by way of an economic contribution.

The key to the autonomous survival of Jewish communities has developed – throughout the centuries and across different latitudes – from a combination between both channels, the “mandatory” and the voluntary: the desire and responsibility of their members to contribute fairly (not always the same) as a testimony of their sense of belonging, by making contributions according to their will and capacity, in order to make Jewish institutional life possible.  

Shabbat Shalom

Gustavo