Shabbat Parashat Ki Tisa - 5785

Shabbat Parashat Ki Tisa - 5785

Rabbi Hal Miller

  When you will take a census of the children of Israel according to their counts,

  every man shall give God an atonement for his soul when counting them and there

  will be no plague among them when counting them. [Shemot 30:12]

Why are atonement and plague tied here to a census? Our verse gives us the result

that will come about should we not "give God an atonement", but does not tell us

what the census has to do with this resulting plague. A couple chapters ahead, in

verse 32:35, the Torah tells us exactly why another plague was placed on the people,

"because they had made the calf that Aharon had made", then in Vayikra 9:2 Rashi

tells us that Aharon was granted atonement through the sacrifice of a calf. Ramban

explains that this tells us the sin was not in prostrating to the golden calf, but in the

making of it. Or HaChayim says further that the sin was not the making of it, since

the people themselves did not do that, but that they set up Aharon to do it, and the

lesson is that we are prohibited from causing someone else to sin. But these do not

explain the plague in our verse nor the tie to the census.

Some commentators refer here to the sin of the calf, that the people forfeited their

lives. Rashbam and Or HaChayim write this explicitly. But since that episode has

not happened at this point in the Torah chronology, it seems farfetched. Rather we

must understand that the sin involved here has to do with the census itself.

Our verse says "each man shall give an atonement for his soul". 30:15 says "an

atonement for your souls", and 30:16 says exactly the same wording. This seems

to indicate that the atonement applies both to every individual and to the people in

general. Ramban understands this repetition to mean it is a commandment for all

future generations as well as those living at the time. Malbim tells us that the

census separates out each person through counting, which removes us from the

merit of the whole congregation that was protecting us from individual sins, thus

we need to act to atone where we were safe before the counting. A plague strikes

the entire people, forcing them to reunite for protection.

Many of the commentators focus on the verbiage "take a census", which is more

literally translated "lift up the head". Onkelos seems to imply that this means the

people were haughty, lifting their heads, and that this is the reason for removing

of the crowns they had been given. Rav Moshe Feinstein gives this phrase a more

positive interpretation, that it is a lesson in tzedakah, which elevates the glory of

Israel when done properly. Rav Dovid Feinstein goes further, saying that the census

here is lifting the people to a very high level of holiness and that the atonement is

to purge any little bits of negativity that may have remained in them, to allow them

access to the Mishkan. Malbim seems close to this, that counting something of

value may inspire jealousy in others, thus the atonement is to rid the people of that

jealousy. Others explain that this is a way of separating the children of Israel from

the erev rav that came out of Egypt, and the plague was to cleanse the people from

the negative impact of that mixed multitude.

But some still think that this is a negative. Rashi explains that "the evil eye can

affect what is counted". Sforno notes that mankind was originally supposed to live

forever so counting them would always result in a constant number, but with the sin of

Adam and the sins that followed, counting becomes a reminder of our sins. Rav

Soloveitchik has yet another approach. The entire world, including people, is

consecrated and holy. The only way we can use consecrated items is through

redeeming them, and our verse is a process of redemption for ourselves.