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By Rabbi Rami Pavolotzky,
B’nei Israel Congregation, Costa Rica

Translated by Inés Baum - Proofreading by Ellen Zindler

Parashat Ki Tissa begins with the divine command to Moses to do a census of the people of Israel. The manner used is somewhat strange: each man older than 20 years had to offer half a shekel. Thus, in order to know the total number of people, the total number of shekalim had to be multiplied by 2 once the money collection ended.

According to the sages, the money contributed was to be used for the maintenance of the Temple services. In fact, every year before the month of Adar, we read this paragraph during the maftir of a special Shabbat called Shekalim, since the money to pay for the sacrifices was collected during that season. Furthermore, even today, many synagogues devote a moment before Purim, so that people may contribute their half shekel equivalent.

The reason the Torah orders each counted person to give half a shekel appears in the following verse: “When thou takest the sum of the children of Israel, according to their number, then shall they give every man a ransom for his soul unto the Lord, when thou numberest them; that there be no plague among them, when thou numberest them” (Shemot 30:12). What does this mean? What it seems to mean is that, when people are counted, their life is endangered, and therefore, a “monetary price” must be offered so that they don’t perish. Rashi explains that when people are numbered, they fall under the ayin ha’ra, the evil eye.

In ancient times, the common belief was that by counting a person, he or she was placed at risk. The Hebrew Bible presents other stories where this seemingly widespread and deeply-rooted popular belief, materializes. The paradigmatic example is that of King David, who caused the Lord’s wrath and subsequent mortal plague by ordering, on his own free will, the census of his people (II Samuel 24, an extremely polemic text, by the way). To this day, the Jewish tradition retains traces of that strange belief: for instance, when adults are counted in the synagogue in order to see if there is a minyan present, they are usually counted by means of saying the words of a ten-word-verse, avoiding thus the use of numbers.

Most of us find it difficult to believe that someone may be affected by being counted; nevertheless, I think that we can draw valuable lessons from this way of censing. On the one hand, perhaps the Torah is warning us against the danger of depersonalization. In the mega-societies in which we live, we are just one more number in the statistics and government records. Our entire and complex humanity is usually reduced to just numerical data, with the obvious negative consequences caused by this vision of human beings.

On the other hand, in the ultra-competitive societies in which we live, there is a tendency to value quantity over quality. We no longer question the how and what, but rather and most exclusively, the how much and when.

These two features should serve as a warning call for the development of our congregations: we work with people made of flesh and blood, who have dreams and frustrations, skills and miseries. Community members should never be treated as just a statistical value. Moreover, although numbers are important, we should never lose sight of the quality offered by the community. An in-depth and inspiring lesson for five students may be a lot more beneficial, at community level, than a light discussion for twenty. We should never judge the success of our activities based exclusively on the number of participants.

Next time you count the number of participants at a community event, or think about the numbers in your community, I urge you to recall this lesson from Parashat Ki Tissa: perhaps we should learn to count differently.

This Parashah commentary was done by the Union of Jewish Congregations of Latin America and the Caribbean, and may be reproduced quoting its source.
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Forwarded by Rabbi Gustavo Kraselnik, from Kol Shearith Israel Congregation, Panama.
Translated by Inés Baum and proofread by Ellen Zindler, from B’nei Israel Congregation, Costa Rica.

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