Half shekels, plagues and communal responsibility

We read today in the opening verses of Ki Tisa that counting the Jewish People is not a simple process: each person was required to give a coin which would then be counted “so that there will be no plague” caused by a direct headcount. This system was also employed for the census in parashat Bemidbar. How are we to understand the relationship between undertaking a census and the threat of a plague? And in what way is the danger countered by collecting coins instead of counting people?

Judaism Reclaimed develops the interpretation of Malbim, who writes that there is a hashgachah clalit—collective Divine providence—which protects and guides the Jewish nation as a whole. The strength of this hashgachah clalit is influenced by the level of social unity exhibited by the nation, a unity which is undermined by counting, and thereby reckoning, each person separately (and according to their particular tribe and family).

With the world’s attention currently focused on battling the Coronavirus, it occurred to me that there are two crucial messages which can be drawn from this teaching. The first revolves around the widespread popular and media obsession with statistics: of those quarantined, sick or dead from the virus in various countries. Joseph Stalin is reputed to have stated that “a single death is a tragedy; a million deaths is a statistic”. Taking a census by means of personal contributions rather than a detached headcount guides us to focus on the community as a group of valuable people, each of whom makes his or her own unique contribution to the whole.

In addition, Malbim infers a key message from the fact that each individual contributed only a half rather than a whole shekel. By giving only half a shekel, we are invited to recognise that none of us are complete as free standing individuals. We can become ‘whole’ and perfect only by combining with the community and working for its greater benefit.

While Malbim presented these lessons in the context of maximising the benefits of the community’s Divine protection, it appears that his words take on an additional, practical dimension in the states of emergency which are being declared across the globe. We find ourselves in a situation in which the majority of the population are being asked to inconvenience themselves greatly – restrictions on schools, work places and even self-isolation orders – in order to protect the lives and well-being of the more vulnerable among us. Now more than ever we need to internalise this message of the “half shekel offering to the Lord” from today’s Torah reading. By recognising the inherent worth of each and every individual and reminding ourselves of the value of the entire community, we should be more motivated and inspired to take the necessary precautions to ensure that לא יהיה נגף there will be no plague among any of us.

First posted to Facebook 14 March 2020, here.