The Census – and Jacob/Esau?
When you take a census [“when you naso the head”] … each shall pay G-d a kapar for himself …
Where are these words found together elsewhere?
[Jacob] reasoned: “If I propitiate [kapar] him with presents in advance, and then face him, perhaps he will show me favor [naso].”
Is there a connection?
Might it be that G-d is teaching us that when we are going to be confronted by the error of our ways, we should do as Jacob did? And if we do so, then G-d will forgive us just as Esau forgave Jacob?!
In other words, just as Jacob brings a mollifying gift to Esau in the runup to them meeting up, is the Torah telling us that we should bring a mollifying gift (the half-shekel) so that when we are judged, G-d will do as Esau did? So that we can change G-d’s mind?
The Kiyor
And he made the basin of bronze, and its pedestal of bronze, from the mirrors of the women [who bore those] who assembled at the door of the Tent of Meeting.
This is the kiyor, or “laver”, used for priestly preparation before coming closer to the divine presence in the mikdash. As they are washing themselves, do they not see their reflections in the highly polished metal, the very same bronze that Jewish women had used to make themselves attractive to their husbands, to strengthen and grow their relationship?
Is it coincidental that, then, having prepared by washing his hands and feet, the Cohen goes into the Mikdash and does the very same thing – strengthen and grow the relationship between mankind and G-d?
Is the text telling us that marital love is the preparatory step for service to G-d?
Is it meaningful that the kiyor is the only vessel in the mikdash that has its own base, that can stand by itself? Is the Torah telling us that marital love is meant to inspire and reinforce our service to Hashem?
Follow the Money?
Is it not odd that the Torah takes time to tell us all about G-d’s plans for enriching the Jews with Egyptian gold? From their very first conversation, G-d says:
Every woman shall borrow from her neighbor, and from her who sojourns in her house, jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and garments, and you shall put them upon your sons, and upon your daughters (Ex. 3:21)
It follows through…
Speak now in the ears of the people, and let every man borrow from his neighbor, and every woman from her neighbor, jewels of silver, and jewels of gold. (Ex. 11:2)
The people do as they are told….
and they borrowed from the Egyptians jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and garments (Ex. 12:35)
Why is it so important that the Jews got these things? Why is it so prominent in the text?
Might it be connected to the first engagement present between man and wife in the Torah?!
[Avraham’s servant brings out] Jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and garments, and gave them to Rebekah (Gen. 24:53)
By giving the people a gift of “gold, silver, and garments,” is G-d recreating for the people, the engagement of Isaac and Rivkah?
Is the gold and silver and garments a promise of a marriage?
But then what happens to this jewelry? At Sinai, when Moshe does not come down when expected, Aharon tells the Jewish people to bring their gold – and it is made into the golden calf.
But Aharon does not merely tell the Jews to bring their gold. Instead, he uses a word only found one place earlier in the Torah:
And Aaron said unto them: ‘Break off [parak] the golden rings, which are in the ears of your wives, of your sons, and of your daughters, and bring them unto me.’ (Ex. 32:2)
Where did this gold come from? Was it not the very same gold that G-d had “given” the Jews via the Egyptians?! Is not the text making this quite clear when it uses the same phrase “your sons and your daughters” that He had used when promising the gold to Moshe in the first place? (see the quote at the top of this section)
At the sin of the Golden Calf, did the Jewish people take the rings that they had received as a betrothal gift – and instead of merely taking the rings off, they broke them?
Is the breaking of a ring analogous to breaking a relationship, severing the link between two entities that is so close that it is impossible to tell where one person ends and the other begins?
How can we suggest the word parak can mean the end of a relationship? Was not the very first time the word “break” (Parak) used when Isaac tries to comfort a crying Esau, after Jacob stole his blessing? Isaac says:
when thou shalt break loose, thou shalt break [parak] his yoke from off thy neck. (Gen. 27:40)
Might Aharon have used this word as a code, trying to subtly signal to the people that breaking off the engagement gold would be tantamount to ending the betrothal between G-d and the Jewish people, just as Esau and Jacob broke apart? And indeed, was not the relationship between G-d and the people forever changed as a result of parak the gold that was the engagement present between them?
Who Cares?
This is what everyone who is entered in the records shall pay: a half-shekel by the sanctuary weight—twenty gerahs to the shekel—a half-shekel as an offering to G-d. (Ex. 30:13)
Why does the Torah tell us the conversion ratio? What difference does it possibly make? It is not as if a gerah is a common word in the Torah!
Might it be connected to where the word gerah is found elsewhere in the text? After all, the Torah tells us that kosher land animals must olah gerah, or “elevate the gerah” (though we understand it means “chew the cud”).
Is the text suggesting that a periodic unification of the entire people (the census) is symbolically linked to consuming kosher animals? Is this a way to emphasize commonality between Jews across the entire nation?