וַיֹּ֗אמֶר לְכִ֨י שַׁאֲלִי־לָ֤ךְ כֵּלִים֙ מִן־הַח֔וּץ מֵאֵ֖ת כָּל־שכנכי [שְׁכֵנָ֑יִךְ] כֵּלִ֥ים רֵקִ֖ים אַל־תַּמְעִֽיטִי׃
Then he said: ‘Go, borrow thee vessels abroad of all thy neighbours, even empty vessels; borrow not a few.
From David to Destruction
A suggested parallel is just as Sarah Imeinu does not perceive herself as worthy of the miracle of bearing a child in old age, so too the Almanah (widow) does not perceive herself as worthy of the oil miracle. It is for this reason that she does not amass sufficient vessels in which to pour the oil (Melachim II 4:3-5). 201Suggested by TABC student Daniel Rothstein (‘20).
Rabbeinu Bahya
The most important revelation of our verse is that all the people that were counted each enjoy individual supervision of their fates by the Lord G’d. All the deeds performed by any individual are recorded. This is why these people become potential victims of a plague. As long as they had only been part of a whole, and not individuals in their own right, the evil eye had not been able to focus on them, seeing they were not a number in themselves. The whole idea of enjoying individual supervision of one’s fate by G’d carries with it also the awesome responsibility of ensuring one does not become a candidate for punishment by G’d.
When the woman of Shunem for whom the prophet Elisha had offered to intercede with the king (Kings II 4,3) declined his offer by saying: “I live amongst my people,” (I do not need to be singled out), she had exactly this thought in mind. Once she would have become a known quantity at the king’s court, she was also liable to draw unwelcome attention to herself if she committed a mistake. As long as she was more or less anonymous, no trespass would be accounted as her personal fault specifically.
The day on which all our actions are reviewed by G’d is Rosh Hashanah, New year’s Day. On that day each one of us is treated as an individual and this is why it is such an awesome day. On that day our deeds are isolated from the fact that all of us are also members of the community at large (compare Jeremiah 32,19). We also find this thought in Ruth 1,1 where the prophet Samuel begins the Book by stressing the individuality of Elimelech and how by trying to be different from the community and suffering their collective fate he set himself up for punitive action by G’d involving both him and his sons. The Book stresses his name both when his emigration is reported and when he died (one verse later). [It would have sufficed to write “this man died,” without his name being mentioned again as there had not been a change of subject after his name had been mentioned first in verse 2.]
When the woman of Shunem for whom the prophet Elisha had offered to intercede with the king (Kings II 4,3) declined his offer by saying: “I live amongst my people,” (I do not need to be singled out), she had exactly this thought in mind. Once she would have become a known quantity at the king’s court, she was also liable to draw unwelcome attention to herself if she committed a mistake. As long as she was more or less anonymous, no trespass would be accounted as her personal fault specifically.
The day on which all our actions are reviewed by G’d is Rosh Hashanah, New year’s Day. On that day each one of us is treated as an individual and this is why it is such an awesome day. On that day our deeds are isolated from the fact that all of us are also members of the community at large (compare Jeremiah 32,19). We also find this thought in Ruth 1,1 where the prophet Samuel begins the Book by stressing the individuality of Elimelech and how by trying to be different from the community and suffering their collective fate he set himself up for punitive action by G’d involving both him and his sons. The Book stresses his name both when his emigration is reported and when he died (one verse later). [It would have sufficed to write “this man died,” without his name being mentioned again as there had not been a change of subject after his name had been mentioned first in verse 2.]