Commentaire sur L’Exode 30:15

לכפר על נפשתיכם TO MAKE AN EXPIATION FOR YOUR SOULS — in order that you may not be liable to the plague in consequence of the census. Another explanation of לכפר על נפשתיכם is that it was really an atonement for their sins: because Scripture alludes here to three different heave offerings since it uses the expression תרומת ה׳ three times (twice in vv. 14 and 15, ‘תרומת ה, and once in vers 13, ‘תרומה לה). One mention is an allusion to the heave offering that was to be used for the making of the sockets, for he (Moses) counted them when they began to contribute towards the building of the Tabernacle, when each gave half a shekel, the total amounting to a hundred talents, as it is said, (Exodus 38:25) “and the silver of them that were numbered of the congregation was an hundred talents”, and of these the sockets were made, as it is stated, (Exodus 38:27) “And of the hundred talents of silver [were cast the sockets of the Sanctuary etc.]”. The second heave offering was also levied by way of census, for he numbered them again after the Tabernacle was erected; that is the census referred to in the beginning of the Book of Numbers: (Numbers 1:1) “[And the Lord spake unto Moses] … on the first day of the second month in the second year … [Take ye the sum of all the congregation of the children of Israel]”, and on that occasion, too, each of them gave half a shekel. These were employed in purchasing the communal sacrifices for each year. Rich and poor were made alike in regard to these half shekels; and it is with reference to this heave offering that Scripture uses here the expression לכפר על נפשתיכם, “to make expiation for your souls”, for sacrifices were brought in order to make atonement. The third heave offering was that offered for the building of the Tabernacle, as it is said, (Exodus 35:24) “Every one that did offer an offering of silver and brass…”. In this heave offering, however, they did not all participate alike, but each one brought whatever his heart prompted him to give (Talmud Yerushalmi Shekalim 1:1; cf. Rashi on Exodus 25:1).

THE RICH SHALL NOT GIVE MORE, AND THE POOR SHALL NOT GIVE LESS. The meaning of this is that they should all bring the specified amount of money in equality. It would appear from this verse that if the poor man gave as his shekel-dues less than the half-shekel [prescribed by the Torah], he transgresses this negative commandment, since this verse constitutes a prohibition. For even if we were to say that the phrase the rich shall not give more constitutes a mere negation,⁸⁶See in Seder Mishpatim, Note 71. meaning that it is enough for him to give the half-shekel, we could not so interpret and the poor shall not give less. If so, they must both be prohibitions: thus if the individual rich man gave more, or the poor man gave less, he transgressed this negative commandment. Perhaps the reason why the Temple — officers used to take up the shekel-dues in baskets [out of the shekel-chamber], with the intention also to cover the shekels lost and those still to be collected,⁸⁷Kethuboth 108a. When the shekels were collected they were put in a chamber. Three times in the year the officers of the Temple would take up three basketfuls out of the chamber for the purpose of purchasing the public sacrifices. And in order to cover every Jew, even those living in the remote parts of the Diaspora, [whose shekel contribution has not arrived yet], or to cover anyone whose shekel was lost, the officers in taking up the shekels would do it also on behalf of those people whose shekels were lost and those whose shekels were yet to arrive. Ramban on the basis of the verse before us suggests an additional reason for this procedure. was to rectify this matter, for if the poor gave less, the balance was destined to be collected from him, but as for the rich who gave more, the Temple-officers would not “take up” his surplus, for they would not take possession of these surpluses [on anyone’s behalf]. However, I have noticed that neither the author of the Hilchoth Gedoloth nor all other scholars who counted the commandments [including the Rambam in his Sefer Hamitzvoth], have mentioned this as one of the negative commandments.

העשיר לא ירבה והדל לא ימעיט, “the wealthy must not contribute more, nor the poor less, etc.” According to Nachmanides this is one of the 365 negative commandments in the Torah, i.e. anyone violating this directive has become guilty of a transgression of a Biblical prohibition. He feels that a wealthy man who contributed more than one shekel,-contrary to the Torah’s instructions,- could compensate by contributing less the next time, and the poor man who contributed less than a half shekel could make up for it at a future occasion, is reminded by the wording of the Torah precludes such a תיקון, adjustment, but having failed to do it as directed, the person is guilty of a transgression which cannot be made good. It is not as if someone who had sent the correct amount by means of a messenger, and for some reason this shekel never reached the proper destination, he can compensate by replacing the lost shekel with a replacement. According to the Talmud Ketuvot 108, in the latter case the person whose shekel did not arrive in time (before the end of that year) did not violate the commandment but merely did not get credit for fulfilling it, whereas according to Nachmanides the incorrect contribution constitutes a transgression. None of the other authorities lists this directive as a negative commandment in their count of the 613 commandments. [in Ramban’s commentary on Maimonides’ ספר המצות, we do not find it mentioned either. Ed.]

So that you not be struck. . . But it does not mean to atone for your sins, like other atonements mentioned in the Torah. [Rashi knows this] because [otherwise,] why is the atonement connected to the counting?

V. 15. Indem in diesem Verse der Zweck einer fixierten Halbschekelspende לכפר על נפשתיכם, als Beitrag für כפרה der Gesamtheit und nicht als כפר נפשו, wie V. 12 als individuelle Sühne des Spendenden, und überhaupt nicht die Spende an sich als כפר sondern als Beitrag zur Erwirkung von כפרה bezeichnet wird, so wird (Schekalim 1, 1) auch diese תרומה nicht auf die V. 12 besprochene כפר-Spende im Momente einer Zählung begriffen, sondern als regelmäßig bleibende Pflicht einer jährlich von jedem zu leistenden Halbschekelspende zum Behufe der Gesamtheitsopfer.

העשיר לא ירבה, “the wealthy person must not contribute more;” (in order to help make up the required total). No one was allowed to be able to claim that he had made a greater contribution to the Tabernacle than his neighbour.

העשיר לא ירבה, “a wealthy person must not contribute in excess of this,” for if the Torah were to allow the wealthy to contribute more and the poor to contribute less than a half holy shekel each, how could each of them attain the same level of atonement?

העשיר לא ירבה והדל לא ימעיט: eben in dieser Gleichheit spricht sich der symbolische Charakter der fixierten Halbschekelspende aus. Wenn der Reiche und der Arme vollkommen jeder das Seine, sein Ganzes leistet, so wiegen, Gott und seinem Heiligtume gegenüber, Hunderte und Tausende der Reichen nicht mehr als die Einer und Zehner der Armen, und die Einer und Zehner der Armen ganz gleich den Hunderten und Tausenden der Reichen. Der Reiche kann nicht mehr und der Arme soll nicht weniger als die Hälfte eines Schekels leisten. Gott und das Heiligtum wägen nicht die absolute, sondern die relative Größe der Leistung, schätzen sie im Verhältnis zu dem Vermögen und der Fähigkeit des Leistenden. Jeder, der die volle Kraft des ihm an Fähigkeit und Vermögen Verliehenen im Dienste Gottes, in Förderung seines Heiligtums verwendet, der hat damit seine מחצית השקל als sein "Symbolum" auf Gottes Altar gelegt.

לכפר על נפשותיכם, “to obtain atonement for yours sins.” The sin being that they had made it necessary for G-d to take a census of them as a result of the sin of the golden calf, [and in order to count the victims as absentees. Ed.] Moreover, how would we know the total number of shekels that had been raised by these contributions, and how could we have been sure there were enough to construct the sockets of the Tabernacle from them? From the wording of the Torah it is clear that atonement was achieved before the actual census.