פירוש על שמות 30:14

מבן עשרים שנה ומעלה FROM TWENTY YEARS OLD AND ABOVE — Scripture teaches you here that anyone less than twenty years of age does not go forth to the host nor is he to be counted among the “men” (of whom v. 12 speaks).

Here it teaches you. . . [How does Rashi know this?] Because it is written מבן עשרים שנה , so why does it need to say also כל העובר על הפקודים ? Perforce, because “here it teaches you. . .” The term פקודים is used for the army, as in (Bamidbar 31:14), “Moshe was angry with the commanders ( פקודי ) of the army,” and as in (Shmuel I 13:15), “Shaul counted ( ויפקוד ) the people [of the army].” Thus, our verse uses the term הפקודים to tell us “that no one below twenty years of age goes into the army.” Accordingly, the passage means: “When you take the count of the B’nei Yisrael to go into the army for war, they shall be from twenty years and older.” You might ask: Why do we need to be taught here [by inference] that no one below twenty goes into the army? We were already taught this [expressly]: “From twenty years old and above, all those eligible for the army” (Bamidbar 1:3). The answer is: We might think Scripture was particular [about age] only regarding obligatory wars [such as the conquest of Eretz Yisrael], but not regarding optional wars [such as the conquest of surrounding lands]. Thus Scripture repeated it, [to teach that] for optional wars also, no one below twenty goes out to war.

V. 14. Schekalim I, 1 wird die in diesem Satze erwähnte תרומת ד׳ nicht auf die in den vorangehenden Versen gebotene Halbschekelspende bezogen, sondern als besondere Verpflichtung begriffen, ohne fixierte Größe zu den Bedürfnissen des Heiligtums zu spenden. Dafür spricht auch überhaupt die Wiederholung ( — die Bestimmung: מבן עשרים וגו׳ hätte in einen der vorangehenden Verse eingefügt werden können —) und das durch trennenden Akzent hervorgehobene כל. Die fixierte תרומה heißt auch im folgenden Verse את תרומת ד׳, während es hier heißt: יתן תרומת ד׳, er gebe eine Gotteshebe, also eine unbestimmte. — מבן עשרים שנה ומעלה. Nicht soll die jüdische Kindheit dem Heiligtum, das Mannesalter aber der selbstischen Karriere des Brotsuchens überantwortet werden, und so der Egoismus des Mannes die Weihe der Kindheit verdrängen. Nicht spricht das jüdische Heiligtum: lasst die Kleinen zu mir kommen; auf die Großen wartet es, auf den Ernst und die Kraft des männlichen Lebens und Strebens. Mit dem Alter, in welchem der Mensch, wie man spricht, den Beruf bekommt, an sich zu denken und für sich zu streben, ruft das jüdische Heiligtum uns in seinen Dienst: der jüdische Mensch wird Mann für Gottes Gesetzesheiligtum, und auch sein Ansichdenken und Fürsichstreben soll dem Heiligtum des Gottesgesetzes zugute kommen, soll ein Denken sein an dies Heiligtum und ein Streben für dieses Heiligtum.

כל העובר,”everyone that passes, etc.;” the verb עבר in this verse is used as in Jeremiah 33,13: “תעבורנה הצאן על המונה” “the sheep shall pass under the hands of the one who counts them;” Sheep are counted by their shepherds when being led to their pens.

מבן עשרים שנה ומעלה, “from twenty years and up;” anyone under that ages is not subject to punishment at the hands of heaven, though on earth he is punishable from the age of 13, or 12 in the case of girls. Therefore the people younger than twenty did not need to obtain their forgiveness by means of this ransom payment. The total amount raised by this census amounted to one talent of silver. How do we arrive at that amount? Most people do not live for more than seventy years. The first twenty years they do not need atonement as their sins have not been registered in the celestial ledger. This leaves 50 years during which they may need atonement by means of the holy half shekel which is equivalent to a secular shekel. When you multiply this by 600000, the number of able bodied soldiers amongst the Israelites you get 300000 holy shekels per year, or 100 talents of silver per year. (1 talent is equal to 3000 holy shekels. Seeing that the wicked Haman was familiar with this, he offered the king ten thousand talents of silver to compensate for the king’s loss of taxes from the Jews. 600000 Jews giving 1/2 holy shekels for 50 years would amount to 100000 talents of silver.)