פּירוש אויף שמות 30:11

“And God spoke, etc., when you take the head count [literally: lift the head] of the children of Israel.” Everywhere where a head count [literally: lifting of the head] is mentioned in relation to counting, it is because through counting, Israel is elevated above all other nations, for every count indicates the particular virtue that each and every person has. For anything that is not important, like straw and chaff, has no count. But Israel is compared to wheat, as it is said Your belly is like a heap of wheat (Song of Songs 7:3). For each pile by itself is something valuable that the field owner counts, saying, “I have such and such number of piles.” Similarly, every individual’s belly is something valuable. And it specifically mentions the belly so you would not think that only from the perspective of the head is there a difference between Israel and other nations — because God’s name is called specifically upon the head of Israel — but from the perspective of the belly they are all equal, since everyone uses bodily needs equally. Rather, even in their bellies there is an aspect of holiness, because they only eat according to the Torah, as it is written For it is pleasant if you keep them in Your belly (Proverbs 22:18). And it is written And Your Torah is within my innards (Psalms 40:9). This was so that people would not say that Israel has an advantage only from the perspective of the head, in which wisdom resides, for “this nation is truly a wise and understanding people.” But from the perspective of using bodily matters, which go through the belly, they are like all other nations. Instead, even their belly is like a heap of wheat because it is enclosed with lilies — meaning that one eats according to the safeguards and boundaries established by the early sages who were compared to lilies [shoshanim], for they study [sheshonim] the laws, the ways of the world. Therefore, the text specifically mentions the belly in addition to the head that it mentions here.

[THE LORD] SPOKE, etc. When Moshe gathered Israel to separate out the offerings for the Mishkan, he counted them, and this silver was given for the service of the Mishkan, as it is written in [Parashat] Eleh P'kudei (Ex. 38:25), "The silver of the enumeration of the congregation was 100 etc."

V. 11. וידבר ד׳ וגו׳. Von Kap. 25, 1 bis zu diesem Verse war eine fortlaufende Gottesrede, durch welche die Stiftung und Heiligung des Tempels und der Priester geboten worden. Mit dieser nun folgenden Gottesrede wird nun das Verhältnis der Nation zum Tempelheiligtum gezeichnet. Wie von vornherein Tempel- und Nationalleben nicht als zwei getrennte Gebiete zu begreifen gelehrt worden, wie Sanhedrin neben dem Altare stehen, der Altar Recht und Friede und Sittenheiligung dem Nationalleben bringen sollte, und darum die Grundzüge des zu entwickelnden Lebens der Nation den Anordnungen über den Tempelbau vorangehen: so wird hier, nach Vollendung dieser Anordnungen, die Zusammenhörigkeit der Nation und des Tempelheiligtums durch das Schekelgesetz dauernd zum Bewusstsein gebracht und die große jüdische Wahrheit proklamiert: daß das Tempelheiligtum kein ein für allemal hergestelltes und nun fortan durch die Priester zu vollziehendes opus operatum sei, das ohne die ewig frisch und lebendig bleibende Beteiligung der Nation seinen Zweck erreichen könne, und daß ebenso die Bedeutung der einzelnen und der Nation im ganzen nur in der Leistung bestehe, durch welche das Tempelheiligtum, das ja nichts anderes als das Heiligtum des Nationalgesetzes ist, seine Verwirklichung findet.