Parashat HaShavua Ki Tisa / When You Elevate
This Week's Reading List:
Shemot / Exodus 30:11-34:35
Yechezekiel / Ezekiel 36:16-38
Korintim Aleph / 1 Corinthians 8:4-13
There was definitely no shortage of material to choose from in this weeks Parasha. So you can appreciate the difficulty I had in finally making a selection that I thought would be a glory to HaShem and a blessing to you, our readers. Here is the portion of Scripture I decided upon.
Shemot {30:11} HaShem spoke to Moshe (Moses), saying, {30:12} "When you take a census of bnei Yisrael (children of Israel) who are numbered among them, then each ish (man) shall give a ransom for his nefesh (soul) to HaShem, when you number them; that there be no plague among them when you number them. {30:13} They shall give this, everyone who passes over to those who are numbered, half a shekel after the shekel of the sanctuary; (the shekel is twenty gerahs;) half a shekel for an offering to HaShem. {30:14} everyone who passes over to those who are numbered, from twenty years old and upward, shall give the korban (draw near offering) to HaShem. {30:15} The rich shall not give more, and the poor shall not give less, than the half shekel, when they give the korban of HaShem, to make kapparah (atonement) for your nefshim (souls). {30:16} You shall take the kapparah money from bnei Yisrael, and shall appoint it for the service of the Ohel Moed (Tent of Meeting / Tabernacle) ; that it may be a memorial for bnei Yisrael before HaShem, to make kapparah for your nefshim."
The numbering of bnei Yisrael was always for a purpose, which was determined by HaShem. Never was bnei Yisrael to be numbered for any purpose other than HaShems purpose. We read in the above quoted passage that the numbering had to be accompanied by a half shekel, donated by each person for the ransoming of their soul. We are also told that the paying of the ransom money would ensure that no plague would break out among the people. The ransom money was to be used for the maintenance of the Ohel Moed.
We remember when King David whimsically decided to number bnei Yisrael (Shmuel Bet [2 Samuel] 24). Irrespective of the pleas by his general Joab not to do so, King David still went through with the census, a census which was not sanctioned by HaShem and as a result a plague broke out among the people.
Why would we have to ransom our souls? The Hebrew word translated into English as ransom is kopher. This is where we get the Hebrew word Kapparah, which means covering. It is applied to the offerings that effected atonement of a sin committed against G-d. However, the Torah is replete with instructions on how animals offered up to HaShem accomplish this purpose. Therefore, can giving money also atone for sin? The answer to that question is an emphatic NO! So then why would HaShem require a half shekel payment as a ransom for the souls of bnei Yisrael?
The answer to this question is relatively simple and comes from the use and purpose of the half shekel payment.
Shemot {30:16} You shall take the kapparah money from bnei Yisrael, and shall appoint it for the service of the Ohel Moed; that it may be a memorial for bnei Yisrael before HaShem, to make kapparah for your nefshim."
The half shekel itself did not do the ransoming. Money or the payment of money to a religious organization, church or synagogue can not ransom your soul. What did the ransoming, as pointed out in the verse I quoted above, have to do with how the money was used? The half shekel was for the service of the Ohel Moed. Included in the services performed in the Ohel Moed were the korbanot (draw near offerings / sacrifices). These are what did the ramsoming for the souls of bnei Yisrael. While money can not save anyones soul, HaShem shows us here that money is necessary in the soul saving process. Without the money the Ohel Moed could not function properly. Without a properly functioning Ohel Moed the kapparah could not be made and animals would not have been able to be a substitute offering for the sin of man.
HaShem knew the importance of money in the overall process of salvation and I think that we should as well. Without proper financing, our Messianic Jewish institutions will not have the ability to teach, preach, minister and witness, whether to the lost souls of the house of Israel or to the nations. I pray that each one reading this Dvar Torah is doing their part in giving to their local kehilah (congregation) so as to help facilitate the edification of the body, the saving of souls and the perpetuation of the Besora Tova (Good News / Gospel). If you are not, then beware that a plague does not breakout within your household.
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Baruch HaShem
Rabbi Ya'acov Farber
Hallelujah for our Lord, our Teacher,our Rabbi, "YESHUA" King Messiah for ever and ever!!!
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