Parashat Ki Tissa starts with the commandment to give a Half Shekel, “This they shall give, every one that passes among them that are numbered, half a shekel of the sacred shekel.... Whoever passes through those counted, twenty years old and over, shall give the contribution for God.”
There is a difference of opinion amongst Medieval commentators as to what age one becomes obliged to perform this commandment, which is the obligation to give charity to the Temple. The verse’s plain meaning seems to indicate that the obligation only begins “from twenty years old and above.” This means that when a boy turns 13 years old and becomes Bar-Mitzvah, he is responsible for keeping all the commandments, but to perform this mitzvah specifically, he must wait until he is twenty years old.
What exactly is the significance of the age of twenty in the Torah? Later, the Torah states that age twenty is the age when one is ready for “the army.” Yet, age twenty, as noted, first appears in relation to the mitzvah of the Half Shekel, and the principle is that everything follows the inception.
Age Twenty or Thirteen
So why is this commandment, unlike all other Torah obligations, only obliging “from twenty years old and above!?” As stated, there is a difference of opinion among the commentaries. According to Maimonides and Nachmanides (in his commentary on the Torah), even though the Torah writes explicitly that this commandment obliges “from twenty years old and above,” the commandment for all generations, like all other commandments, obligates every thirteen-year-old. Also, though a minor under the age of Bar-Mitzvah is certainly not obligated, however, the mishnah in Shekalim states that if the father began to give a Half-Shekel on behalf of his minor child, the father must continue giving annually until the boy is old enough to give on his own. Once the child turns thirteen, he is required to give of his own accord.
The Vilna Gaon does not rule like Maimonides and Nachmanides, but rather follows Sefer HaChinuch, the Bartenura, and the Roke’ach. He writes that he found this ruling explicitly stated in the Jerusalem Talmud. The other commentators do not quote the Jerusalem Talmud as their source, but the Vilna Goan asserts that from there we learn the commandment obligates “from twenty years old and above” for all of time.
The Jerusalem and Babylonian Talmuds
What is the special meaning of the age of 20? What happens when a person becomes 20 and can become part of the army?
The Arizal writes that only at age twenty does a person attain the mindset of the Father Principle (Mochin of Abba). In other words, it is only then that the individual can understand the consciousness of wisdom. Thus, if the Jerusalem Talmud—as the Vilna Gaon writes—argues that the Half Shekel is a mitzvah that starts at age twenty, we can then guess that the Babylonian Talmud rules that the age of obligation is thirteen and not twenty, like all the commandments. This is because as a general rule, the Jerusalem Talmud expresses the mindset of the Father Principle, while the Babylonian Talmud expressed the mindset of the Mother Principle, as follows.
It is at the age of thirteen that according to Kabbalah, one acquires the mindset of the Mother Principle (Mochin of Imma), or the consciousness of the sefirah of understanding. This mindset and consciousness are associated with the tefillin written according to Rashi’s ruling—the most common type of tefillin. Because of this, the custom among the Chasidim used to be that at one’s Bar-Mitzvah one would start donning a pair of tefillin made according to Rashi, and at the age of twenty, start donning a pair of tefillin made according to Rabbeinu Tam and corresponding to the consciousness of wisdom, the mindset of the Father Principle. Later, there were some that began donning the Rabbeinu Tam tefillin from the age of eighteen, since the sages say that “at 18 to be wed.” However, if one holds that the Rabbeinu Tam tefillin are a halachic obligation (and not only the Rashi tefillin), then he would start donning them at his Bar-Mitzvah (as is the Chabad custom).
Two Types of Responsibility
What is the main idea to be gleaned from all of this? It is written that only from age twenty is a person fit to serve in the army and to be counted in a “quorum of men,” as well us to serve in any other position of public leadership. This leads to one very clear difference between the ages of thirteen and twenty that will help us to understand the difference between the consciousness of understanding (age thirteen) and the consciousness of wisdom (age twenty).
At thirteen, with the advent of understanding, or the Mother Principle in one’s consciousness, the individual can take responsibility, but only over himself. But at twenty, when wisdom, or the Father Principle, enters one’s consciousness, the individual can begin to take responsibility for the community, for society, even for the entire Jewish people.
So, becoming Bar-Mitzvah means taking self-responsibility (for a girl this stage begins at Bat-Mitzvah, at the age of twelve). Until that age, the child cannot yet be responsible for himself since he does not yet have enough of the sefirah of knowledge (דעת) which is the psychological faculty needed to take responsibility. The faculty of knowledge is situated in Kabbalah in the brain’s rear lobe (מוח אחורי), which in Hebrew is cognate with the modern word meaning “responsibility” (אחריות). By taking responsibility, a person merits to continuously elevate until he reaches the aspect of Godliness known as, “the Primordial One of Creation” (שׁוֹנוֹ מוּקְדָם לְעוֹלָם). Indeed, this is hinted to in the verse, “You have formed me with a frontside and a backside, You have placed Your hand upon me” (הכּפַי כַּלְת עֶשְׁתַי וַתְּרַם צֶדֶק רוֹחוּא), with the word “Your hand” (הכּפַּ), literally meaning, “Your [letter] kaf,” i.e., the letter kaf whose gematria is twenty. From this verse, the sages learnt that Adam was created as a twenty-year-old man, making him ready to take responsibility for all of Creation.
So, what happens when a person reaches the age of thirteen, the age at which he is obligated by the commandments? The Torah tells him—hence, God is telling him—from now on, you need to take responsibility for your life. Until now, you were in the hands of your parents. But now that your father has made the blessing “Blessed is He who has freed me from [responsibility for] the punishments of this one,” from now on, you are responsible for yourself.
What then happens at the age of twenty? It is then that the consciousness of wisdom, the Father Principle, enters and he can now take responsibility for others, for society. To take responsibility for the community, one must commit himself to community needs. The best example of this can be seen in a soldier. That is why the age of twenty is defined as the age at which one can become part of the army and contribute to society.
Responsibility and Pursuit
The sages tell us that, “At twenty, pursuit.” The plain meaning of this statement is that at age twenty, one begins to pursue a livelihood. Since they also say that “At eighteen, to marry,” by the time a young man has reached the age of twenty, he is married and perhaps even has one or two children. So it is only natural that he needs to pursue a livelihood in order to provide for his young family. Thus, at the age of twenty he takes responsibility for his family, the most basic unit in society. Moreover, pursuing a livelihood also refers to whatever is needed to sustain society. Something unique to making a living is that it is not an individual’s needs alone but includes the needs of society as a whole.
Just as there is a Ministry of Defense, there also needs to be a Ministry of Economy. Once a person needs to enter the marketplace, he begins to become aware of the needs of society and what is happening in their surroundings amongst the people. This is part of taking responsibility for society, and not just for oneself. All this is what we call the “mindset of the Father Principle.”
(from a shiur given on 18 Adar 5773)
