“כי תשא את ראש בני ישראל לפקדיהם ונתנו איש כפר נפשו לד' בפקד 30:12אתם ולא יהיה בהם נגף בפקד אתם.”
“When you take a census of the B’nei Yisroel according to their numbers, every man shall give Hashem an atonement for his soul when counting them, so that there will not be a plague among them when counting them.” Klal Yisroel are not to be counted directly, rather they are to be counted through the Machatzis Hashekel. Why is this?
Why does the Posuk repeat “בפקוד אותם?” Klal Yisroel are not allowed to be counted directly, which was why Klal Yisroel were counted here based upon the machatzis hashekel which each and every Yid gave. By counting the machatzis hashekel, the count of Klal Yisroel became known. We know that in the times of Dovid Hamelech, Klal Yisroel were counted, and it caused a plague amongst Klal Yisroel. Why are Klal Yisroel not allowed to be counted directly, while other nations of the world can count their people as many times as they want and it has no negative ramifications?
The Gemara in Bava Basra 23b teaches us about the din of a רוב, a majority, and there are those who want to come and be mekatreg (antagonize/prosecute and seek to have Klal Yisroel punished for their actions) on Klal Yisroel and say that they should all be destroyed because the majority of them are chayiv, so they should all be chayiv. However, they are quiet and do not say this, for tzaddikim are compared to many, and are not just considered one for this purpose. Yeshaya 60:22 “הקטון יהיה לאלף” – There are some tzaddikim who are like 1,000 people; there are some who are like 800 people... others like 20... However, the mekatragim do not know how to evaluate each tzaddik, to know how many people he is equivalent to, and they therefore are quiet, for they do not know if they have a majority or not. Being that these mekatragim are quiet, they save Klal Yisroel from much evil.
However, if Klal Yisroel are counted, and each tzaddik is counted as one person, then the calculation of each tzaddik being much more than one is nullified at that time, and it may be that the majority of Klal Yisroel is bad, thereby giving the mekatragim an opening to be mekatreg against Klal Yisroel, and cause great harm to them. This is the reason that it is prohibited to count Klal Yisroel directly.
By counting each person as one, it minimizes what the person may actually be, and what he can become. Klal Yisroel have tremendous kochos. Moshe Rabbeinu minimized himself; he was the ultimate anav, and was always seeking to raise Klal Yisroel. Klal Yisroel and the Mishkan were inextricably connected. Each Yid gave a machatzis hashekel towards the Mishkan, and thereby connected himself to Hakodosh Boruch Hu. Chazal tell us that Moshe was compared to all 600,000 of Klal Yisroel. We all have so much within us; we must seek to attach ourselves to the taryag mitzvos and the Torah, and then we will be zoche to bring forth greatness. Now, we are not zoche to have the Mishkan to connect ourselves to, but we can still connect ourselves to Hakodosh Boruch Hu through the Torah and mitzvos. May we be zoche to truly attach ourselves to Hashem through our avodas Hashem.
How Much is a Tzaddik
RABBI BEN ZION SNEH
