Ki Thisa: Follow the Money

The Beatles said: Money Can't buy me love.  The advertising industry very successfully and lucratively  argues to the contrary.   Why is expensive  jewelry used for betrothal?

There are three precious metal transactions in the parsha.  The parsha begins with the poll tax, half a  silver shekel ( by my rough estimate 20%  of the annual income) . Every man over the age of 20 had an equal share. The tax was an expiation, membership dues. 

The golden calf, that spontaneous outpouring  of misdirected need for ritual, involved  contributions of jewelry.  The golden rings that were in the ears of the most beloved, the wives and children, were needed to create this alternative love object.  Like a 19th century Russian novel,  these men stripped the gold from their families to please the illicit lover. 

After the molten calf, the Israelites, in their regret, remove their jewelry.  After  they remove these tokens, their betrayed Gd instructs them to remove the jewelry.  The errant  fiancee recognizes that the gifts must be returned and the wronged party agrees. 

When my parents were  displaced persons in Germany, my father was arrested for dealing in contraband: ration cards or cameras.  The situation looked bad.  He was going to jail for some time.  My mother went to the rabbi.  He asked her if she had anything of value.  She had an expensive ring.  Perhaps the ring had been sown into a shirt  that my father had washed in  Treblinka.  She gave the ring to the rabbi.  He sold it and with the proceeds, he hired a lawyer ( and, perhaps, gave the lawyer something to work with).  My father was promptly released.  The man he was dealing with went to jail. 

I am really not sure what money can or cannot buy.