Ki Thisa: Doing your best

The parsha begins with exacting a poll tax, a ransom, for every man counted in the census. 

כִּ֣י תִשָּׂ֞א אֶת־רֹ֥אשׁ בְּנֵֽי־יִשְׂרָאֵ֘ל לִפְקֻדֵיהֶם֒ וְנָ֨תְנ֜וּ אִ֣ישׁ כֹּ֧פֶר נַפְשׁ֛וֹ   בִּפְקֹ֣ד אֹתָ֑ם וְלֹא־יִהְיֶ֥ה בָהֶ֛ם נֶ֖גֶף בִּפְקֹ֥ד אֹתָֽם׃

When you take a census of the Israelite people according to their enrollment, each shall pay the LORD a ransom for himself on being enrolled, that no plague may come upon them through their being enrolled.

Why does a person need to be ransomed from a count?   Counting Jews is taboo and this verse is the origin of that mysterious prohibition. 

The counting by deposit, in this the half shekel poll tax, de-identifies  the process, it makes it anonymous. In our time, we values this removal from surveillance.  This year, the US conducts its census. The census asks for details about ethnicity, household composition, etc.  Many are afraid to give these answers.  In this century of ethnic cleansing, it is very reasonable to fear how  a census containing such details  will be used.  To be identified can have dire consequences.  Short of that, data about the details of populations can be used as targets by political organizations in subversive ways. I do not think that is a paranoid idea


The repeated word  in this verse ( three times)  and in our parsha is פְקֹ֣ד  .   Onkelos, the official translator of the text renders פְקֹ֣ד  as  the Aramaic  תִּמְנֵי., count, number.  I think this is a simplification of the meaning of this very significant word.   It has a wide range of definitions
The Klein dictionary (Sefaria) lists:  פקד to attend to; to visit, muster; to appoint. as the primary definitions

The first usage is Gen 21:1:
 The LORD took note of Sarah as He had promised, and the LORD did for Sarah as He had spoken. 

  פקד is is what Gd does to Sarah in preparation for the birth of Isaac, Gd takes account of her.  Sarah enters a state if recognition before Gd in preparation for a most significant, miraculous event. 

 פקדis the word that unites the books of Genesis and Exodus. Joseph tells his bothers twice at the end of Genesis: 

פָּקֹ֧ד יִפְקֹ֣ד אֶתְכֶ֗ם וְהֶעֱלָ֤ה אֶתְכֶם֙ מִן־הָאָ֣רֶץ הַזֹּ֔את
 God will surely take notice of you and bring you up from this land
The Israelites will count ( for something), they are worthy of mention and memory. 

When Gd tells  Moshe to  go  to the Elders of Israel in Egypt, he instructs Moshe to use these same words to prove his bona fides.  
פָּקֹ֤ד פָּקַ֙דְתִּי֙ אֶתְכֶ֔ם וְאֶת־הֶעָשׂ֥וּי לָכֶ֖ם בְּמִצְרָֽיִם׃
‘I have taken note of you and of what is being done to you in Egypt,
Perhaps the statement of Joseph has been passed down as a code to identify the redeemer.


This language appears in our parsha, but it comes as a warning to the Israelites who have just made a golden calf

וּבְי֣וֹם פָּקְדִ֔י וּפָקַדְתִּ֥י עֲלֵיהֶ֖ם חַטָּאתָֽם׃
But when I make an accounting, I will bring them to account for their sins.”

This is a terrifying statement.  Gd is reserving the punishment for the great sin of rebellion for some indefinite future date.  I am sure some of that stored anger was spent on my immediate ancestors.  Who knows how much is left? 

 פקד also sullies the most mystical appeal to kindness, the 13  elements of Divine kindness.  When Gd reveals the Divine nature to Moshe, this 13 fold kindness is the communication that we quote in our  penitential (selichoth) prayer.  But we leave out the end of the sentence, the part that starts with  פקד

פֹּקֵ֣ד ׀ עֲוֺ֣ן אָב֗וֹת עַל־בָּנִים֙ וְעַל־בְּנֵ֣י בָנִ֔ים עַל־שִׁלֵּשִׁ֖ים וְעַל־רִבֵּעִֽים׃
 but visits the iniquity of parents upon children and children’s children, upon the third and fourth generations.”


The counting requires expiation because it reminds the ultimate counter of the potential of the individual and his accomplishments... and the gap between them.  The half shekel is enough  to cover כֹּ֧פֶר the moment of exposure. 

Make every moment count.