The Land I Will Show You, sec. 7, chapter 13
The Half-Shekel Coin: Group and Individual Identity
(For the previous chapter of “The Land I Will Show You,” click here. For the ToC, click here.)
13: The Half-Shekel Coin: Group and Individual Identity
We can learn another aspect of divine vision from the story of the Akedah. The Akedah did not fully achieve its purpose. The purchase of Mount Moriah was not realized until David performed a new “Akedah” by offering up his life. This implies that David’s self-sacrifice was necessary in order to complete the Akedah and to actualize the acquisition of Mount Moriah. On the other hand, it seems that David had to do this to atone for his own new sin, that is, the census of the people. As it is written:
And again the anger of Hashem was kindled against Israel, and he moved David against them to say, “Go, count Israel and Judah”… And David’s heart smote him after he had counted the people… And Hashem sent a plague upon Israel… And when David saw the angel smiting the people, he said to Hashem, “Behold, I have sinned, and I have done wickedly; but these sheep, what have they done? Let Your hand, I pray, be against me, and against my father’s house” (2 Samuel 24:1–17).
This presents an apparent contradiction: Was a new Akedah needed to complete the effect of the first Akedah, or to atone for the new sin of the census?
Actually, the sin of the census itself indicates the incompleteness of the achievement of the Akedah. For the Akedah concludes with a blessing: “I will multiply your seed like the stars of the heaven” (Genesis 22:17); like the stars, the children of Israel are not given to counting: “And He brought him outside, and said, “Look now toward heaven and count the stars, if you would be able to count them.” And He said to him, “So shall be your seed” (ibid., 15:5); “But David didn’t take the number of them… for Hashem had said He would increase Israel like the stars of the heavens" (1 Chronicles 27:23). If they were indeed counted, it signifies that the Akedah and its blessing were not successful. This is also connected to Satan, whom the Akedah was supposed to conquer, as explained above. So it is written: “And Satan stood up against Israel, and provoked David to number Israel” (ibid., 21:1). The census is a sign that Satan is alive and well, still active, inciting and corrupting.
Moreover, although it is forbidden to count the children of Israel, they can indeed be counted by giving a half-shekel; apparently, counting by shekels does not undermine their status as stars (the reason will be explained later). With the half-shekel, all the sacrifices, atonement of the human soul, are purchased to maintain the institution of animal sacrifices offered instead of a person, an institution established after the Akedah and by its power: “And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and behold a ram … and he took the ram, and offered it as a burnt offering instead of his son” (Genesis 22:13). This implies that the achievement of the Akedah is connected to the proper way of counting the children of Israel, and that by the power of the Akedah, the stellar quality of the children of Israel is preserved. If this is undermined, by them being counted without giving shekels, it is nothing but a sign that the Akedah was not completed and Satan dominates the land.
Understanding the meaning of all this is very important for our subject, the matter of the land of Israel. For the Akedah – the second “Lech Lecha” – completes the purchase of the land, its redemption from Satan, the mitzvah of “I will show you”; this aspect of counting, in a proper and improper way, will yield another lesson regarding sanctification of the land, and with its understanding, we will know what is commanded upon us.
It is forbidden to count the children of Israel. They are heavenly, like stars. By giving a half-shekel, it is permitted to count them, and these shekels go towards the purchase of sacrifices. All this is by the power of the achievement of the Akedah, the conquest of Satan, and on this depends the sanctity of the land.
Here is the explanation of the matter and its inner meaning: Counting people by counting heads defines each individual as a unit of measure, implying that each person exists as a separate entity. Indeed, this is how things appear from a human perspective: The individual person is a true, separate entity existing on its own. This is a narrow and mistaken Satanic perspective. It is not so from the true divine perspective. From this perspective, the true unit is not the individual but the collective, the people. This idea is preserved by the mitzvah of the half-shekel and the offering of sacrifices, and with the internalization of this idea into the nation’s consciousness, it is elevated to a divine celestial level. How so? It is all hinted in these verses:
Builder of Jerusalem, Hashem: Israel’s scattered ones He will gather in. He heals the broken-hearted and binds up their wounds. He counts the number of the stars, to all of them he gives names. Great is our Lord, and of great power, His understanding is beyond number (Psalms 147:2–4).
The stars are counted by Hashem, whose understanding is beyond number. There are things that are not given to narrow human counting, a counting that isolates each specific item from the others, as if the true unit is the specific item. These are the stars. Their counting is heavenly, divine. It is impossible to count them as individuals, one after the other. If you try to count one star after another, time will end, and they will not. It is impossible to know the number of stars except by knowing the great unified whole, the one divine will at the root of the existence of all the stars. Similarly, the children of Israel are counted. They should not be counted by human numbers that isolate, one after the other, but rather by a divine counting that relates to the whole. How does the individual make himself part of the whole? By viewing himself as an incomplete fragment, as part of a whole. This is called “broken-hearted.” Each individual is but a part that combines with others to form a complete unit, and only by this combination is a divine, celestial, true unit formed. The half-shekel perpetuates this consciousness: Each individual is a fragment that is included in the whole, the scattered ones of Israel who are gathered and become a nation in the rebuilt Jerusalem. From the shekels representing the breaking of the heart, sacrifices are purchased, sacrifices to God which are broken spirits that ascend before Him to heaven, a sign of the individual’s self-sacrifice and his realization that as an individual he has no firm and continuous existence.1 Thus, the children of Israel are considered like stars in the heavens: when they are before Him, in His presence. The children of Israel sacrifice themselves as offerings, and by doing so, they draw near before Hashem, that is, they renounce their individuality and think of the general and eternal matters, matters that concern Hashem. Then they are counted as stars, in a collective and unifying count that does not separate.
These words are not just fine words of inspiration; we are seeking to establish the truths of reality as it is. What is the true unit of existence? The natural perception of the person, the individual, is that the individual exists as a separate entity, that the connection between him and the collective is artificial. But in truth, the individual is not real. He comes into existence and ceases to exist, and does not have a firm and continuous existence. But the collective of the children of Israel is a real and existing thing. “We have learnt that a tribe will never cease to exist”2 – the collective has a true, continuous existence, like “the new heavens and the new earth... so shall your seed and your name stand” (Isaiah 66:22).
Just as a fool looks at an animal and does not see the whole animal, but perceives the fingers as a separate thing and the eyes as a separate thing, etc., and does not understand that all the limbs together form a complete unit created from all of them, the form of the animal, so exactly is he who thinks of an individual from among people as a true, complete thing. But this perception is very difficult, because it is contrary to human nature; it requires him to transcend the natural view that the individual person exists as a real entity. It is difficult to break the heart and sacrifice the soul before Hashem, to ascend to divine consciousness. But with this knowledge, people become celestial, that is: With this perception, the truth as it is in the eyes of God who sees everything is perceived. With this knowledge, one transcends an earthly, Satanic perception, that is: One transcends the narrow and distorted view that separates people from one another and from God, that separates earth from heaven. With this knowledge, a new heaven and a new earth will be achieved, as the land will be sanctified with the sanctity of the heavens, and the knowledge of God will be known also to humans on earth.
As long as you look at things in a general view, considering the whole as the true existing thing, you are before Hashem; otherwise, you engage in Satanic matters. Individuality leads to evil egoism, each person with his own opinion, which is not, in truth, a real existing thing.
We have learned another method of divine vision, another pathway to redemption of the land from Satan: to understand things in accordance with their generalities, to think about the matters of the collective as a private person naturally thinks about his own matters. Every person has his own interests, and these are the things that interest him and occupy his thoughts always; the question is only what is the “person.” If you want to live according to the truth, you should transfer your sense of self from yourself to the whole nation. If you elevate yourself to see that you are not really a complete thing, but a part of the collective, the concerns of the collective will be your concerns, and its interests – the real and enduring ones – will be your interests, the good in the eyes of God the good in your eyes.
Instead of thinking about your success and the success of your family and friends – in terms of health, livelihood, etc., and also spirituality – think about the success of the collective. Is the Nation of Israel healthy? Is the Nation of Israel provided for well? These are your true concerns, and if you would be a man of truth and not a man of falsehood, you need to learn to think this way.
The proper place for this way of thinking is Eretz Yisrael, the land of the Nation of Israel, the place where they form a unified unit and act as a unified unit.
The achievement of the Akedah, the second command of “Lech Lecha,” is a blessing and a promise: “I will multiply your seed like the stars of the heaven and like the sand which is upon the sea shore, and your seed shall possess the gate of his enemies” (Genesis 22:17). This is the godly level achieved with the sanctification of the land, if we do what is incumbent upon us in order to realize the vision of “the land I will show you.”
Summary
Dear reader, I have shown you three pathways of divine vision, three aspects:
Looking with consideration of the divine perspective, that is, to contemplate what He sees and in what manner
Looking into the inner essence of things, that is, to understand the inner truth hidden behind the superficiality of everything
Looking at the generality of things, that is, to include the individual parts in their true collective
These are three different perspectives, but all are pathways leading to the same sacred purpose: transcending from human vision to vision with the eyes of God, fulfilling the mitzvah of “I will show you.”
Know that as long as you engage in one of these three ways, you are engaged in redeeming the land from Satan and sanctifying it. The land is sanctified by the actions of human beings to whom it was given. The complete Redemption will be achieved when we become perfect in these ways and become experts in seeing the land in its true goodness, but the Redemption does not come all at once, but gradually; I have learned and taught its way, as Hashem has favored me – and now you go forth in it!
I have already noted that these actions and even the sanctity of the land are not limited to Eretz Yisrael. It is proper to act in these ways everywhere, but their perfection will be achieved only in Eretz Yisrael. If you start to conduct yourself in them wherever you are, you will find that an aspect of Eretz Yisrael will shine upon you, and you will yearn for the Holy Land to perfect yourself in them.
And when we all perfect ourselves in divine vision, we will be without sin, and it will be said about us: “Blessed are the inhabitants of the land of Israel who have neither sin nor iniquity, neither in life nor in death.” Thus will we make heaven upon earth and merit the blessing of Hashem:
That your days may be multiplied, and the days of your children, upon the land which Hashem swore to your fathers to give them, as the days of heaven upon the earth (Deuteronomy 11:21).
The Hebrew book is available for purchase from me directly, in Judaica stores, and online, here:
This matter is explained in Oros Yaakov, essay “Abraham and David” (A).