Moshe Kollmar and Yakir Forman's Review of Chizkuni's Comments on Parashat Shekalim

           In Parashat Shekalim, Chizkuni takes it upon himself to explain the purpose of the giving of the half-Shekalim in general as well as the purpose of the specific Halachot pertaining to the giving of the half-Shekalim. In his analysis, three major motifs arise: the Pshat theme of counting the people for a military purpose, the Kapparah motif, and connections to other parts of Tanach.

           In the Pshat realm, Chizkuni notes that the instructions described here are for the count that will take place in the future in Parashat BeMidbar. He notes that the count is “Al Avodat Ohel Mo’eid,” implying that the purpose of the count is one relating to an already-erected Ohel Mo’eid (the buying of Korbanot). [This goes against Rashi, who holds that these donations are to help fund the construction of the Mishkan.] This makes sense, as the only recorded exact number of people in Sefer Shemot (the number of Yotzei Mitzrayim is given as an approximate number of 600,000) exactly matches the number in Parashat BeMidbar.   If the purpose of this count is to fund Korbanot, one might ask why only those who are Yotzei Tzavah must donate, as even Levi’im should have share in the Korbanot Tzibbur.  Chizkuni answers that the purpose of the count is to organize an army (while the purpose of the donation is to buy Korbanot). This explains a few details of the counting process on a Pshat level. For example, only male citizens 20 years of age or older are counted because it is men of those ages who will be part of the army. Additionally, the Torah commands that a rich man not give more and a poor man not give less because that would make it impossible to count Bnei Yisrael based on the Shekalim. Furthermore, the Torah says that the Shekalim count will help avoid a Negef. From the Pshat angle, this Negef is at the hands of Bnei Yisrael’s enemies, and it is clear that organizing an army will help avoid such a Negef. Thus, the Pshat explanation of Chizkuni is driven by the purposes of organizing an army and buying Korbanot.

Chizkuni also explains the count and many of its details from the angle of Kapparah. This approach uses as its starting point that Bnei Yisrael donate money in order to achieve Kapparah of some sort. Chizkuni suggests that this Kapparah is for the Cheit HaEigel - just as the Cheit HaEigel happened halfway through the day, Bnei Yisrael give a half-shekel. (This is especially fitting because in this section, the only term used to described this monetary amount is a half-shekel, not the equivalent beka used in other contexts and other census commands) Chizkuni says that the Kapparah comes even before the money is counted, as long as it has already been donated. In order for all of Bnei Yisrael to be equal in the Kapparah, they all must give a half-shekel. Furthermore, Bnei Yisrael are counted from age 20 and up because that is the minimum age for punishment from heaven. Finally, the Negef that the count will avoid is some sort of spiritual Negef caused by a direct count, as occurred in the time of David HaMelech (see below). However, according to Chizkuni, as long as the Mishkan stood, Bnei Yisrael could be counted directly, and the Negef was avoided due to the Kapparah brought about by the half-shekalim. To prove that Kapparah is major theme in this section, Chizkuni notes the repeated use of that Shoresh - “Lechapeir Al Nafshoseichem” and “Kesef HaKipurim.”

Chizkuni also focuses on juxtapositions and connections to other parts of Tanach. He notes, to prove that Kapparah is a major theme in this section, that it is juxtaposed to the Pasuk that says Aharon will be “Mechapeir” on the Mizbach HaZahav. His connections to other parts of Tanach focus on two major sections. One (Shmuel Bet Perek 24) tells a story of David receiving a punishment from heaven for counting the people directly. Chizkuni views this as the prime example of the “Negef” that the Kesef HaKipurim helped avoid during Moshe’s time. Thus, he learns from Shmuel Bet what exactly the Negef is. Chizkuni also connects this section to Megillat Esther. He notes that the command of Parashat Shekalim was given on Rosh Chodesh Adar, connecting it to the Megillah. Chizkuni calculates that approximately 10,000 Kikar (of Chullin, which is very fitting because he interprets the primary purpose of the Machatzit HaShekel as to support the military, not to build the Mishkan, in which case Kikar of Kodshim would be the unit used.) were donated by the generation of Bnei Yisrael that left Egypt over their lifetimes. He connects this to Haman’s offer to pay Achashveirosh 10,000 Kikar silver to cancel out the Shekalim of Bnei Yisrael.

We enjoyed Chizkuni’s view of this section, as it was very enlightening and encompassed many ideas. Chizkuni gave an extremely rational Pshat view of the section, and then he gave another view that seemed to fit well with the themes suggested by the words in the section. He then connected the section to others in Tanach, both a seemingly relevant one and a seemingly irrelevant one. The only thing it seems that Chizkuni didn’t consider was that this section describes a different count than the one in Parashat BeMidbar (even though there appears to be a clear distinction in the Pesukim, Chizkuni believes these to be the same count). Otherwise, however, he seems to be open to many different interpretations of the section and many different styles of proof.