We have a full weekend ahead of us. The first of four special Shabbatot is this Shabbat, Shabbat Shekalim, during which we read a portion of Parshat KiTisa (Exodus 30:11-16) as an add-on to the scheduled reading, Parshat Mishpatim. Also on this Shabbat, we celebrate the new month of Adar (wow, Purim and Passover are right around the corner). And lastly, in the United States, we honor the birthdays of our great Presidents Washington and Lincoln. Together, these occurrences make for a remarkable confluence of values and ideals.
Exodus 30:11-16, Shekalim, describes the census taken of the Jewish People while in their wanderings following the Exodus from Egypt. As demonstrated by this census, the Torah teaches that it is forbidden to count Jews by equating each person to a single number. Instead, as a way of counting the People, both rich and poor contribute a half shekel coin, the monetary unit at the time. And it is the half shekel coins that are tallied to determine the size of the population.
In the process of counting, all of the People assembled into one large group and "passed over" (verse 13) to the group that had already been counted. The transition from not having been counted to having "passed over" to those who had been accounted for was in no way a simple financial matter between citizen and State. As Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch expresses in Exodus 30:13 in his translation and commentary on The Pentateuch;
There is no higher nobility, nor is there any deeper feeling of happiness than to belong to those who are counted for God and by God...Only with the consciousness of resolving to do the whole of one's duty does one pass over, out of the meaningless crowd of the selfish masses, into the ennobled sphere of those counted by God, into the happy consciousness of being counted by God. (Hirsch, p.578)
"Only with the consciousness of resolving to do the whole of one's duty does one pass over..." Participating in the affairs of State, dedicating a sum equal to that of all others, and knowing that this sum is to be used for the maintenance of the Sanctuary, means both the stability and sanctity of the State are equally dependent upon the egalitarian participation of its citizenry. The betterment of the State and the fulfillment of the individual are simultaneously established as well.
While a separation of Church and State is honored in America, the application of religious ideals to individual citizen's expectations surely applies. Consider the words of President Washington:
I now make it my earnest prayer, that God would have you, and the State over which you preside, in his holy protection, that he would incline the hearts of the Citizens...to entertain a brotherly affection and love for one another...to dispose us all, to do Justice, to love mercy, and to demean ourselves with that Charity, humility and pacific temper of mind...
GEORGE WASHINGTON, circular to the states, Jun. 8, 1783
And is there no more compelling speech than that of the Gettysburg Address to concretize the ideal and expectation of each citizen? As President Lincoln spoke at the dedication of the national cemetery;
Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal...
...The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us-that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion-that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain-that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom-and that government: of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.
As Jews, we are compelled by our tradition to give; to give of ourselves and of our resources. We are called upon by our Tradition to repair that which is broken in our world, to care for the sick, and pull up the downtrodden. And, as Americans, we are obligated to participate in the construction and well being of society through our handiwork and, as well, through taxation. But, we are also given the opportunity to make contributions to the communities and organizations which are empowered to do the good work of society, where government will likely never tread.
Our choice as Americans is that of charitable giving. As I teach students at AJU, it is a remarkable statement of our Nation's values that, following the Sixteenth Amendment, which gave Congress the power to tax individual income, came the Revenue Act of 1917:
In this Revenue Act, charitable organizations (501(c)(3) organizations) became firmly established with one inherent power: the power to authenticate a person's charitable contribution, thus reducing a person's tax liability to the government. While we may take this for granted, the sum total of the Sixteenth Amendment and the establishment of 501(c)(3) organizations defines the IRS Tax Code as a foundational document of the US's ethical code. As with the contribution of a half shekel, each American, in the simple act of paying taxes, participates in the furtherance of society through the advancement of roads and bridges, government run social services and military protection. But unique to America is also the sense of personal responsibility through government, such that we each build our own sanctuaries and schools and feed the hungry and clothe the naked in a manner best suited to the needs of our own local community.
The flourishing of our not-for-profit organizations is a reflection of our forefather's convictions for a just and moral society, of our Jewish traditions' sense of personal and religious obligation to one another, as represented by the half shekel, and to the values set forth by Presidents Washington and Lincoln; all of which we honor this Shabbat and this weekend.
So, when April 15 comes, or for most, October 15, give some thought to the deeper meaning of paying taxes. Consider your role in helping build a more perfect Union. And if paying taxes is less than pleasing, perhaps a gift to charity and an imagined half shekel will help?
by Rabbi Jay A. Strear (Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies)
