The Torah serves many purposes for the Jewish people, one of the most important being the moral and ethical compass for us so that we may serve as, as the Torah instructs us, an "or l'goyim," "a light unto the nations. We are commanded to care for the stranger, the widow, and the orphan. We are taught to welcome guests into our homes and to set aside a set portion of our assets for the poor. We are given guidelines regarding respect for our parents, elders, co-workers, neighbors, and peers. We are even advised how we are supposed to see and treat ourselves, given that we are created in God's holy image. Together, the teachings in this genre of commandment in the Torah are intended to play the role of our individual and communal conscience. They help us to determine the difference between right and wrong, fair and unfair, just and unjust. In this week's parasha, we find a particular verse that both falls into this category of morally themed instructions and encapsulates it. This depth may not be evident upon a first reading of the verse, but when given a fuller examination, it emerges.

When God instructs Moses to take a census of the people at the beginning of our weekly reading, the system God provides for making the count requests that each Jewish adult male make a contribution of a half shekel coin. The collected sum would then allow Moses to calculate the size of the population. Most often, a direct and concise instruction from God is enough. It does not require embellishment. Yet, in this case, God goes on to say that neither are the wealthy permitted to pay more nor are the poor allowed to pay less than the exact half shekel amount. This is not just a pragmatic addition to make sure that the census will be able to be counted accurately. It is an "egalitarian" demand. God is letting the people know that God does not judge people based on mundane characteristics such as wealth. Our simple existence as human beings puts us on equal footing as all others. This equality/egalitarianism is symbolized by the relatively minimal half shekel amount and should remind us of how we, in our generation, should be looking at and treating one another.

We live in a world in which we are bombarded by measures by which we are judged or evaluated that are mundane and superficial. Nevertheless, society both subliminally and directly pressures us to use them on others and on ourselves. Our choices of profession, automobile, couture label, or vacation destination supposedly tell the world more about who we are than how much we care for or treat our fellow human beings. Just a few short verses from this week's parasha tell us that society has gotten it, that WE have gotten it, all wrong. Our goals should be directed toward social justice, not social status. No matter on which rung of the socio-economic ladder you hang your hat, we are all equal, playing the game of life on a level playing field in the eyes of God, symbolized and represented by that one half shekel. We are to evaluate others based on the internal characteristics they display toward others and the efforts they make to be inclusive, not by the external goods people often use to distinguish and make themselves exclusive.

May the simple half shekel inspire us to find new lenses through which we can see and assess our contributions to our families, communities, and the world.

Shabbat Shalom!