By Rabbi Shlomo Zargari:
Shalom, in this parasha, there’s a command to count the Children of Yisrael:
“שאו את ראש כל עדת בני ישראל”
Rav Wolbe זצוק״ל in Shiurei Chumash writes that our process of counting the Children of Yisrael is very different than the election tallies or census that takes place in our time. In the electoral process, it makes no difference if a professor or an illiterate place the ballot, because the purpose of the voting is not to place a spotlight on the individual, they just want to figure out who got the most votes. The purpose of the census is to determine the total count of people.
The counting of the Children of Yisrael, on the other hand, is to show the great love HaShem has for every single one of His children. Rashi tells us, “Because of his love for them, He counts them at all times.”
The Torah instructed Moshe, Aharon and all the heads of the tribes to be present during the process of counting. Since this census was was performed by counting each individual’s half Shekel donation, would it not have been easier for a collector to go around and collect the money? Why did the leaders of the nation have to give of their precious time to be involved in this process? This census was meant to be an uplifting experience:
שאו את ראש בני ישראל״”
“Lift up the heads of the Children of Yisrael”
The only way the counting would be performed was if the greatest men of the generation would take interest in the individual. The Ramban explains that there was an even more compelling reason that necessitated the presence of Moshe and Aharon. “Additionally, he who came and introduced himself before the foremost prophet and his brother, the holy one of HaShem, has gained merit and life… it was a merit to be counted by Moshe and Aharon because they will look at them favorably and pray that HaShem have compassion on them…”
When each person came to give his half Shekel, Moshe would ask him his name and bless him that he succeed in his endeavors.
The GR’A said that during the era of prophecy there was no need for anyone to try to determine his own unique purpose in life. He would simply ask the prophet, and the prophet would tell him what he was supposed to do and to go about doing it. A person who came before Moshe, the greatest of all prophets, would merit an even more inspiring encounter. Moshe would penetrate into the deepest recesses of his soul in order to give him an appropriate blessing for success. Afterward Aharon and the leaders of the tribes would also bless him individually. Such a process uplifted and encouraged a person significantly.
It is crucial that every person know that he is important. :” Each and every person must say, ‘ The world was created for me’”(Sanhedrin 37b). Every person has a unique combination of strengths and circumstances that distinguish him from anyone else who has lived or will ever live. He was born to specific parents, lived in a particular era and place, and was given certain talents because he has an avoda that he, and only he, can accomplish. The entire creation is waiting for him to achieve what is incumbent upon him.
If a person is not conscience of his own importance, he cannot begin his avoda in Torah. As an introduction to the acceptance of the Torah, HaShem told our nation: “And you will be for Me a kingdom of priests ( i.e., dignitaries).”
Every Jew is a dignitary with responsibilities and an elevated status, no different from a dignitary in a government. It was with these feelings that all of Am Yisrael prepared themselves to receive the Torah, and it would be beneficial for us to try to emulate these feelings as well.