Lifting Up the Head of Israel After It Was Brought Low

Rabbi Jacob opened: "The way of the sluggard is as a hedge of thorns" (Proverbs 15:19). This is the wicked Esau, who is like a thorn-stake: when you pull it loose from here, it tears free from there. So too is the wicked Esau, twisting about: "Bring your poll-tax, bring your land-tax, bring your annual-tax." If a man has nothing, Esau fleeces him and impoverishes him. "But the path of the upright is a highway" (ibid.). This is the Holy One, blessed be He, of whom it is written, "For the ways of the LORD are upright," who made His tongue gracious to Moses and said "Ki Tisa" ["When you lift up"]. Rabbi Yochanan opened: "And man is bowed down, and the man is brought low" (Isaiah 2:9). "And man is bowed down"—these are Israel, of whom it is written, "And you My sheep, the sheep of My pasture, are men." "And the man is brought low"—this is Moses, of whom it is written, "Now the man Moses was very humble" (Numbers 12:3). Moses said before the Holy One, blessed be He: Master of the world, I know that Israel was bowed down over the calf and that I was brought low: "and forgive them not" (the continuation of "When you lift up"). This is what the verse says, "For God is judge: He brings one low and lifts up another" (Psalms 78... [text uncertain]). Rabbi Yonah interpreted the verse concerning Israel: with the word "this" they were brought low, "For this Moses, the man" (Exodus 32:1), and with the word "this" they were raised up, "This they shall give, every one that passes." "Charity exalts a nation": through the freewill offering that Israel brought for the work of the Tabernacle, a lifting up of the head was granted them through Moses, and He said, "When you lift up the head." Rabbi Eliezer in the name of Rabbi Yose ben Zimra said: Whenever Israel was counted for a purpose, they did not diminish; when not for a purpose, they diminished. And when were they counted for a purpose? In the days of Moses. And not for a purpose? In the days of David. Rabbi Samuel bar Nachman said in the name of Rabbi Yonatan: "And they shall give every man a ransom for his soul"—in the days of Moses; "that there be no plague among them"—in the days of David. "Every one that passes among them that are numbered." A platform of wood was set in the courtyard, and none passed in front of it except one twenty years old and upward. Rabbi Yehudah says: whoever passed through the sea shall give. And Rabbi Nechemiah said: whoever passed the count shall give. Three contributions are written here (this is written in "Take for Me an offering"). Rabbi Yehudah said: Ben Bukhri testified at Yavneh that any priest who pays the shekel does not sin. Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai said to him: Not so; rather, any priest who does not pay sins. But the priests expounded this verse for their own benefit: "And every meal-offering of a priest shall be wholly burnt; it shall not be eaten" (Leviticus 6:16). They reasoned: since the omer, the two loaves, and the showbread are ours, how can they be eaten? What is Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai's reason? "This they shall give"—the twelve tribes shall give. And as for Ben Bukhri: since from the outset a priest is not obligated to bring it, when he does bring it he is a sinner, for he brings unconsecrated produce into the courtyard. But he brings it and hands it over to the community. Thus the Sages reply to Rabbi Yehudah: an individual's meal-offering is wholly burnt, but a community's meal-offering is not wholly burnt; once it is handed to the community it is like a community freewill offering. It is written, "Every one that passes among them that are numbered." Rabbi Yehudah, who says whoever passed through the sea gives, supports Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai; and Rabbi Nechemiah, who says whoever passed the count gives, supports Ben Bukhri. Rabbi Meir said: The Holy One, blessed be He, brought forth a kind of coin of fire from beneath His throne of glory, and showed it to Moses, and said to him, "This they shall give"—they shall give one like this.