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And you shall take the atonement money from the Children of Israel
and shall give it for the service of the Tent of Meeting, that it may be a
memorial (zikaron) for the Children of Israel before the Lord, to make
atonement for their souls. Exodus 30:16
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After he notes
that the word zikaron in our verse is spelled fully (with the letter “vav”),
while the previous parasha [28:12], in describing the shoulder pieces of
the ephod worn by the High Priest, omits the letter “vav” from
the word zikaron, Ba’al haTurim comments that the missing “vav”
teaches that the ephod serves as a reminder of the Children of Israel
only when it actually worn by the High Priest.
My father
noted the implication of Ba’al haTurim’s comment: contributing to charity, as
in our parasha, serves as a constant reminder of the Children of
Israel to their Father in Heaven, even when the Temple is in a state of
destruction, and even when Israel is in exile, their practice of giving charity
will serve as a reminder before God.
My father
suggested an additional lesson of the appearance of the “vav” in our
verse: because the letter “vav” is the conjunctive, it teaches that the
giving of charity serves to connect Jews to each other.
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