Counting to 613

When you take the sum [ki tissa] of the Children of Israel, according to their number …           Exodus 30:12

            The initial letters of the second through sixth words of the verse (tissa et rosh Bnei Yisrael) equal 613, the number of mitzvot commanded by the Torah.

My father noted that the census through the half sheqel unites all Jews, since each gives equally. Thus, the lesson of the wording can be that when Israel is united and fulfils all the mitzvot (it is to be noted that only the entire community of Israel can fulfill all miztvot, since some mitzvot apply only to men, other exclusively to women, some only to kohanim, etc.) its head will be raised (the literal meaning of “tissa et rosh”). It is through the 613 mitzvot that Israel draws its sanctity.

It is interesting that Ba’al haTurim notes that the initial letters of the words “tissa et rosh Bnei” equal 603, as does the gematriya of “Bnei Yisrael,” yet he fails to mention that including the first letter of the word “Yisrael” brings the total to 613. My father suggested that Ba’al haTurim did so to teach that Israel does not distinguish between the Ten Commandments and the remaining 603 mitzvot, because The People of Israel appreciates that all of God’s commandments enrich, sanctify and purify the nation.