Every man over 20 years old …….and give
this offering to G-d." [30:14]
The Torah stipulates that the minimum age at which a person
had to make his half-shekel contribution was from twenty
years and up. The Torah revealed a secret here when it did not
demand that males from the age of 13 and up had to make this
contribution. Seeing the males are considered as adults from
the age of 13, why would teenagers not have been liable for
this ransom? They also had participated in the golden calf episode!
The Torah told us here that a person's personality (nefesh)
has not matured until age 20, as he had not had time to absorb
and comprehend the various spiritual components that make up
a true Israelite until he has reached that age. This is the
mystical dimension of Psalms 2:7: "You are My son, I
have fathered you this day." Compare what the Zohar
Mishpatim 98 has to say on that verse. [The Zohar on Exodus
21:9 writes that a man is called ben form the age of 13, and
ben leHaKodosh Baruch Hu from the age of 20. Ed.]
There is a sound reason why man should not be liable to punishment
at the hands of heaven until he has reached that age, seeing
that he has not yet matured emotionally and intellectually.
Such maturity is essential to enable us to successfully battle
the evil urge and to appreciate G-d's message to man. By the
time man has reached the age of 20 he is considered fully equipped
to cope with all kinds of temptations.
(Selected
with permission from the five-volume English edition of Ohr
HaChaim: the Torah Commentary of Rabbi Chaim Ben Attar, as translated
and annotated by Eliyahu Munk)
No comments:
Post a Comment