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Our parasha opens with the words "ki-tisa et rosh bnei yisrael." The common and indeed intended translation is "when you take the census of the people of Israel." However we cannot ignore the language invoked "ki-tisa." The word "tisa" in Hebrew means to lift up. Chaza"l in the gemarah (baba batra 10b) sensitive to the text state that this mitzvah of collecting half a shekel to count the nation has the ability to elevate the Jewish people. One must wonder what about this particular mitzvah has the ability to elevate the Jewish people more than other mitzvot.

The answer lies in what the machatzit hashekel was used for; community needs. What is a community? Rav Kook (Mishpat Kohen 144, and Igrot Harayh"a) explains that there are two ways of looking at a community. The first is to assume a community is comprised of the many individuals that make it up. In other words a community is a partnership. The sum total is no greater than the parts. While this definition may seem correct at first glance it is in fact superficial. The more expansive view of community as seen in Chaza"l is a lot deeper. When individuals band together, that unity creates a new entity that is greater than the sum of its parts. The community juggernaut presses forward independent of any particular individual - "netzach Yisrael Lo Yishaker." A community does not rely on any individual to keep it alive. No individual can be seen as upholding or potentially detracting from the tzibur.

Rabbi Berel Wein tells a story of a late night ma'ariv in the Gr"a shteibel. There were nine men gathered in the room and they were all eagerly anticipating the arrival of a tenth. While scanning the crowd of the nine men assembled Rabbi Wein realized that the sweet old man in the front of the room was none other than the saintly and revered Rav Shlomo Zalman Aurebach zt"l. Rabbi Wein's head began to spin while contemplating the magnitude of what he was witnessing. Here he was with the giant of the generation and yet this giant, saintly, pious rav cannot prey. He needs a tenth to join him. The tenth can be a recently arrived immigrant who hardly speaks a word of Hebrew and can't hold a siddur right side up and yet he will play as vital a role in the minyan as Rav Shlomo Zalman. An individual even as great as Rav Shlomo Zalman can't accomplish anywhere near as much as a tzibbur can. That is the power of a unified community.

This is the message imbedded in the machatzit hashekel. This is what elevates the Jewish people. Most communities' ultimate purpose in joining together is in order to benefit the individuals of those communities. It is a somewhat self serving and selfish belief. Our joining together is not a partnership in order to ultimately benefit me as an individual; our joining together is in recognition that we have a greater calling. Without the tzibbur I am incomplete - I cannot be elevated - I am only "machatzit."