(15)May the words of my mouth and the prayer of my heart be acceptable to You, O ETERNAL One, my rock and my redeemer.

The Gemara relates: Imma Shalom, the wife of Rabbi Eliezer, was Rabban Gamliel’s sister. There was a Christian philosopher [pilosofa] in their neighborhoodwho disseminated about himself the reputation that he does not accept bribes. They wanted to mock him and reveal his true nature. She privately gave him a golden lamp, and she and her brother came before him, approaching him as if they were seeking judgment. She said to the philosopher: I want to share in the inheritance of my father’s estate. He said to them: Divide it. Rabban Gamliel said to him: It is written in our Torah: In a situation where there is a son, the daughter does not inherit. The philosopher said to him: Since the day you were exiled from your land, the Torah of Moses was taken away and the avon gilyon was given in its place. It is written in the avon gilyon: A son and a daughter shall inherit alike.The next day Rabban Gamliel brought the philosopher a Libyan donkey. Afterward, Rabban Gamliel and his sister came before the philosopher for a judgment. He said to them: I proceeded to the end of the avon gilayon, and it is written: I,avon gilayon, did not come to subtract from the Torah of Moses, and I did not come to add to the Torah of Moses. And it is written there: In a situation where there is a son, the daughter does not inherit. She said to him: May your light shine like a lamp, alluding to the lamp she had given him. Rabban Gamliel said to him: The donkey came and kicked the lamp, thereby revealing the entire episode.

And the Gemara raises a contradiction: Imma Shalom, the wife of Rabbi Eliezer ben Hyrcanus, was asked: For what reason are your children so beautiful? She said to them: My husband does not converse with me while engaging in sexual intercourse, neither at the beginning of the night nor at the end of the night, but rather at midnight. And when he converses with me while engaging in sexual intercourse, he reveals a handbreadth of my body and covers a handbreadth, and he covers himself up as though he were being coerced by a demon and is covering himself out of fear. And I said to my husband: What is the reason for this behavior? And he said to me: It is so that I will not set my eyes on another woman, i.e., think about another woman; if a man thinks about another woman during sexual intercourse with his wife, his children consequently come close to receiving a mamzer status, i.e., the nature of their souls is tantamount to that of a mamzer. Therefore I engage in sexual intercourse with you at an hour when there are no people in the street, and in this manner. In any event, it can be seen from her words that a Sage conversed with his wife while engaging in sexual intercourse with her.

The Gemara further relates: Imma Shalom, the wife of Rabbi Eliezer, was the sister of Rabban Gamliel. From that incident forward, she would not allow Rabbi Eliezer to lower his head and recite the taḥanun prayer, which includes supplication and entreaties. She feared that were her husband to bemoan his fate and pray at that moment, her brother would be punished. A certain day was around the day of the New Moon, and she inadvertently substituted a full thirty-day month for a deficient twenty-nine-day month, i.e., she thought that it was the New Moon, when one does not lower his head in supplication, but it was not. Some say that a pauper came and stood at the door, and she took bread out to him. The result was that she left her husband momentarily unsupervised. When she returned, she found him and saw that he had lowered his head in prayer. She said to him: Arise, you already killed my brother. Meanwhile, the sound of a shofar emerged from the house of Rabban Gamliel to announce that the Nasihad died. Rabbi Eliezer said to her: From where did you know that your brother would die? She said to him: This is the tradition that I received from the house of the father of my father: All the gates of Heaven are apt to be locked, except for the gates of prayer for victims of verbal mistreatment.

(2) Aaron said to them, “Take off the gold rings that are on the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.” (3) And all the people took off the gold rings that were in their ears and brought them to Aaron.

באזני נשיכם [BREAK OFF THE GOLDEN PENDANTS], WHICH ARE IN THE EARS OF YOUR WIVES — Aaron said to himself: women and children have a love for their ornaments; perhaps the matter will be delayed because they will hesitate to give their ornaments, and in the meantime Moses may arrive. They (the men), however, did not wait until the women and children made up their minds but they took the ornaments off themselves (cf. v. 3: they took off the pendants which were in their ears; there is no reference to the pendants belonging to the women) (Midrash Tanchuma, Ki Tisa 21).

(3) Aaron said unto them: Break off the golden rings, which are in the ears of your wives (ibid., v. 2). Aaron told them to do this difficult thing because (he was aware that) the women would not agree to it. They had seen the miracles and the deeds that the Holy One, blessed be He, had wrought for them in Egypt, and what had transpired at the Red Sea and at Sinai, and so they went to the men and said: God forbid that we should renounce the Holy One, blessed be He, who has performed all these miracles and mighty deeds in our behalf, in order to fashion an idol. The men, however, refused to listen to them: And all the people broke off the golden rings which were in their ears (ibid., v. 3). It does not say “in their wives’ ears” but rather in their ears.

(2) So Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, “Rid yourselves of the alien gods in your midst, purify yourselves, and change your clothes. (3) Come, let us go up to Bethel, and I will build an altar there to the God who answered me when I was in distress and who has been with me wherever I have gone.” (4) They gave to Jacob all the alien gods that they had, and the rings that were in their ears, and Jacob buried them under the terebinth that was near Shechem.

(22) Then those [who fought] on Israel’s side said to Gideon, “Rule over us—you, your son, and your grandson as well; for you have saved us from the Midianites.” (23) But Gideon replied, “I will not rule over you myself, nor shall my son rule over you; GOD alone shall rule over you.” (24) And Gideon said to them, “I have a request to make of you: Each of you give me the earring you received as booty.” (The Midianites had golden earrings, for they were Ishmaelites.) (25) “Certainly!” they replied. And they spread out a cloth, and everyone threw onto it the earring he had received as booty. (26) The weight of the golden earrings that he had requested came to 1,700 shekels of gold; this was in addition to the crescents and the pendants and the purple robes worn by the kings of Midian and in addition to the collars on the necks of their camels. (27) Gideon made an ephod of this gold and set it up in his own town of Ophrah. There all Israel went astray after it, and it became a snare to Gideon and his household.

(12) When you take a census of the Israelites according to their army enrollment, each shall pay GOD a ransom for himself on being enrolled, that no plague may come upon them through their being enrolled. (13) This is what everyone who is entered in the records shall pay: a half-shekel by the sanctuary weight—twenty gerahs to the shekel—a half-shekel as an offering to GOD. (14) Everyone who is entered in the records, from the age of twenty years up, shall give GOD’s offering: (15) the rich shall not pay more and the poor shall not pay less than half a shekel when giving GOD’s offering as expiation for your persons. (16) You shall take the expiation money from the Israelites and assign it to the service of the Tent of Meeting; it shall serve the Israelites as a reminder before GOD, as expiation for your persons.

(3) [WHEN THOU TAKEST THE SUM.] Scripture begins to explain the law of the atonement money which each and every one is obligated to give. The atonement money was not a free will offering. Scripture makes mention of the atonement money here because it notes above that atonement shall be made [upon the horns of the altar of incense] once a year. The atonement money was, as I will explain, similarly to be given once a year. The description of the laver and its base follow next because they are not to be made from free will gifts of the congregation but only from the mirrors of the women who performed tasks. Scripture also mentions the anointing oil and the sweet incense, for the princes alone brought them. Now since Scripture mentions the anointing oil it mentions the vessels which were anointed. Scripture also mentions the great craftsman, the perfumer, and the one whose counsel guided those who constructed the entire tabernacle, namely, Bezalel and Oholiab [who was with him]. Scripture mentions the Sabbath in order to warn the Israelites at the beginning not to do God’s work on the Sabbath. Scripture next records the prayer offered by Moses before he came down from the mountain. However, it first had to mention the making of the golden calf so that we would know why Moses prayed. Scripture then tells of Moses’ descent from the mountain, the burning of the calf, and Moses’ return to the mountain to pray for Israel a second time. Scripture mentions that Moses’ anger caused him to move his tent outside the camp of Israel. However, some say that Scripture records what happened. Scripture then mentions Moses’ great glory, namely, that Moses saw God’s glory. It tells us that God then commanded Moses to descend and hew out tablets. It informs us that God inscribed the tablets a second time. Scripture mentions the conditions upon which God made a treaty with Israel. These conditions are recorded in the Torah portion Ve-Ellaeh Ha-Mishpatim. Scripture then mentions that the skin of Moses’ face shone when Moses came down from the mountain with the tablets of the covenant in his hand. Rabbi Saadiah Gaon says that the atonement money was an annual obligation upon Israel. It was obligatory whether their king counted them or not. Saadiah Gaon offers the census taken by Moses in the desert as proof. Saadiah says that the money collected was used for the congregational sacrifices, the construction of the laver, the making of the anointing oil, and the sweet incense. Part of it was also given to the Sanhedrin. Bezalel and Oholiab allude to this. [WHEN THOU TAKEST THE SUM.] It is customary for the accountants who are intimate with the details of an account to itemize upon pages. However they write the sum of all the items at the head of the page. Some say that the plague which occurred in the days of David struck because Israel did not offer a ransom for their soul. If this is true it refutes the opinion of Saadiah Gaon.

(4) Aaron argued with himself, saying: If I say to Israel, Give ye to me gold and silver, they will bring it immediately; but behold I will say to them, Give ye to me the earrings of your wives, and of your sons, and forthwith the matter will fail, as it is said, "And Aaron said to them, Break off the golden rings" (Ex. 32:2). The women heard (this), but they were unwilling to give their earrings to their husbands; but they said to them: Ye desire to make a graven image and a molten image without any power in it to deliver. The Holy One, blessed be He, gave the women their reward in this world and in the world to come. What reward did He give them in this world? That they should observe the New Moons more stringently than the men, and what reward will He give them in the world to come? They are destined to be renewed like the New Moons, as it is said, "Who satisfieth thy years with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle" (Ps. 103:5).

(11) But Moses implored the ETERNAL his God, saying, “Let not Your anger, O ETERNAL One, blaze forth against Your people, whom You delivered from the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand. (12) Let not the Egyptians say, ‘It was with evil intent that he delivered them, only to kill them off in the mountains and annihilate them from the face of the earth.’ Turn from Your blazing anger, and renounce the plan to punish Your people. (13) Remember Your servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, how You swore to them by Your Self and said to them: I will make your offspring as numerous as the stars of heaven, and I will give to your offspring this whole land of which I spoke, to possess forever.” (14) And GOD renounced the punishment planned for the people.

Another comment on The tongue of the righteous is as choice silver (Prov. 10:30). This refers to the Holy One, blessed be He, who chose the tongue of Moses when he told him: When thou takest the sum (to obtain forgiveness). What is written above concerning this very matter? And Aaron shall make atonement upon the horns of it once in the year (Exod. 30:10). After Israel had sinned, the Holy One, blessed be said to Moses: Go, atone for them. Whereupon Moses replied: Did You not say to me once in the year? The Holy One, blessed be He, replied: Go lift up their heads (obtain forgiveness) now. Then Moses said to the Holy One, blessed be He: Master of the Universe, when they do good let them be at rest, but when they are without merit, as though that were possible, let them be forgiven once a year in order that the Day of Atonement may come and atonement be made for them, as it is said: For on that day shall atonement be made for you (Lev. 16:30).

When Moses failed to return by the fortieth day and the sixth hour of that day, Aaron and Hur told them: “He is now descending the mountain,” (but) they did not pay attention. Some say that Satan arose and showed them the likeness of his bier on the mountain, and that is why they said: For this man Moses (ibid., v. 1). Then Hur stepped forward and rebuked them. Forthwith they turned against him and slew him. When Aaron witnessed this he became terrified and sought to occupy them with other matters. But they cried out: Up, make us a god (ibid.). All that they demanded was known to the Holy One Who Spoke and the World Came into Being.

Aaron said unto them: Break off the golden rings, which are in the ears of your wives (ibid., v. 2). Aaron told them to do this difficult thing because (he was aware that) the women would not agree to it. They had seen the miracles and the deeds that the Holy One, blessed be He, had wrought for them in Egypt, and what had transpired at the Red Sea and at Sinai, and so they went to the men and said: God forbid that we should renounce the Holy One, blessed be He, who has performed all these miracles and mighty deeds in our behalf, in order to fashion an idol. The men, however, refused to listen to them: And all the people broke off the golden rings which were in their ears (ibid., v. 3). It does not say “in their wives’ ears” but rather in their ears.

§ After discussing the sources for the modes of acquisition listed in the mishna, the Gemara analyzes these halakhot in greater detail. The Sages taught in a baraita (Tosefta 1:1): How is betrothal performed through money? If a man gave a woman money or an item worth money, and he said to her: You are hereby betrothed [mekuddeshet] to me, or: You are hereby betrothed [me’oreset] to me, or: You are to me as a wife, then she is betrothed. But if she is the one who gave the money to him, and she said: I am hereby betrothed [mekuddeshet] to you, or: I am hereby betrothed [me’oreset] to you, or: I am hereby to you as a wife, then she is not betrothed.

Rav Pappa objects to this: This baraita contains an internal contradiction. The first part of the baraita states: If a man gave a woman money and said to her: You are hereby betrothed to me, from which it may be inferred that the reason the woman is betrothed is that he gave her money and he said the appropriate formula. This leads to the conclusion that if he gave her money and she said the formula, she is not betrothed. Now say the latter clause of the baraita: But if she is the one who gave the money to him, and she said: I am hereby betrothed to you, then it is not a valid betrothal. Rav Pappa infers: The reason that it is not a valid betrothal is that she gave money to him and she said the appropriate formula, from which it may be inferred that if he gave money to her and she said the appropriate formula, then this is a valid betrothal.

This they shall give. R. Meir said: The Holy One, blessed be He, removed from beneath His throne of glory a coin of fire (the size of a half-shekel coin) and showed it to Moses. Then He said to him: This they shall give. That is to say, everyone who passes by as the census is taken shall give something similar to them.