Tiferes Shlomo on the Parsha

כי תשא את־ראש בני־ישראל
לפקדיהם ונתנו איש כפר נפשו...
זה יתנו כל־העבר על־הפקדים מחצית השקל בשקל הקדש

“This is what they shall give... a half Shekel of the holy Shekel weight”

Our sages teach צדקה תציל ממות, that Tzedaka has the power to save from death.

This power is alluded to in Parshas Mishpatim in the laws of damages, when an ox gores another ox. The Torah teaches וחצו את־כספו וגם את־המת יחצון. Literally it means “they (the 2 parties) shall divide its monetary value and they shall also divide the dead animal.”

The Tiferes Shlomo reads the Posuk as follows. When a person “divides his money,” by allocating part of it to Tzedaka and giving it to the poor, in doing so, “they also separate death”.

This is alluded to in the Mitzvah of the מחצית השקל, the half Shekel. Even though this refers to the annual donation to purchase the Temple sacrifices, in a broader sense, it refers to the Mitzvah of Tzedakah.

The first and last letters of the word מחצית are the letters מ and ת, which when joined together, spell מת, meaning death. In this word, the letters מ and ת are separated and pushed apart by the letters that spell the word חצי, meaning half. This alludes to the protective power of Tzedaka, where one divides their money between themselves and the poor.

With this, we can explain why the Torah refers to the half Shekel as a כופר נפשו, “an atonement for their soul”. Even if death has been decreed a person, the merit of Tzedakah can atone for them and stand as their protection.