Parshas Behar-Bechukosai - True Value

At the very end of Sefer Vayikra, the Torah sets forth the laws of Arachin (valuations):

“Hashem spoke to Moshe, saying: Speak to the Children of Israel and say to them: If a man articulates a vow to Hashem regarding a valuation of human beings.” (Vayikra 27:1–2)

The Torah then establishes fixed valuations for men and women, depending on age. For example, it states:

“The assessment of a male shall be: for someone twenty to sixty years of age, the assessment shall be fifty silver shekels.” (Vayikra 27:3)

Based on this, if someone wishes to make a donation to the Beis HaMikdash according to the valuation of a man between the ages of twenty and sixty, he is obligated to contribute fifty silver shekels or its equivalent value.

Rashi explains that this valuation does not reflect a person’s actual monetary worth. Rather, it is a fixed Torah-assigned assessment based solely on age and gender.

This is puzzling. Rashi implies that there are two ways to evaluate a person. One is a “real-world” valuation: a person’s actual worth, which depends on his accomplishments, character, wisdom, and talents. In this sense, two people of the same age may have very different value.

Yet the Torah here introduces Arachin, a fixed system that ignores individuality. Every male between the ages of twenty and sixty is assigned the same value of fifty shekels, regardless of his personal achievements or circumstances. Why would the Torah choose a system that seems to disregard individual greatness?

Rav Moshe Feinstein explains that there are, in fact, two dimensions to human value.

The first is the baseline value embedded in every person by Hashem at birth. Each individual is endowed with unique natural abilities—physical strength, intelligence, temperament, and other traits. These inherent gifts represent a fixed starting point. Someone may be born tall and coordinated and become a successful athlete with relatively little effort. Another may be born with exceptional intellect and, with minimal effort, become a scholar or financial expert. This built-in potential corresponds to Arachin—a standardized, age-based value that applies equally to all.

However, there is a second and higher dimension: what a person becomes through effort, struggle, and personal investment. This is what Rashi alludes to as damav—a person’s true “monetary value,” reflecting achievement beyond one’s natural endowment. A person who develops himself through hard work and discipline surpasses someone who relies only on innate talent.

For example, a student with a learning disability must work twice as hard as someone who naturally gets all A’s without studying. However, the student that learned to put in the effort has developed the life skills to succeed. The all-A student who is not accustomed to working hard may struggle later in life.

The Talmud goes even further. It teaches that a person who has the potential to achieve more but fails to exert effort is considered lacking, while one who strives and grows is praised as righteous (see Chagigah 8b, interpreting Malachi 3:18).

From Arachin we learn that a person must, at minimum, actualize the gifts Hashem has given him. But beyond that baseline, Hashem desires far more from us: growth through effort, persistence, and self-development.

This idea is illustrated by the life of the Netziv, Rav Naftali Tzvi Yehuda Berlin. He wasn’t succeeding in his Torah studies, and he once overheard his parents saying, “Let’s take him out of yeshiva and he can become a shoemaker.” The young Naftali broke into tears and begged his parents to give him another chance. From that point on, through extraordinary diligence and perseverance in Torah study, he rose to eventually become the renowned Rosh Yeshiva of Volozhin.

We should not be content with the natural gifts and talents we have been given, the basic “Arachin” that Hashem gives each one of us. Rather, through hard work and effort we should try to maximize our potential and achieve true greatness, as Ben Hai Hai teaches: “L’fum tza’ara agra”—according to the effort is the reward (Avos 5:23).