| Why were Bnei Yisrael (the Children of Israel) commanded to give a half shekel contribution for the census of the nation? |  So that there would be enough money to buy food from the nations whose lands they would pass  So that the people would get credit for giving charity  So that there would be a fund to distribute charity to the poor  So there would not be a plague among them when Moshe (Moses) counted the half-shekels rather than the people themselves |