The Parsha begins with the mitzvah of "machtzis hashekel" - the annual half shekel donation to the Tabernacle and Temple.  The Torah teaches that the half shekel was also the method used to count the people to prevent a "plague" amongst the people.  Why would there be a plague when Moshe was counting them? 
 
Rashi teaches that the "ayin hara," the evil eye, has control over things that are counted.  Thus, if the people would be counted, the "ayin hara" created by such a count would cause a plague.  In fact, Rashi references the story in Shmuel II (chapter 26) where Dovid HaMelech did a census of his troops without using this special technique.  This resulted in the "evil eye" and a plague of death.  How are we to understand this "evil eye?"  After all, God is One and He runs the world.  There are no powers separate from His domain.  So, what is this "evil eye" which plays such an integral role in the first section of this week's Parsha? 
 
Rabbeinu Bechaya explains the concept of "ayin hara" in connection with the counting of the nation.  God is a God of justice.  The Torah states "The Rock (God) perfect is His work, for all His paths are justice."  (Devarim 32:4)  When a person does something wrong there must be a punishment.  However, God's attribute of compassion allows for certain technicalities to diminish the harshness and strictness of the judgment.  (See Mesillas Yesharim, end of Chapter Four) One such technicality develops when a person is selfless, reaches out to others and is a part of the greater Jewish community.  Because he associates himself with the Jewish community, he can tap into the merit of the community at large and be spared the strict justice he would be subjected to as an individual.
 
As long as a person is functioning as a regular member of the Jewish community, he has the protection of the community during the Divine judgment.  However, the moment a person is counted as an individual, he is viewed as an individual.  That would lead to strict judgment as an individual which would inevitably lead to a plague amongst the people as the masses are scrutinized in this mode.  Counting the people using shekalim maintains their status as members of the community and prevents the "ayin hara," the negative result of being viewed as an individual. 
 
This point works beautifully with the general concept of "machtzis hashekel" - donating the half shekel to the Tabernacle and Temple.  Commentaries explain that donating a half shekel as opposed to a full shekel demonstrates unity among the Jewish people.  We, as individual Jews, have no real significance on our own.  We can reach completion only through reaching out to others and associating with the community.  Thus, not only does the concept of using money instead of counting people serve to demonstrate our connection to the community, but the point is reiterated by the specific donation amount designated for the census.    
 
May all of us make sure to live our lives as part of the unit of "am yisrael" and recognize that despite our ideological differences, we are part of one family.  In doing so, we will merit the protection of the community which all of us desperately need. 

The Jews sin with the golden calf and God tells Moshe that he should leave Him alone so He can destroy the Jewish people.  Moshe then prays that God should save the Jewish people for two reasons - one because of how terrible it would look to the world that God redeemed the Jews from Egypt and then destroyed them and also in the merit of our forefathers.
 
How do we understand this notion of Moshe praying that God should save the Jews in the merit of our forefathers?  Wasn't Moshe the greatest person who ever lived?  What merit did he not have which he thought could be found in our forefathers?
 
We must wask another question regarding Moshe's prayer.  Later in the Torah in Parshas Shlach, God, once again wants to destroy the Jewish people and Moshe, once again, prays.  But there, Moshe only mentions the first argument - that it will look bad to the nations of the world.  Why didn't Moshe also mention the merit of our forefathers in that scenario?
 
Rav Soloveitchik explained that this was actually a major moment in Moshe's life where a major transformation occurred.  Let us contrast the experiences of Avraham Avinu and Moshe Rabbeinu.  Avraham finds God on his own and preaches monotheism to the world for decades before God ever appeared to him.  He received no miracles and was challenged by God one time after another.  Moshe, however, had it easy.  God appeared to him, gave him signs to prove that he had God with him, and performed supernatural miracles in Egypt and the desert for him.  Moshe, essentially, had to sacrifice little or nothing, while for Avraham and the forefathers, they had to sacrifice everything.
 
This is why Moshe prayed in the merit of the forefathers who up until that point were, in fact, greater than he.  However, at this moment, Moshe rose to the occasion and told God that if He was not going to save the Jewish people, then he wanted no part of leadership and no mention in the Torah.  Moshe, through this declaration, demonstrated that he was willing to sacrifice for God and the Jewish people.  He was willing to lead a stubborn and difficult nation which would surely lead him to years of struggle and challenges.  At that moment, Moshe rose beyond the level of the forefathers, explaining why he prayed in their merit after this sin, but not after the sin of the spies.
 
Those who choose the easy and lazy way out in life, lose out on the chance to strive for greatness.  All of us have communities and families who need us to rise to the occasion and embrace a life of challenges and sacrificing for the Jewish people and Torah.  Upon doing so, we, like Moshe, will also be catapulted to greatness.