בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה ה'
א‑לוהינו מֶלֶך–הָעולָם
אֲשֶׁר קִדְּשָנוּ בְּמִצְותָיו
וְצִוָּנוּ לַעֲסק בְּדִבְרֵי-תורָה.
Barukh atah Adonai Eloheinu melekh haolam asher kideshanu b’mitzvotav ve’tzivanu laasok b’divrei Torah.
Blessed are you Adonai, our God, Sovereign of the Universe, Who has sanctified us with Your mitzvot and commanded us to engage in words of Torah.
Two Perspectives
The Book of Numbers is the narrative of a great failure. That is, at least, one view of the book. What should have been a brief journey from Mount Sinai to the Holy Land becomes a forty-year death march. The story of the Spies brings down God's anger upon the people; this divine anger, even when mitigated by Moses' prayer, is expressed in the decree of an endless journey: for this generation, its only end will be in the sands. Both before and after the catastrophe, the narratives of the book of Numbers center on the people's desire to return to Egypt, to undo the miraculous work of the Exodus. At their heart are speeches of complaint and lament, expressing a profound existential skepticism.
In direct contrast to this narrative is the narrative found in the mystical and Hasidic sources. Here, the generation of the wilderness emerges as the generation of extraordinary spiritual experience, receivers of the Torah to the fullest extent, fed on miracles and nurtured directly by God: a generation of ecstatic faith. They are known dor de'ah - a generation of special knowledge. The nineteenth century Hasidic master Sefat Emet, for instance, writes of the book of Numbers as a "celebration of Israel." Its true subject is the greatness of a people impassioned by God, human partners in an unprecedented conversation with Him... He depicts a people who transcend prudential considerations in order to follow God into the wilderness, and whose spiritual yearning comes to full expression in this book.
Question for Discussion
We are in the wilderness, catastrophe or extraordinary spiritual experience?
The Talmud (as we will see) says it is forbidden to count people, and yet, the beginning of Bamidbar begins with a census. As you look at the texts ahead, try to understand the essence of what they are saying about the act of counting. Below are some guiding questions as you make your way through the texts. Immense gratitude to Rabbi Alana Alpert who compiled many of the following texts.
- What is powerful about counting people?
- Where is there potential for kedusha/holiness in counting people?
- Where is there potential for debasement and harm in counting people?
(1) On the first day of the second month, in the second year following the exodus from the land of Egypt, יהוה spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the Tent of Meeting, saying:
וידבר. במדבר סיני באחד לחדש וגו'. מִתּוֹךְ חִבָּתָן לְפָנָיו מוֹנֶה אוֹתָם כָּל שָׁעָה — כְּשֶׁיָּצְאוּ מִמִּצְרַיִם מְנָאָן, וּכְשֶׁנָּפְלוּ בָּעֵגֶל מְנָאָן לֵידַע מִנְיַן הַנּוֹתָרִים, כְּשֶׁבָּא לְהַשְׁרוֹת שְׁכִינָתוֹ עֲלֵיהֶם מְנָאָם, בְּאֶחָד בְּנִיסָן הוּקַם הַמִּשְׁכָּן וּבְאֶחָד בְּאִיָּר מְנָאָם:
The Lord spoke... in the Sinai Desert... on the first of the month :Because they were dear to Them, God counted them often. When they left Egypt, God counted them (Exod. 12:37); when [many] fell because [of the sin] of the golden calf, God counted them to know the number of the survivors (Exod. 32:28); when God came to cause Their Divine Presence to rest among them, God counted them. On the first of Nissan, the Mishkan was erected, and on the first of Iyar, God counted them.
...משל לאדם,... [ש]היה לו פרגמטים אחת של מרגליות נאות, והיה נוטלה ומוציאה במנין, ומניחה במנין. כך כביכול, אמר הקדוש ברוך הוא ... : אתם בני ... לכך מונה אתכם בכל שעה...
A parable: A man had a stock of fine pearls which he used to count before taking out and count again before putting away. So, similarly, God says to the Israelites, "You are my children... and therefore I count you often." (Transl. R. Shai Held)
There is power in taking a census. When God commands Moses to do so at the beginning of parashat Bamidbar, only male Israelites over the age of 20 who are able to bear arms are considered. In the text, Moses is told to tally up kol adat b'nei yisrael, literally "the whole community of the Children of Israel." But do able-bodied males over 20 years old represent the whole community?... Those who are counted have a special worth to the society, while those who are not may be considered less valuable and are, therefore, less visible.
"שאו את ראש כל עדת". לפי שמעתה צריכים לארץ ישראל בני עשרים ראוים לצאת בצבא המלחמה.
Rashbam on Numbers 1:2
"Take ye the sum". Because at this point, they need men aged 20 [and up] to make a military to [conquer] the land of Israel.
R. Isaac Arama (1420-1494) asks why all the seemingly dull details of the census are necessary. Did God not know the number of Israelites encamped in the desert in any case? Taking account of them one by one, R. Arama argues, serves to teach that each one has individual worth, and is not just a member of the collective. "They were all equal in stature," Arama writes, "and yet the stature of each one was different". (Courtesy of R. Shai Held)
The people are counted twice, once at the beginning of the book and once toward the end (chapter 26). These two moments are thirty-eight years apart... Between these two moments, a whole generation dies. What separates the two moments of counting is a total shift in population.
The basis for the taboo against a census is not known, although one plausible suggestion has been offered: As the shepherd counts his sheep, so the counter of persons must be their owner, a title belonging solely to God and not to man.
A Tanna taught: Put forth your fingers for the count. But let him count them? — That supports the statement of R. Isaac, for R. Isaac said: It is forbidden to count Israel even for [the purpose of fulfilling] a commandment, as it is written: And he numbered them be-bezek [with pebbles]. R. Ashi demurred to this: Whence do you know that the word ‘bezek’ is here used in the sense of being broken [i.e., pebbles], perhaps it is the name of a place, as it is written: And they found Adoni-Bezek in Bezek? — Rather it is from here: And Saul summoned the people and numbered them with telaim [sheep].
R. Eleazar said: Whosoever counts Israel, transgresses a [biblical] prohibition, as it is said: Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured. R. Nahman b. Isaac said: He would transgress two prohibitions, for it is written: ‘Which cannot be measured nor numbered’. R. Samuel b. Nahmani said: R. Jonathan raised an objection: It is written: ‘Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea,’ and it is also written: ‘Which cannot be numbered?’ This is no contradiction: Here it speaks of the time when Israel fulfills the will of the Lord, there of the time when they do not fulfill His will. Rabbi, on behalf of Abba Jose son of Dosthai, said: This is no contradiction: Here it speaks of [counting done] by human beings, there of counting by Heaven.
What can they do
to you? Whatever they want.
They can set you up, they can
bust you, they can break
your fingers, they can
burn your brain with electricity,
blur you with drugs till you
can't walk, can't remember, they can
take your child, wall up
your lover. They can do anything
you can't stop them
from doing. How can you stop
them? Alone, you can fight,
you can refuse, you can
take what revenge you can
but they roll over you.
But two people fighting
back to back can cut through
a mob, a snake-dancing file
can break a cordon, an army
can meet an army.
Two people can keep each other
sane, can give support, conviction,
love, massage, hope, sex.
Three people are a delegation,
a committee, a wedge. With four
you can play bridge and start
an organization. With six
you can rent a whole house,
eat pie for dinner with no
seconds, and hold a fund raising party.
A dozen make a demonstration.
A hundred fill a hall.
A thousand have solidarity and your own newsletter;
ten thousand, power and your own paper;
a hundred thousand, your own media;
ten million, your own country.
It goes on one at a time,
it starts when you care
to act, it starts when you do
it again and they said no,
it starts when you say We
and know who you mean,
and each day you mean one more.