16 May PARSHAS BAMIDBAR: THE BOOK OF NUMBERS TEACHES US A LESSON IN COUNTING

In Rabbinic
literature, the book
of Bamidbar is
referred to as the
book of censuses
(Sefer haPekudim),
which is no doubt roughly equivalent to
the common English name for the book
– the Book of Numbers. In this
week’s parsha, there is a counting at the
beginning of their sojourn in the
Wilderness and there is another counting
in Parshas Pinchas, towards the end of
their sojourn in the Wilderness.
The command to count the people is
formulated as follows: “Take a census of
the entire assembly of the Children of
Israel according to their families,
according to their fathers’ house, BY
NUMBER OF THE NAMES, every
male according to their head
count.” [Bamidbar 1:2]. The expression
“b’mispar sheimos” [by number of the
names] is somewhat peculiar. What does
it really mean? Beyond that, it seems like
it is an oxymoron. The term “number”

and “names” are almost mutually
exclusive. When we talk about numbers
we imply anonymity. (We hear all the
time: “I don’t really count for anything I
am just a number!”) The word “names”
has the exact opposite connotation. A
name gives a person singularity and a
quality of being special – more than just
a number!
Here we are told to count the Jewish
people “by the number of their names”.
Which is it – was the census concerned
with the overall numbers (the “klal”) or
was the census interested in the
individual names (the “p’rat”)?
Rav Mordechai Gifter, of blessed
memory, writes that numbers by their
very definition are finite. Stating a
number, one quantifies an item such that
the quantity is no more and no less than
the number stated. A human being, by
his very definition, is not finite in this
sense. He has a soul and strengths, and
characteristics. He has unlimited
potential to grow and expand his

capabilities. Trying to put a number on
an individual limits him and restricts his
ability to reach untold heights. Therefore,
when we speak of a “minyan” we are not
speaking of a “mispar” [a number]. We
cannot just “count” Jews. When we
enumerate people and treat them as
numbers we in effect say they are defined
and limited. This is certainly not the way
the Almighty wants us to view the Jewish
people.
How does one get around this problem?
If it is so detrimental to put a number on
the individuals within Klal Yisrael, how
can one take a census of the Jewish
people? For this reason, Rav Gifter
writes, the Jewish census never involved
“the counting of noses”. Intermediate
items (such as half-shekel coins, as
specified in Parshas Ki Tisa) were always
utilized to avoid the problem of counting
the people by number. The message is
the same – the Jewish people are not
finite (‘mugbal’). We may be finite in
terms of our bodies, but in terms of our
souls we are infinite.

In fact, when Dovid HaMelech [King
David] decided to count Klal Yisrael,
and he counted them directly (as is
recorded at the end of the book of
Shmuel), a terrible plague resulted. The
lesson of that – says Rav Gifter – is that
when people are viewed as finite rather
than as individuals with unlimited
potential, the result is destruction. The
indirect method of taking a Jewish
census, on the other hand, is symbolic of
the infinite measure and infinite potential
of each person counted within that
census.