May 21, 2009
This week we begin reading the book of Bamidbar, whose name means “in the wilderness,” for this book is the narrative of the almost 39 years the Israelites spent wandering in the wilderness until they finally came to the Land of Israel. But in English, this book is known as Numbers because it opens with an account of the census taken early in the second year after the Israelites left Egypt.
The Torah says, “Take a census of the whole Israelite community by the clans of its ancestral houses, listing the names, every male, head by head.” Rashi says that “head by head” means that this census was taken in the same manner as the one described in Ki Tisa (Sh’mot 30:11-16) — that is, by means of a half shekel brought by each person. The total population would then be determined by counting the coins. There, the Torah says that each person is to bring a half shekel so that no plague shall come upon him.
But there’s no indication in this week’s text that the census was conducted by indirect means. It clearly implies that the Israelites were counted directly. So why is there no worry about a plague? Perhaps because here the Torah says, “listing the names.”
Ramban (Rabbi Moses ben Nachman, 13th-century, Spain) cites this passage from Midrash Bamidbar Rabbah: “The Holy One ordered Moses to number them in a manner that would confer honor and greatness on each one of them individually. Not that you should say to the head of the family: How many are there in your family? How many children do you have? But rather all of them should pass before you in awe and with the honor due to them and you should number them.”
According to Rabbi Yitzhak Arama (15th-century, Spain), this census was intended to teach the Israelites that “they were not just like animals or material objects [to be counted one, two, etc.], but each one had an importance of his own like a king or priest, and that indeed God had shown special love toward them, and this is the significance of mentioning each one of them by name and status; for they were all equal and individual in status.”
As the late Israeli master teacher Nehama Leibowitz noted, this has particular resonance for our own era. The great plagues of the 20th century — fascism and communism — and the current rise of Islamic fundamentalism reject the importance of the individual, the uniqueness of each human being.
The census of Bamidbar not only counted each individual (actually, each adult male), but reinforced the message that because he or she is a unique reflection of the image of God, each individual counts.
Rabbi Joyce Newmark, a resident of Teaneck, is a former religious leader of congregations in Leonia and Lancaster, Pa.
Comment: comments@njjewishnews.com
--TOP--
