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Parshat Bemidbar – Names and Numbers

Rav Hanan Schlesinger

The very name of the biblical Book of Numbers, which we begin reading this week, is the
tip of a very problematic iceberg. You see, it is called the Book of Numbers because is
begins with – well, you guessed it – numbers, and lots of them. Almost the whole first
Torah portion is taken up by the census that Moshe conducted of the Israelites in the
desert. The numbers of each tribe are recorded, as well of course as the sum total of
people. And this is a census taken at the behest of no less than the Almighty.

What’s the problem, you ask. The issue is that there is a significant strand in our tradition
that holds that counting people is forbidden. There are verses in the Book of Exodus that
seem to hint that one cannot count people, and furthermore, later on in the Bible and in
Jewish history, King David is severely punished for conducting a census. We have a
seeming contradiction on our hands.

Counting people, according to Rav Mordechai Yosef Leiner, the author of the Mei
haShiloach, can be a two edged sword. There is a type of counting that turns people into
nothing more than a number. It robs them of their individual identity, treating them as
nameless elements of a collective, like animals in a herd. Such counting may be
dehumanizing, and indeed the Torah forbids it. There is however, another type of
counting that actually validates the uniqueness of those that are counted. It recognizes
and highlights the personality and contribution of each human being.

When does counting smother the individual and when does it exalt him? We are robbed
of our individuality when we are nothing more than a number. When the counting is a
matter of ‘one size fits all,’ when it doesn’t matter who the people are as long as there is a
certain number of them - this is the type of counting that creates anonymity. ‘You ten
over’ is the type of thing that the Torah frowns upon.

Schultz Rosenberg Campus, 12324 Merit Drive, Dallas TX, 75251

Phone: 214-295-3525 Fax: 214-295-3526
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On the other hand, this week’s Torah portion recounts that when God commanded Moshe
to count the Israelites in the desert, He told him to count them by name. Each Israelite
was recognized as the bearer of a name born by no one else. As each Israelite passed by
Moshe and recited his name, he was exalted before God and his uniqueness recognized.
At that moment the person experienced the truth that ‘there is no one exactly like me.’ No
two people had the same name, just like no two people have the same personality.

And you know what? God apparently wants us all to be different. He could have created
us all the same, but he didn’t. Judaism makes many demands of the individual. Yes it
requires a certain degree of conformity, but it does not want us all to be the same. We are
actually asked to resist the temptation to always follow the leader. Each person must find
his own voice, his own unique perspective and contribution.

If we could all be so bold for a moment, think of a ‘picture’ of God. Rabbi Mordechai
Yosef compares the Jewish People to a giant mosaic that makes up the image of God.
Each tile is different. Each one is a different color. And God’s image is complete only
when each tile plays its own individual role.

And so if you aren’t authentic to your own name, your own personality, your own way of
looking at things, God’s image in the world is lacking. God needs you to be you, to be a
name and not just a number.

Schultz Rosenberg Campus, 12324 Merit Drive, Dallas TX, 75251

Phone: 214-295-3525 Fax: 214-295-3526
Email: kollelofdallas@sbcglobal.net Web site: www.kollelofdallas.org
The Community Kollel of Dallas is an affiliate of the Center for the Jewish Future of Yeshiva University