Stand up and be counted!
At Jewish Newport
May 23, 2020
Thank you to Rabbi Marc Mandel and Beth Ginsburg Levine aaron.ginsburg@gmail.com
In Parshat Bamidbar, God told Moses to take a census of men able to fight. The total was 603,550. And that didn’t include the Levites! So were a million Israelites really traipsing around the wilderness? This bothers modern biblical scholars, who don’t think this is an historical fact. Professor Shaye Cohen, Harvard University Professor of Hebrew Literature and Philosophy, points out that asking if the bible is historical is not the right question. Instead we should ask, “What does it mean?”
This year the decennial United States Census is taking place. At our pre-Shabbat meeting, Irene Glasser told us that the census may undercount the number of residents in the United States. She said the consequence of an undercount would be less federal aid, which is apportioned based on census results, and, possibly, less representation in the United States House of Representatives.
While the United States Census is underway, we are engaged in another count. How many people have had Covid-19 and how many people have died from Covid-19? Once again there is a possibility of undercounting. Decisions about what to do may be affected by inadequate statistics, with lethal consequences.
Rabbi Marc Mandel, Touro Synagogue, Newport, R.I., gives meaning to each one of the 600,000,
“Parshat Bamidbar begins with a census of the Jewish people. We might think this "reduces everyone to a number." But actually the census teaches that every Jew is important. The Kabbalists point out that just as 600,000 Jewish souls stood at Mount Sinai, so too there are 600,000 letters in the Torah (including the white spaces between letters). And just as a Torah scroll is invalid if even a single letter is missing, so, too, the Jewish people need everyone working together.”
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The idea that every Jew is important has broadened. Nahmanides (Rabbi Moses ben Nahman, 1194-1270) believed that the life of every human is important and that we have a duty to save a life, pikuach nefesh, because each human is made in the image of God. As it says in Vayikra Leviticus 24:22,
מִשְׁפַּ֤ט אֶחָד֙ יִהְיֶ֣ה לָכֶ֔ם כַּגֵּ֥ר כָּאֶזְרָ֖ח יִהְיֶ֑ה כִּ֛י אֲנִ֥י יְהוָ֖ה אֱלֹהֵיכֶֽם׃
“You shall have one standard for stranger and citizen alike: for I the LORD am your God.”
May you be counted in the Census!
Shabbat Shalom from Jewish Newport
Thank you Aaron for a wonderful analysis and summary of the clear link between the census described in the Torah and today's efforts of counting and including everyone. Thank you Rabbbi for making the link.
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