Two Minute Torah Podcast

Bamidbar 5770 by Benjamin L. Goldberg

Shalom, my name is Ben Goldberg, KOACH intern at Northwestern University. Welcome to KOACH's Two-Minute Torah, a project of the Department of Youth and Young Adult Services of the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism.

In recent weeks, thousands of government workers have been going door to door to conduct the 2010 US Census. The census's importance lies in its political function. Our Founders allocated political power based on population alone, in which all people—men and women; wealthy landowners and poor laborers; children and adults; and, eventually, black and white—all counted equally. What a radical idea in a world where most Western nations were still ruled by a landed elite. The census is the cornerstone of American representative democracy.

The Founders, however, were not the first people to conduct a census. The idea goes back to the ancient world and is expressed in this week's parsha, Bamidbar. The parsha begins, s'u et rosh kol adat b'nei yisrael—Take a census of the whole Israelite community."

So, what then can Jewish tradition teach us about the spirituality of census taking?

First, consider the idiom used for taking a census—s'u et rosh, literally, lift up the head. This imagery of head lifting connotes inspecting each person for the count, they way one lifts up coins when counting them. Less literally, this imagery connotes pride and belonging. No one should feel that he must keep his head down like a slave, but rather look up confidently as a member of an independent nation about to go to war to defend it. Being counted is a dignifying act.

Second, consider the following midrash from Bamidbar Rabbah 1:9:

"The Holy One, Blessed be He, said to Israel, "I have never loved any created being more than you. I have, therefore, conferred on you exaltation and have likened you to Me, for as I Myself am exalted above all humanity…so have I done to you, that you may have exaltation. It is therefore stated, "LIFT UP THE HEAD OF THE WHOLE ISRAELITE COMMUNITY."

Being counted is an act of exaltation, of elevation. By being counted we become a little more like God. When we count others, we learn to see the face of God in theirs, to consider the innumerable value of each human life made in God's image. Every person is holy and worth counting.

So, the census, then and now, is not just a list of names. It is a reminder of the dignity and holiness of each individual in our nation and community. Everyone counts.