Counting

One of the other names the Talmud gives for this book is ‘Chumash HaPekudim’ – literally ‘Countings’. It is named after the census of the Jewish nation which takes place in this week’s Parsha.

By choosing this name for the entire book, the Talmud is telling us that this census forms one of the key points of the entire Chumash Bamidbar. What is so important about the census?

By counting something, this demonstrates its importance. A wealthy individual may count his money repeatedly, just to feel its importance and pride of place. So by counting the Jewish people, this brought out our importance as a nation.

Counting accomplishes more, however. By counting – each person is counted as ‘one’ no matter what their qualities (in other words we focus on quantity rather than quality) – we are bringing out the essential common denominator within each of us. Each one of us is created in the image of G-d and every one of us is as important and essential as the next person. At the core, we are all the same. When we see apparent differences between individuals, this is true only on a superficial level, in the emotional characteristics or the externalities. Essentially, deep down, we are all the same. This is seen from the idea of a census – a ‘head count’ - where each individual is accorded equal importance.