Bamidbar - Counting In Context

Mount Sinai defines us as Jews.

This week, we begin Sefer Bamidbar, which is always read before Shavuot. According to Tosafot (Megillah 31b), we must start Bamidbar before Shavuot. Why is this so important?

Although the parsha is titled “Bamidbar,” meaning “in the desert,” it opens with a census of the Jewish people. This is surprising because the Torah usually warns against counting Jews. In Shmuel II, King David was punished for conducting a census. Counting Jews is considered a bad omen, and the Ramban explains that everyone counted in the desert census eventually died in the midbar during the forty-year journey. During the Brit Bein Habetarim, God promised Avraham countless descendants, too numerous to be counted. That is why we use a ten-word verse like “Hoshia et Amecha” or the ten-word blessing “HaMotzi” to count for a minyan instead of counting people directly.

Nonetheless, Chazal called this book Sefer HaPikudim, the Book of Counting, which is why the Christian name for Bamidbar is “Numbers.” There are censuses at both the beginning and the end of the book, as well as a separate counting of the Leviim, who were excluded from the main census, but compared to the bechorot, the firstborn males. Bamidbar also ushers in Shavuot, the culmination of the Omer counting, further highlighting the connection between this book and the act of counting.

I often point out that the word “count” has the same threefold meaning in Hebrew with the root word pakad as it does in English. First, it means to enumerate. Second, it means to matter, as in “V’Hashem pakad et Sarah”, “And Hashem remembered Sarah as He had said”. Third, it refers to a person of status, as in “Count Dracula.” The census was conducted by the nasi, or president, of each tribe, whose title also derives from the same root, meaning “to enumerate”, “to lift up to prominence” and to “hold a position of importance.”

The Leviim were counted separately and placed in the middle of the camp, carrying the Mishkan. In the Torah, the same root word is used in two contrasting ways.

אַךְ אֶת־מַטֵּה לֵוִי לֹא תִפְקֹד וְאֵת רֹאשָׁם לֹא תִשָּׂא בְּתוֹךְ בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל
“However, do not count the tribe of Levi, and do not take their census among the children of Israel” (Bamidbar 1:49).

וְאַתָּה הַפְקֵד אֶת־הַלְוִיִּם עַל מִשְׁכַּן הָעֵדוּת
“But you shall appoint the Levites over the Tabernacle of the Testimony” (Bamidbar 1:50).

These verses show that the Leviim, with their special role at the camp’s center, should not be counted like everyone else. Counting here could diminish them to numbers. Yet in the very next verse, they are appointed, hafked, showing that counting can also raise someone up. Counting in the context of “Numbers” can reduce people to statistics, but it can also elevate them by acknowledging their unique role and importance. That is why counting can be good or bad, depending on its purpose and context.

Taken together, this teaches us that Sefer Bamidbar is not just about counting; it is about counting in context. Counting without context can be destructive. Without God at the center, the desert would have been chaotic. With the Mishkan in the middle, God brought order and meaning to the Jewish people.

This time period is called the Shloshet Yemei Hagbala, the three days of boundaries, when the Jewish people were prohibited from approaching Har Sinai, and God was very serious about enforcing those boundaries.

וְהִגְבַּלְתָּ אֶת הָעָם סָבִיב לֵאמֹר הִשָּׁמְרוּ לָכֶם עֲלוֹת בָּהָר וּנְגֹעַ בְּקָצֵהוּ כָּל הַנֹּגֵעַ בָּהָר מוֹת יוּמָת“Set a boundary for the people all around, saying: Beware of going up the mountain or touching its edge; whoever touches the mountain shall surely be put to death.”

לֹא תִגַּע בּוֹ יָד כִּי סָקוֹל יִסָּקֵל אוֹ יָרֹה יִיָּרֶה אִם בְּהֵמָה אִם אִישׁ לֹא יִחְיֶה“No hand shall touch [the mountain], for they shall surely be [killed]; whether animal or human, he shall not live.” (Shemot 19:12-13)

Even later, when Moshe suggested that the people already knew about this boundary restriction, Hashem insisted that they be warned again:

וַיֹּאמֶר אֵלָיו יְהוָה לֶךְ רֵד...וְהָעָם אַל יֶהֶרְסוּ לַעֲלוֹת אֶל יְהוָה פֶּן יִפְרֹץ בָּם“Hashem said to him: Go down... and the people must not break through to ascend [the mountain], or He will burst forth against them.” (Shemot 19:24)

The revelation at Har Sinai was arguably the most significant event in Jewish history. Because of our long exile, Jews today do not share a common culture, land, language, or even history. Yet all Jews, and according to our tradition, even the souls of converts, shared the experience of receiving the Torah at Har Sinai. That event united us and remains the reason we all call ourselves Jews today. It was the counting in context, with boundaries, that made us a nation connected to God.

It is a bit sad that we could not hold the Shavuot event at the museum this year due to financial constraints. But let us remember that nineteen years ago, it was Mekor that pioneered all-night learning in Center City. Even now, without the involvement of a central organization, we continue to learn together. This is a testament to our community’s commitment to Torah and to each other. May this Shavuot inspire us to recall our time at Har Sinai, in the context of being Jewish and connected to each other and to God, k’ish echad b’lev echad, as one person with one heart.

Shabbat shalom.