June 6 • 2019 25
jn

A 

national census, at any level, 
is no small undertaking. For 
those who are counted, it might 
be considered a nuisance at 
best. For those who must do 
the counting, it seems like an 
exceedingly long and difficult 
task. 
Considering the logistical 
hurdles in accounting for large 
numbers of people, particularly 
in a world where all must be 
tallied by hand, there needs 
to be a compelling reason 
to take a census, something 
that actively and immediately 
serves the national interest. In 
the census that we learn of in 
Bamidbar, counting all of the 
males over the age of 20 not 
only makes clear at which point we 
view males as men who are responsible 
for caring for the nation, but also that 
this census serves as verifying Israel’
s 
military readiness. 
Yet for all of that, the census of Israel 
that is taken is overwhelmingly anti-cli-
mactic. The number of Israelite men 
over the age of 20 is reported as being 
603,550 (Bamidbar 1:46), an identical 
amount to a census that was earlier 
recorded in Exodus 38:26. The Bekhor 
Shor, a medieval commentator, suggest 
that this is understood to be a miracle: 
God kept alive all of those men who 
were previously counted. God com-
manded this census so that each person 
would have his name acknowledged as 
a person of intrinsic worth, something 
the later Italian commentator Sforno 
suggests relates to the unique character 
of each and every individual.
This would provide us with enough 
intrinsic value to demonstrate the 
importance and necessity of this cen-
sus. For each and every person to be 
recognized, acknowledged and valued 
as the unique soul that he is would 
be enough to uplift the entire nation, 
uniting us again in a common pur-
pose just as when we stood at Sinai 
and declared Na’
aseh v’
nishmah! “We 

will do and understand!” This census 
is about creating a sacred community 
and emphasizing the critical role of the 
individual in maintaining that 
community, not enumerating 
people as numbers with neither 
faces nor voices. 
As the command given to 
Moshe to begin the census is 
literally s’
ooh et rosh, “uplift the 
head,
” of all the community, we 
can understand this to refer to 
lift up our heads as members of 
the community with pride in our 
common purpose, fully united 
as a people who stand together. 
We are literally standing up and 
being counted.
In our modern understanding 
of standing up and being count-
ed, we emphasize how this is about 
making our voices heard. We state our 
opinions for the record and ensure that 
our views are expressed. As Americans, 
our nation is preparing for a national 
census in 2020. While certain aspects 
of that census remain to be decided by 
the courts, in the tradition of our faith, 
let us regard this census as an oppor-
tunity to engage in heshbon hanefesh, 
personal accounting of our own souls, 
to consider what each and every one 
of us can and do to contribute to our 
communities. 
How will you stand and be counted 
in the coming year? Let us look at the 
chance to take part in the U.S. census 
not as a necessary burden of citizen-
ship, but as an opportunity to ensure 
that we make our voices heard. Let us 
ensure that we take an active part in 
civic and communal leadership so that 
all our communal organizations endure 
and thrive. Let us wholeheartedly voice 
our opinions with civility, kindness, 
courtesy and strength as leaders in our 
communities and our nation. ■

Rabbi Jeremy Yoskowitz is a Jewish Studies 
instructor at Frankel Jewish Academy as well as 
a chaplain and ethics consultant for Beaumont 
Health.

Rabbi Jeremy 
Yoskowitz

Stand and Be Counted

Parshat 

Bamidbar: 

Numbers 1:1-

4:20; Hosea 

2:1-22.

spirit

torah portion

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