Census of the Israelites

When we realize the importance of our individual roles, we are empowered to tackle and transform our personal wildnerness.

G-d commands Moses and Aaron to conduct a census of the Jewish people. But if G-d is all-knowing – including the exact population of the Jewish people – what then is the point in counting them?

The obvious coefficient of Jewish identity is peoplehood. And yet the Jewish people cannot be defined without reference to the family.

After the general census of the Jewish people, Moses takes a separate census of the tribe of Levi, including the family of Aaron the high priest. In the verse (Numbers 3:39) “All the countings of the Levites that Moses and Aaron counted,” the word “ve-Aha...

In the census of the Jewish people, Moses counted all men eligible for military conscription, that is all who were twenty years of age and older. Why then did a separate census of the Tribe of Levi include even babies from 30 days and up?

In this portion, Moses takes a census of the Jewish people without directly counting any of them. Why do we not count each other directly and what are the practical applications for this mitzvah today?

Reflections on the Biblical account of how the Jewish people established their tribal pedigrees for the census taken by Moses.

When G-d commanded Moses to count the Jews, the “greatest” among them counted as one, and the “simplest” among them counted as one. Every Jew is an equal son or daughter of G-d Himself, and is beloved to Him much more than an only child is loved by a fath...

A proper analysis of Rashi’s explanation for the census following the plague conveys Moshe's sense of responsibility to his people.