Numbers; Counting

In the eyes of G-d, counting Jews is far more than keeping score; it is, rather, His way of telling each and every one of His children: “You matter to Me. You’re not just a number. You’re on My speed-dial.”

To us on earth, looking with the unaided eye and perhaps not thinking too much about the matter, the stars seem tiny and insignificant. Yet each is a powerful and unique force.

A census is a “head-count.” The greatest of the great and the smallest of the small all count as one person, no more, no less.

A census achieves two contrary aims. By focusing on the total sum, it asks the individual to suspend his individuality; at the same time, it compels him to ask himself if he is worthy of contributing to the total...

The haftarah for Bamidbar is a prophecy about the time of Moshiach from the book of Hoshea (Hosea). It begins by telling us that when Moshiach comes, we will be so many, so numerous that we will be uncountable, and that the two kingdoms of Judah and Israe...

"Did you know," Ben said, "that if this would be a non kosher egg, like an owl's egg, and it would fall into a pot of food, then the whole pot-full of food would become non-kosher?"

Two censuses, taken at two times which could not be more dissimilar. But a singular message—and a message with a singular theme—emerges . . .

Where I live, it happens once every five years. They come knocking on your door asking for your completed census form. Who are these people and what do they do the other 59 months?