Naming Names

By Rabbi Eric Yoffie

The Children of Israel had recently escaped from slavery. How might a census have been a way of rehabilitating slaves and restoring to them a sense of their self-worth and pride?

This is perhaps the first census in human history. There is little to suggest that this was a common practice at the time. What was the purpose of the census?

If the purpose of the census had been purely administrative, wouldn’t estimates have been enough? Does the text suggest that these numbers were merely estimates?

Who ordered the census?

Why did God need a census? Did the God of the Burning Bush, the God who sent the plagues to Egypt, the God who parted the Sea of Reeds need someone to count the Israelites? Could not this God have produced an exact number?

For whose sake was the census conducted?

Why was it necessary for the census to have been organized according to families or clans rather than individual by individual?

Because of [Israel’s] love for God, God numbered them. (Rashi on Numbers 1:1)

Israel has been compared to a heap of wheat. As the measures of wheat are counted when carried into the barn, so, said the Holy One, blessed be He, shall Israel be numbered on all occasions. (Numbers Rabbah I:4)

“Take a census of the whole Israelite community…b’mis’par shemot”–literally, “according to the number of names.” What is the meaning of “according to the number of names?” Everyone said his name and wrote it in a book, and afterward they counted the names and knew how many people there were. (Malbim on Numbers 1:2)

“Take a census [S’u et rosh–literally, “Lift up the head”] of the whole Israelite community.” The words’u is only used when the intention is to indicate greatness [that is, holding high one’s head]. (Ramban on Numbers 1:2)

“According to the number of names…” For at that time, every one of that generation was designated by his name, which indicated and reflected stature and character. (Sforno on Numbers 1:2)

As Rashi indicates, the census was clearly done not for God’s sake but for the sake of the Children of Israel. In what way is the carrying out of a census a sign of God’s love for Israel?

The manner of conducting the census as described in the Torah and as further explained by Malbim is enormously cumbersome. Why have everyone write his name in a book rather than simply have all the people line up and do a count?

According to the Rambam, in what way does the census contribute to the “greatness,” that is, the self-esteem, of the people of Israel?

The first census in human history was ordered by God as a sign of God’s love and concern for the people of Israel and as an instrument for enhancing their confidence and feelings of self-worth. Not a single person was to be forgotten. A mass of oppressed slaves, who in Egypt had no individual worth whatever, were now to merit an individual count.

And why was the mechanism of counting to record their names in a book used? Because, according to Sforno, everyone from that generation would then be thought of by his name and thus by his own unique, personal qualities. And why was the count organized according to families? Because slaves are denied the security of family life, while for civilized people the family is the instrument for building identity, ethical commitment, and devotion to tradition.

Does this obsession to know the former slaves by their individual names seem excessive? Not at all. What is more important than being known by our right name? Is anything more connected to the depth of our being than our name? If you wish to connect to another person, what is the first important thing you do? You learn his or her name. And what do people expect of their synagogues and their synagogue leaders? That we know their names.

Note: The most trusted servant of God was Moses, and what did God say to Moses? “I have singled you out by name” (Exodus 33:17). What we should aspire to in our synagogues is that our members cease to be an undifferentiated mass and that just as God knew Moses, we know them–each and every one–by name.

Yoffie, Eric. "Naming Names." MyJewishLearning.com. (Viewed on May 24, 2014). http://www.myjewishlearning.com/texts/Bible/Weekly_Torah_Portion/bmidbar_uahc.shtml?p=0

Parashat Bamidbar 5774 

By Rabbi Joshua Rabin 

To the Burmese government, the Rohingya Muslims do not exist. This group of approximately 1.2 million people living in western Burma has been referred to by the United Nations as “one of the most persecuted minorities in the world.” The Rohingya consider themselves a distinct ethnic minority, but the Burmese government disputes this claim. In addition to refusing to recognize the group’s identity, the government has also inflicted widespread human rights violations against the Rohingya, including restricting marriage and child-bearing, depriving them of freedom of movement, and forcing them to live in deplorable conditions in internally displaced persons camps. The human rights organization, Fortify Rights, argues that the government intends “to make life so intolerable that they [the Rohingya] will leave the country.”

This past month, when the Burmese government conducted the first national census in thirty years, census takers were forbidden from allowing people to identify themselves as Rohingya. Given the systematic oppression of this group, exclusion from the census seems far from the most pressing issue; however, a census is not a mere counting of heads. The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) argues that an accurate census helps countries monitor progress in achieving the UN’s Millennium Development Goals to eradicate poverty. The census also gives local communities access to data as a means of advocating on their own behalf, and helps individuals hold civil authorities accountable for how goods and services are allocated nationwide. Perhaps just as importantly, denying a group’s right to self-identification in a national census is tantamount to saying that the group does not exist at all. 

The Torah also understands the importance of getting an accurate count of people. At the very beginning of Sefer Bamidbar, God commands Moses to “Take a census of the whole Israelite community by the clans of its ancestral houses, listing the names, every male, head by head.” Our commentators offer a variety of explanations for why God commands Moses to take a second census of the Israelites in Parashat Bamidbar, as one was already taken inParashat Ki Tissa. Some commentators explain that a census was required for the practical realities of governing the Israelites, while the Rashbam, a medieval commentator, and Jacob Milgrom, a modern commentator, state that the census was necessary to know how many Israelites could be conscripted into military service when the nation enters Canaan. While the census from our parashah was far from a complete picture of the Israelite nation, as it completely excluded women, our commentators argue that it enabled the Israelites to form a functioning society. 

Taking a mystical approach, Rabbi Levi Yitzhak of Berditchev, an 18th-century Hasidic Master, writes that the very act of ensuring that each Israelite is properly counted is a matter of cosmic significance, for each Israelite symbolizes each word of the Torah: 

In Levi Yitzhak’s commentary, each time Moses counted an individual Israelite, he was reminded that every individual is precious to God, and is an essential representation of God’s clarion call to the Israelite nation and all of humanity. Far from the utilitarian purpose of military conscription or equitable resource allocation, our parshah recognizes that counting someone is a statement of a person’s existence and an affirmation that they matter. In contrast, when a person is excluded from a census—when who they are, what they need, and what their group represents remains unacknowledged—it is the ultimate affront to human dignity. 

In a speech about the exclusion of the Rohingya from the Burmese census, Wai Wai Nu, the director of Women Peace Network Arakhan, an organization working for the rights of Rohingya women, said that the government is sending the message that “Rohingyas are no longer regarded as human beings.” Parashat Bamidbar reminds us that ensuring that people are accurately counted not only enables the leaders of their nations to provide practical goods and services, but also attests that their dignity and humanity are respected. 

As Burma makes a challenging transition to democracy and peace, AJWS supports 28 grassroots organizations in the country that are working to hold the government accountable for its actions, particularly against women and oppressed minorities. Groups like Fortify Rights have worked to research and document human rights violations that continue to take place. While Fortify Rights and other critics of the census were not successful in ensuring that the census included all minority populations in Burma, they continue to advocate for an end to oppressive government policies against the Rohingya. We can support their efforts to ensure that, even in the absence of an accurate counting, every person in Burma truly counts. 

Rabin, Joshua. "Bamidbar 5774." American Jewish World Service. (Viewed on May 24, 2014). http://ajws.org/what_we_do/education/publications/dvar_tzedek/5774/bamidbar.html