In order to count Jews, ordinary numbers are not enough. What is behind the phenomenon?
The people of Israel should not be counted directly, but indirectly. This is what we learn from the first verse of our parsha: "Let the children of Israel bear the head of the children of Israel to their subordinates, and they gave a man of his village his soul to God in command of them, and there shall be no harm to them in counting them, Exodus 32."
When King David conducts a census of the people of Israel and counts them directly, the result is a great catastrophe. A great plague broke out and King David confesses, "I have sinned very much in what I have done, and now please pass on the iniquity of your servant, for I have been very frustrated 2 Samuel 24:3."
In later times it is seen that they were indeed careful to carry out the counting only indirectly, "Let us Rabbanan: once King Agrippa asked to give his eyes to the population of Israel. Leia said to the High Priest: Give your eyes on Pesachim. He took a kidney from each, and there were sixty thousands of two kidneys."
Why is it dangerous to count Jews?
Various explanations have been given for this in the commentaries. Rashi says that in the direct sphere there is a fear of the evil eye. Rabbeinu Bhai explains this according to the rule that there is no blessing but something that is hidden from view. As long as you don't know the quorum of the people, hidden miracles can occur. When you already know this, there is no place for hidden miracles, only visible miracles, and not everyone deserve this.
The story explains that when conducting a census, the emphasis is on what has changed – who is alive and who is dead – since if there is no change, there is no need for a new count. However, when we look at the change, the question arises even more strongly as to why someone got life while others are no more. This observation arouses the measure of judgment and therefore a ransom is required in order to increase the rights of the living.
The Malbim explains in a different way. As long as the people are united and considered as one person, the right of the many is great and it helps to preserve. But when people are counted, they are counted separately from the public. The danger is that at that moment when a person stands on his own, he may not have sufficient rights to justify his existence, and then the plague may occur to him.
Along the way, it can be suggested that there is a fundamental problem with every census.
The assumption behind such a census is that there is power in numbers: the larger the nation, the greater its economic, military and demographic power. And here the people of Israel are, by definition, a tiny people. Despite its long historic lifespan that makes it the oldest people in the world, numerically it remains very small.
During this period, the Chinese population has grown to the point that today it encompasses more than a quarter of humanity, while the people of Israel number only 12-15 million people – far less than the statistical sampling error in the Chinese census...
This reality is not coincidental but was already foreseen in the Torah. "Not most of you of all nations desire everything and choose you, for you are the least of all nations [Deuteronomy 7:7]." And herein lies the danger: if the Jews believed that power was in their numbers, they would have long ago gone into despair. How much influence can such a tiny people, who make up only one-fifth of one percent of the world's population, have? After all, it is much more negligible then one sixth...
Rabbi Nehemiah Rotenberg emphasizes this point in his comparison between Am Yisrael and Benin, a small republic in West Africa with 13 million people, about the same as the number of Jews in the world.
If until this moment you have not heard of a Benin, you are no exception. It is likely that most people in the world have not heard of it, nor does what is happening in it arouse any particular interest in them. If you are not an expert on geography or engage in foreign trade with Africa, the inhabitants of Benin do not touch your life, have not influenced the world in any significant way, and therefore you are not even aware of their existence.
On the other hand, a survey conducted among European (non-Jewish) students found that the majority believed that there were tens of millions of Jews in the world. There was even a minority that numbered hundreds of millions of Jews.
As one student who named these fantastic numbers explained: "I know that there are around sixty million people living in Britain. Israel is in the news at least one and a half times more often than Britain, so it is likely that there are something like 90-100 million Jews in Israel...
When they told him the real number, he was left gaping with surprise. Are you going to tell me that all the fuss in the world is because of such a tiny group? Amazing.
The question is spot on, but it may be one of the things that the prohibition against counting the children of Israel has come to teach us. Jews should not be measured by numbers. Whoever does so may come to the wrong conclusion that the Jewish people are insignificant or, alternatively, that there are many more Jews than there are in reality.
Our parsha says: If you want to test the power of the people of Israel, don't count it, but ask the Jews to make a donation. There you will see the real data. The scope of the Jewish people's kindness and giving is disproportionate to its numerical size. His contribution and impact on the world is disproportionate. And of course, surpassing all of them, the spiritual power of the people of Israel has not ceased to emanate generation after generation, Even in the most difficult times, under the immense influence of Torah and holiness.
It is not the number that counts, the Torah tells us, but the quality of the contribution, and in this the people of Israel are a superpower!
