Equal Counting

This week’s Torah reading begins the fourth book of the Torah which is called Numbers in English. Why is it given that name? Because the book focuses on several censuses — the first is described in this Torah reading — taken during the journey of the Jewish people through the desert.

What does a census teach us? That everyone is counted the same. Of course, we are different. Some are smarter. Others are stronger and still others have potentials in other areas, but when it comes down to counting, no one is given greater distinction than anyone else.

Why is this? Because there are two fundamental equalizers within the spiritual makeup each one of us possess. First and most fundamentally, every man or woman has a soul that is an actual part of G‑d. The core of each one of us is a spiritual potential that is essential G‑dliness. On the most basic level, when we focus on what is our real “I,” we come to the realization, not of our individual egos, but of this G‑dly spark. Quite obviously, one person’s essential G‑dliness cannot be greater than another’s.

Moreover, even on the level where our individual selves are concerned and we appear to be separate and distinct from each other, we share a fundamental equality. For the unity we share can be pictured by means of the analogy of the human body. Although the limbs and organs differ in form and function, they work in harmony, each contributing a necessary element to the operation of the body. It is not only that the head and the heart are both essential to life. Even our non-essential limbs each contribute a complementary element to our beings that enables us to function optimally. For example, the feet provide mobility through which the senses are exposed to a greater range of stimuli, enabling the brain to collect and process information.

So too, there are head souls, heart souls, and feet souls; each one with a different makeup and each one contributing a quality the other lacks. Every one of us possesses something that can make humanity and the world in which we live better. Indeed, that is the reason why G‑d created every individual person. He made him or her with a mission, endowing him within a unique quality that no one else possesses, so that he or she could express that quality and thus bring about a meaningful and significant change in the world.

These concepts also relate to the Giving of the Torah soon to be commemorated. Our Sages tell us that if even one person had been lacking at Sinai, the Torah would not have been given. Moses would not have received the Torah if one of the simple folk had not been there.

Indeed, this concept is so fundamentally connected with the Jewish people that it is alluded to in their name, Israel (ישראל), for that name is interpreted as an acronym for the phrase יש ששים ריבוי אותיות לתורה, meaning “There are 60 myriads (600,000) letters in the Torah.” Just as every letter is necessary for a Torah scroll and without it, it is disqualified, so too, every Jew is necessary for the success of our people.

Shabbat Shalom!

Candle lighting time (NYC): Friday, 7:49 PM