Who really counts in Judaism?
This week’s parsha details the counting of the Jewish people in the desert. The Torah is an eternal document, meaning every section must contain a timeless, universal message. What relevance does an ancient Jewish census have to Jews in America today?
The process of writing a Torah is painstaking. It can take a scribe over a year, writing for several hours a day. An average Torah scroll can cost between 50K and 100K dollars. A Torah has very specific rules regarding its validity. If one letter is missing from the scroll or it has overlapping letters the entire scroll is no good. In order to insure no letters are missing they are counted by section, just like the Jews of our parsha. The Jewish people are like the letters in a Torah scroll.
Rabbi Paysach Krohn explains why every Jew is like a letter in the Torah. If a single Jew is not in the right place or is missing from the Jewish community, the entire community is invalid. We also see that each letter has a special purpose, with no overlap.If two letters overlap the entire Torah is no good. Just as I have a special task in this world that only I can do, so to every Jew, every person, every atom and molecule that was created has no overlap. Everything that was created has a specific purpose that only that entity can accomplish. Everyone counts.
Each Jew is counted, no matter what their denominational affiliation or level of religious observance. The act of counting, whether it be letters in the Torah or the number of Jews, demonstrates care and preciousness. By counting them we show they count. Just as we need every letter in the Torah to understand and fulfill it so to we need every Jew to fulfill the Torah, at a practical functional level.
“Torah is the ultimate team building exercise” Jeff Rosen, CEO Maxtell
It is impossible for an individual to completely fulfill all the mitzvot of the Torah. Our service of God is incomplete without the contribution of each and every Jew. The mitzvot contain such a wide variety of commandments. In order to fulfill them all one would need to be a man, a women a farmer, a Judge, a butcher, a baker, a sweatshirt maker, a High Priest, and a king. The only way to fulfill the entire Torah is to work together because everyone counts.
This week’s parsha details the counting of the Jewish people in the desert. The Torah is an eternal document, meaning every section must contain a timeless, universal message. What relevance does an ancient Jewish census have to Jews in America today?
The process of writing a Torah is painstaking. It can take a scribe over a year, writing for several hours a day. An average Torah scroll can cost between 50K and 100K dollars. A Torah has very specific rules regarding its validity. If one letter is missing from the scroll or it has overlapping letters the entire scroll is no good. In order to insure no letters are missing they are counted by section, just like the Jews of our parsha. The Jewish people are like the letters in a Torah scroll.
Rabbi Paysach Krohn explains why every Jew is like a letter in the Torah. If a single Jew is not in the right place or is missing from the Jewish community, the entire community is invalid. We also see that each letter has a special purpose, with no overlap.If two letters overlap the entire Torah is no good. Just as I have a special task in this world that only I can do, so to every Jew, every person, every atom and molecule that was created has no overlap. Everything that was created has a specific purpose that only that entity can accomplish. Everyone counts.
Each Jew is counted, no matter what their denominational affiliation or level of religious observance. The act of counting, whether it be letters in the Torah or the number of Jews, demonstrates care and preciousness. By counting them we show they count. Just as we need every letter in the Torah to understand and fulfill it so to we need every Jew to fulfill the Torah, at a practical functional level.
“Torah is the ultimate team building exercise” Jeff Rosen, CEO Maxtell
It is impossible for an individual to completely fulfill all the mitzvot of the Torah. Our service of God is incomplete without the contribution of each and every Jew. The mitzvot contain such a wide variety of commandments. In order to fulfill them all one would need to be a man, a women a farmer, a Judge, a butcher, a baker, a sweatshirt maker, a High Priest, and a king. The only way to fulfill the entire Torah is to work together because everyone counts.
