In Search of Theological Modesty

Biblical Lessons

Liss-Levinson

• Publisher: Resource Publications
• Year: 2015
• eBook ISBN: 9781498270267
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Religion

The twenty-first century is emerging as a challenging time for people with faith-based traditions who also seek paths of openness to pluralistic voices and streams of spirituality. In Search of Theological Modesty: Biblical Lessons, deeply rooted in traditional Jewish approaches to biblical exegesis, finds new ways to support this commitment to tolerance and respect through examination of key stories and commandments in the Torah. Blending homiletics with profound psychological insights, Liss-Levinson creates images, themes, and lessons that are both particularistic and global. In this accessible discussion of Torah, the author invites people of varying backgrounds and understandings to join in his search to more humbly approach their own beliefs, other people, and their beliefs and faiths.

SECTION IV

ON THE ROAD: THE DESERT JOURNALS

15

WHY COUNT, WHO COUNTS, WHAT REALLY COUNTS?

While the fourth book of the Torah is called Bamidbar in the original Hebrew, which means “in the wilderness,” in English it is referred to as the “Book of Numbers.” This is because the opening passages tell of a census of the Children of Israel, the third such census within one year of the exodus from Egypt.

And God spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai in the tent of assembly on the first day of the second month of the second year of their departure from the land of Egypt, saying. Siu (Hebrew for “count” or more literally “lift up”) the heads of all the congregations of the children of Israel according to their families; according to their ancestors’ houses, with the number of the names, all the males by their gulgolotom (Hebrew for “by their skulls” understood to mean each according to their half-shekel, a specific silver weight, donation per person.) (Num 1:1–2)

Three important broad questions emerge for me: Why Count?; Who Counts?; And What Counts?

WHY COUNT?

Certainly the most basic reasons for counting something are to know the extent of what you have, to be able to assess what the value of that is, and to exercise and maintain control over it. Of course that is an anthropocentric perspective. But what of God’s counting of the Jewish people or commanding that we be counted? Of what purpose or function is it to God? Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, the former Chief Rabbi of the United Kingdom, suggests that we are given two very disparate reasons for counting.32 On the one hand, Rashi, commenting on this opening passage to the Book of Numbers, suggests that God counts the Jewish people because they are so dear and precious; in effect, this is a sign of God’s love. Yet Sacks also notes that in an earlier passage in Exodus, it is clear that counting is fraught with risk

And God spoke to Moses saying. When you count the heads of the children of Israel according to their counts, each of them shall give a ransom of their souls to God when they are being counted, and there shall not be a plague among them in the counting of them. (Exod 30:11–12)

So the act of counting can serve as a means to demonstrate love of the other, as well as a way to demand of the other commitment, responsibility and accountability.

Sacks and many others also note that the choice of the word “siu” to lift up, as opposed to several other alternative words in Hebrew for counting, bespeaks the ways in which God is commanding us to use the act of counting as a means to elevate the individual being counted. However, it is not my act of counting that invests value in you. Rather, I am counting you because you have an inherent value, and I wish to communicate my awareness and acknowledgement of that to you. Sacks also makes reference to a lesser-known blessing, mentioned in the Talmud (Berachot 58a), which is to be recited upon seeing 600,000 Israelites in one place: “Blessed are you, God, Our Lord, ruler of the universe, who discerns secrets.” Sacks interprets this to mean that it is ultimately only God who has the capability to recognize each of our unique qualities and attributes and to truly see each of us as individuals, even in a crowd of 600,000, much less in a world of more than 7.2 billion people.

WHO COUNTS?

Who counts in this opening to the Book of Numbers, and who counts in a variety of settings and for a variety of purposes in the Torah and in later traditional texts presents more difficulties. The simplest and most succinct answer, albeit painful to this author, is males. Whether you retain and celebrate those gender-based differences, transform the traditions to find new ways to have more egalitarian approaches within the framework of Jewish traditions, or choose to completely eliminate these differences, is not the subject of this chapter. But even within a male-dominated, gender-based system, it is worthwhile to note that historically Judaism is replete with a wide range of “cohorts of significance” in which the number of males that are required for something “to count” varies. And once the necessary numbers constitute the particular cohort of significance for the intended purpose, adding more numbers of people for the same purpose does not make that larger cohort any better, or of greater value. Several examples should suffice.

In the area of giving testimony, there are certain circum­stances where one individual’s testimony is considered sufficient for an official judgment to be made. An example is regarding testimony that a woman’s husband was killed or died [in a war] and thus she can be considered a widow and free to remarry.33 Hence, only one witness is required.

In general, however, in testimony, we require two witnesses. But once we have the two witnesses who are deemed appropriate for the role and testimony they are giving, they are necessary and sufficient. In fact, they are considered to be as authoritative as if we have one hundred people offering the same testimony.34

For a prayer quorum, a minyan, ten adults are required, which then allows the Torah to be read in the formal public Torah readings, as well as for certain prayers to be said. Eleven or eleven hundred is not any better or more valuable than the minimum required ten.35

The formal sanctification of God’s name in public, classically referred to as Kiddush HaShem or martyrdom, was seen as requiring a quorum of ten. And, similar to the prayer quorum referenced above, adding numbers to the group does not in any way add to the holiness of the act or make it more valuable to God.36

Traditional Judaism has distinctions of significance between the private and public domain as it relates to carrying objects on the Sabbath. Many Modern Orthodox communities go to great pains, legally and financially, to construct an eruv, creating a physical vehicle that symbolically encloses a public space as well as symbolically unifies the community and transforms the space from public to private vis a vis carrying on the Sabbath. However, there are areas that are rabbinically defined as forever public because more than 600,000 people can be found in them at any given time and are thus deemed to be unable to be transformed from public to private space as per the above eruv approach.37

The question that we need to ask is what these various examples all mean about our question of “who counts.” I am less concerned, however intellectually interesting it may be, as to why these specific situations require the different numbers they do. My focus is on the broader lesson to be derived. We certainly can extract several themes of importance.

The first, and perhaps most important, is that numbers both matter and don’t matter at all. Or more precisely, numbers matter for certain things and situations and not for others. Sometimes 600,000 is a big and important number and can impact on the lives and behavior of individuals, or hundreds, or thousands or millions of others. And sometimes there is remarkable and comparable power that resides even within one individual, whose testimony might prohibit something to individuals, or hundreds, or thousands, or millions. Also, think of the famed Talmudic statement in the Tractate of Sanhedrin 37a, “If someone saves an individual life, it is as if an entire world was saved.”

The second lesson to be derived is that at times when certain numbers matter, once you have achieved that requisite number and the status has been invested in the group, more is not better, bigger is not better. It speaks to the value of a group that represents significance. It is a lesson regarding perspective and concomitant humility in pursuing one’s mission and purpose.

WHAT REALLY COUNTS?

It is possible to look at the Hebrew titles of each of the five books of the Torah and each of their themes in order to gain some perspective on the issue of what really counts. Bereisheet, Genesis literally means “In the beginning,” in which we are focused on individuals, the first man and woman and then eventually the patriarchs and matriarchs, with detailed listings of their various offspring. Who the eventual “seventy” souls are that go down and settle in the land of Egypt as the book of Genesis draws to a close is important. Shemot, Exodus—literally “Names.” Here we experience the transition from the individual to the larger group and thus we speak of the 600,000 that God eventually takes out of Egypt (a figure based on males of a certain age, the actual total number of people being certainly well in excess of 1.5 million). Vayikra, Leviticus—literally “And He [God] called,” brings us to a critical point. What you are being called upon to do and to become will be more important than the names of individuals or the total numbers of individuals. Bamidbar, ironically translated as Numbers, but literally means “In the wilderness.” It hints that even as we are called upon to act in certain ways and to aspire to be a holy nation, an am kadosh, the journey, the willingness to approach the unknown in a state of openness, is critical in shaping us to who and what we will become. And Devarim, Deuteronomy, literally “things” or “words.” It may tell us that perhaps we are all only valuable and worthy of being counted if we understand that the relationship between the words we speak and the things we do reflects our true value as individuals and as a nation.

The Haftorah, the words from the Prophets that are read after the conclusion of the Torah reading on the Sabbath and festivals, for this portion of Bamidbar, is taken from the prophet Hosea. The opening lines speak to the issue of the counting of the Jewish people:

And it will be that the number of the Children of Israel will be like the sand of the ocean, which cannot be measured and cannot be counted . . . (Hos 2:1)

Yet we know that this has never described the population of the Jewish people historically. In current times we comprise a minuscule percentage of the world’s population. So the issue again becomes one of perspective as to what really counts if it is in fact not “numbers.” For this we need to look at the closing sentences of this prophetic reading, where Hosea speaks on behalf of God to the Jewish people.

And I will betroth you unto Me for eternity; and I will betroth you unto Me in righteousness and judgment, and loving-kindness and mercy; and I will betroth you unto Me in faithfulness and you shall know God. (Hos 1:21–22)

There are times that c...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction
• Section I: The Genesis is in Genesis
• Section II: On a Small Mountain in a Desert
• Section III: God Calls and Our Calling
• Section IV: On the Road: The Desert Journals
• Section V: Journeys: The Process is the Product
• Afterword
• Bibliography