Count, Undercount, Miscount, Discount

#bamidbar #counting #thecount #census #thecountingparsha #seferbamidbar #numbers #bookofnumbers #thebookofnumbers #chumash #fivebooksoftorah

Sefer Bamidbar brings us back to the story of the Hebrews in the desert. We veer away from the mishkan, although not too far, because Parshat Bamidbar also details the job of the Kehites, whose job it was to transport the Mishkan from place to place on the Hebrew's travels through the desert.

To me, one of the most interesting things about this book, is that the very title gives us very different ways of looking at what we will cover in this fourth book of Torah. In English the books is called Numbers, because we begin the book by talking about the census to count all eligible males over the age of 20 for battle. On the other hand, in Hebrew the book is called Bamidbar, which means "in the desert," which allows commentators through the generations to imagine what the desert symbolizes in the life of Torah and in our own lives today.

For today we will begin with this first ancient census and lead this to think about the role numbers play in the current news cycle, although I can imagine that numbers have been playing a part in news cycles for as long as people could use them to their advantage, which is, indeed, a very long time.

Every day numbers are presented to us in order to advance a viewpoint. Open a news post, listen to a podcast, view social media and numbers are presented as one source's of truth, while contradicting numbers are presented elsewhere as another source of truth, which leave us, the viewers, challenged and confused. I don't have the answers in this small piece, but the folllowing poem does pose a question which might be appropriate for this parsha, where counting and counts are front and center.

May we hear better news soon.

Shabbat Shalom,

Leann

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Count, Undercount, Miscount

Discount

For those we don’t count,

or miscount,

or undercount,

or overcount ,

or discount

we must ask why.

For those who purposely

manipulate

counts

so to miscount,

or overcount,

or undercount,

leading to discounting

The Others,

( there are so many Others,

it is hard to count)

we have to ask why.

For those must have settle on

being

miscounted,

or undercounted

or overcounted,

leading to

lives discounted

we must put ourselves in their shoes.

Numbers are a constant.

(or are they?)

They are sometimes positive,

sometimes negative.

So very versatile.

Sometimes they tell truths,

and sometimes they lie.

As we seek to present the truth through numbers,

is it the truth we find?

Undercount,

miscount,

discount.

We must ask why.

Other posts from Words Have Wings on Parshat Bamidbar

https://www.wordshavewings.net/post/count-me. Count Me

https://www.wordshavewings.net/post/tee-shirts-we-wear-our-hearts-on-our-sleeves-and-our-flags-on-our-shirts. We Wear Our Flags on Our Shirts

https://www.wordshavewings.net/post/bamidbar-in-the-desert. In the Desert

https://www.wordshavewings.net/post/the-count-in-fours. The Count in Fours

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שְׂא֗וּ אֶת־רֹאשׁ֙ כּל־עֲדַ֣ת בְּנֵֽי־יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל לְמִשְׁפְּחֹתָ֖ם לְבֵ֣ית אֲבֹתָ֑ם בְּמִסְפַּ֣ר שֵׁמ֔וֹת כּל־זָכָ֖ר לְגֻלְגְּלֹתָֽם

Take a census of the whole Israelite company [of fighters] by the clans of its ancestral houses, listing the names, every male, head by head. Numbers 1:2