During our lives we all are classified into different groups. Consider some part of your life and you can immediately imagine a classification system. Employed-unemployed, young or old, city of country, happy or sad; our lives are a series of statuses, juxtaposed to alternative statuses.
In Parshat BaMidbar, a great deal of space and text is devoted to the census which arranges and classifies households in almost a militaristic fashion. Heads of households are identified by name and that name is assigned a number.
In these poems I'd like to consider the various parties that represent a census which counts people and households. These classifications include the counted, the counters, the uncounted and the person who designs the intentions of the counting. At some point we may find ourselves in any of these categories or in none. The field is wide and changing and perhaps once we counted as a group it becomes more difficult to imagine being in the shoes of others classified differently.
The Idea
ideas are poetry
making them happen is prose
The Waltz of the Counter
He is the counter
It is what he always dreamed to be
There is a certain rhythm
To his count
1,2,3,1,2,3
The waltz of world building
The count continues and twirls
The power of numbers are in his hand
The abacus beads are his friends.
The half shekels,
the roll books,
the ledgers,
the files,
pens and pins and clips,
neatly ordered
columns standing straight as
soldiers in formation.
The waltz continues
names,
and numbers,
their totals
ebb and flow.
Numbers waltz
along the page
spreading power
producing change.
Powers are
magnified,
multiplied,
maximized
Each number
represents a name.
A soldier,
a taxpayer,
a voter,
a builder,
a worker,
a farmer.
Districts drawn,
issues decided
Life and
death,
life and
death
1,2,3,
1,2,3
magnified
multiplied
maximized
The Counted
We make up
your armies,
your committees,
your workers,
your believers,
your supporters,
your taxpayers,
your judges,
your constituents,
your enemies
your friends.
We dream along with you.
We produce,
we consume,
we rise,
we fall,
we pay,
we serve,
we bleed,
we obey,
we give,
we receive,
we sacrifice,
we are the nation
we are counted.
The Uncounted
Uncounted
Undocumented
Unsettled
Unable
Unawarded
Undone
Unbinding
Untenable
Uncalled
Unjustified
Unfair
Unfit
Undone
Unseen
Unviable
Unasked
Unequal
Unwanted
Unrepresented
ideas are poetry
making them happen is prose
“Taking the Census,” an illustration from an 1870 issue of Harper’s Weekly. (Library of Congress)
Numbers 1: 2-4 (Translation from Sefaria)
שְׂא֗וּ אֶת־רֹאשׁ֙ כָּל־עֲדַ֣ת בְּנֵֽי־יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל לְמִשְׁפְּחֹתָ֖ם לְבֵ֣ית אֲבֹתָ֑ם בְּמִסְפַּ֣ר שֵׁמ֔וֹת כָּל־זָכָ֖ר לְגֻלְגְּלֹתָֽם׃ Take a census of the whole Israelite community by the clans of its ancestral houses, listing the names, every male, head by head.
מִבֶּ֨ן עֶשְׂרִ֤ים שָׁנָה֙ וָמַ֔עְלָה כָּל־יֹצֵ֥א צָבָ֖א בְּיִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל תִּפְקְד֥וּ אֹתָ֛ם לְצִבְאֹתָ֖ם אַתָּ֥ה וְאַהֲרֹֽן׃ You and Aaron shall record them by their groups, from the age of twenty years up, all those in Israel who are able to bear arms.
וְאִתְּכֶ֣ם יִהְי֔וּ אִ֥ישׁ אִ֖ישׁ לַמַּטֶּ֑ה אִ֛ישׁ רֹ֥אשׁ לְבֵית־אֲבֹתָ֖יו הֽוּא׃ Associated with you shall be a man from each tribe, each one the head of his ancestral house.