It is Counting Time

The year of counting people is here. When counting people we should remember that while numbers matter, people matter more. 2020 is the year to learn and relearn that lesson.

The United States Census begins in March, 2020. Every ten years our government collects data to determine the size of our population. The quality of the information is critical to providing services to the public.

The country will also vote for a new president in 2020. And one-third of the Senate stands for election. The entire House of Representatives stands before the electorate. Votes will be counted. More importantly, people’s dreams and concerns, hopes and fears will be reckoned.

Counting is highly figurative in Torah. God promised Abraham that his descendants would be as numerous as the stars in heaven, too numerous to number. The count of future generations was immeasurable. The stars in heaven are unique and luminous, as each of us was created to be. As my friend the physicist would say, each of us is an exquisitely unique composite of atoms never before assembled and not likely to be replicated.

Later, God directed an orderly counting of the Hebrews who left Egypt. In Torah this week, parshat Ki Tisa, we begin with that census. However, Moses did not count the people directly. When people were counted in Torah bad things happened, like plagues. Instead, Moses counted the coins provided by people. As Torah instructed: “when you take a census of the Israelite people according to their enrollment, each shall pay the LORD a ransom for himself on being enrolled, that no plague may come upon them through their being enrolled.” Exodus 30:12. Counting people reduces them to mere numbers and diminishes the value of a human life. Moses used a coin substitute to indicate the holy and unique nature of each person.

The ancient Hebrews did not abstain from the census. All participated. The information was critical to the enterprise of creating a nation. But the quality of that nation, a holy nation, came not from sheer numbers but from honoring the individual.

When we take a census of Americans, our purpose is more than a count. We should honor each individual. Similarly, when we count the votes cast in elections we should celebrate the electoral process so as to dignify each persons’ intentions in this struggling democracy.

There is another count happening now. We are counting the numbers of those who are sick and those who have died from COVID-19. They are not merely numbers. We recall the words of Sanhedrin 4:5, reflecting that with the loss of just one life a universe has been extinguished.

It is a Jewish value to participate in the census. It is a mitzvah to vote in this coming election. It is a duty to honor those who are stricken with illness. We don’t just count numbers, we honor people. We recall souls as if each is a named star in the heavens; irreplaceable, unique and glowing.

Rabbi Evan J. Krame