Censuses

Social Issues

The Torah describes several censuses of the people of Israel throughout the books of Exodus and Numbers. These censuses are conducted to collect donations for the Tabernacle, for military preparation, and for tribal organization. Later sources analyze the halakhic ways to do a census, the spiritual significance of these biblical censuses, and more.

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The Half-Shekel Census

TANAKH

In the context of chapters discussing the establishment of the Tabernacle, God instructs Moses to collect a half-shekel from each adult male among the people of Israel. The Torah describes this census and its purpose.

When you take a census of the Israelite men according to their army enrollment, each shall pay יהוה a ransom for himself on being enrolled, that no plague may come upon them through their being enrolled.

Exodus 30:12

Census in the Desert

TANAKH

Censuses occur several times throughout the Torah. One such instance is at the opening of the book of Numbers, as God instructs Moses to take a census of adult males over the age of 20.

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. 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.

Numbers 1:2-3

God's Love for the Israelites

COMMENTARY

Why are the Israelites counted several times throughout the Torah? Rashi, the renowned 11th-century rabbi and commentator, suggests a connection between the censuses and God's love for the people of Israel.

וידבר… במדבר סיני … באחד לחדש וגו׳ AND [THE LORD] SPOKE [UNTO MOSES] IN THE DESERT OF SINAI … ON THE FIRST DAY OF THE [SECOND] MONTH … [TAKE YE THE SUM OF ALL THE CONGREGATION] etc. — Because they were dear to him, He counts them every now and then: when they went forth from Egypt He counted them (Exodus 12:37), when many of them fell in consequence of their having worshipped the golden calf He counted them to ascertain the number of those left (cf. Rashi Exodus 30:16); when he was about to make His Shechinah dwell amongst them (i. e…

Rashi on Numbers 1:1

Counting the People Through Paschal Lambs

TALMUD

The Talmud describes a method of using the paschal lambs to estimate the population of Israel. Tractate Pesachim recounts how King Agrippa used this method.

The Sages taught: Once, King Agrippa wished to set his eyes on the multitudes [ukhlosin] of Israel to know how many they were. He said to the High Priest: Set your eyes on the Paschal lambs; count how many animals are brought in order to approximate the number of people. The High Priest took a kidney from each one, as the kidneys are burned on the altar, and six hundred thousand pairs of kidneys were found there, double the number of those who left Egypt…

Pesachim 64b:9

The Dangers of Counting

COMMENTARY

Counting the Jewish people, a small and vulnerable population, can have significant spiritual and communal consequences. Rabbi Jonathan Sacks reflects on the Jewish tradition of avoiding direct counting of individuals.

That is why it is dangerous to count Jews. We are a tiny people. The late Milton Himmelfarb once wrote that the total population of Jews throughout the world is smaller than a small statistical error in the Chinese census.

Covenant and Conversation; Exodus; The Book of Redemption, Ki Tisa, Counting Jews 12

Prohibition and Risk

HALAKHAH

Traditional Jewish texts caution against directly counting people. Rabbi J. David Bleich explores the halakhic perspectives on conducting a census, highlighting the inherent risks.

At least two authorities, Klei Hemdah, Parshat Ki Tissa, and Naḥal Eitan 6:10, sec. 7, assert that the danger inherent in the taking of a census is entirely independent of any prohibition concerning counting the populace. Therefore, according to these authorities, even in situations in which (according to some opinions) no prohibition pertains, e.g., only a portion of the populace is counted or the census is taken by indirect means, the procedure nevertheless involves an inherent danger and should be eschewed for that reason…

Contemporary Halakhic Problems, Vol III, Part II, Chapter XIII The Controversy Concerning the Israeli Census 60

Moses and the Census

LITURGY

Some biblical commentators understood that Moses faced profound spiritual and existential challenges when he was commanded to take a census of the Israelites. This passage, from liturgical poems known as Yotzerot, explores Moses's initial fear and the divine guidance he received.

When the nursing-father (Moses) heard the command “When you take the census of the children of Israel’’ he trembled and quaked. “How can a people be fathomed that cannot be measured or numbered? When their ancestor Abraham was told ‘Look now, and count the stars,’ he stood off, as he was told again, ‘if you be able to count them.’ Their seed is like the sand of the sea and like the stars of the heaven. How, then, can I count them since they continually multiply?’’ The exalted God then taught him a device to compute their number…

Siddur Sefard, Yotzerot, Parashat Sekalim 29

Blessings and Plagues

KABBALAH

Kabbalistic sources describe how blessing the people before and after counting them prevents a plague. The Zohar, a foundational work of Jewish mysticism, explains the method of using half-shekels to avoid direct counting.

Now it has been laid down that the heavenly blessing does not rest on anything enumerated. How, then, is it that the Israelites were enumerated? Because the enumeration was by means of a ransom taken from them. The Israelites were thus first blessed, then their ransoms were counted, and that was followed again by a blessing given to them. The blessings, before and after, were a shield against death, which is ready to attack wherever there is enumeration.

Zohar, Bamidbar 1:13

The Consequences of a Census

TALMUD

In the book of Samuel, David instructs the commander of his army to conduct a census of soldiers. The Babylonian Talmud in tractate Yoma discusses King David's two significant sins, including this census that resulted in widespread suffering.

Rav Huna stated above that David failed with two sins. What were they? One was the incident in which he had Uriah killed. The other was the matter of the incitement of David to conduct a census of the Jewish people (see II Samuel 24:1), which led to many deaths in a plague.

Yoma 22b:11

David's Regretful Census

TANAKH

King David expresses remorse for conducting a census. The biblical narrative in Samuel II recounts David's acknowledgment of his foolishness and his heartfelt plea for God's mercy.

But afterward David reproached himself for having numbered the people. And David said to GOD, “I have sinned grievously in what I have done. Please, O GOD, remit the guilt of Your servant, for I have acted foolishly.”

II Samuel 24:10

The Half-Shekel Census

MUSAR

Moses was uncertain whether the command to count the Jewish people by means of their half-shekel contributions was meant to be an annual command or a one-time event. Rabbi Isaiah HaLevi Horowitz, in his 17th-century work Shenei Luchot HaBerit, explores the reasoning behind the requirement for both rich and poor to contribute exactly one half-shekel.

Let us now take a closer look at the meaning of the Yalkut. When Moses received the instructions from G–d to count the Jewish people by means of their half-shekel contributions, he was not certain whether this was a command that applied to future generations on an annual basis and would form the basis of each Jew's annual contribution to the public offerings brought on their behalf by the priests, or whether it was a command that applied only this once. If the Torah wanted an annual census of the Jews to be undertaken in this fashion this could account for the command that the rich should not…

Shenei Luchot HaBerit, Torah Shebikhtav, Ki Tisa, Torah Ohr 24

The Babylonian Exile by the Numbers

COMMENTARY

The Babylonian exile was an important event in Jewish history. Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz's modern commentary on the book of Jeremiah expands on the verse that lists how many Judeans were exiled under King Nebuchadnezzar.

The chapter tallies the exiles. These are the people whom Nebuchadrezzar exiled: In the seventh year, which was when Yehoyakhin was exiled, the first of the expulsions, three thousand and twenty-three Judeans;

Steinsaltz on Jeremiah 52:28

Organizing the Temple Service

SECOND TEMPLE

The detailed organization of the Levites and priests for their Temple duties reveals the meticulous structure and sacred responsibilities in ancient Israel. Josephus, a 1st-century Jewish historian, provides an account of King David's methodical division of the priesthood.

7. But David, being desirous of ordaining his son king of all the people, called together their rulers to Jerusalem, with the priests and the Levites; and having first numbered the Levites, he found them to be thirty-eight thousand, from thirty years old to fifty; out of which he appointed twenty-three thousand to take care of the building of the temple, and out of the same, six thousand to be judges of the people and scribes, four thousand for porters to the house of God, and as many for singers, to sing to the instruments which David had prepared, as we have said already…

The Antiquities of the Jews 7:14:7

The Mystical Significance of Counting

COMMENTARY

The Torah's repetition of the command to count the people of Israel raises intriguing questions about its deeper significance. Rabbi Chaim ibn Attar, in his 18th-century commentary Or HaChaim, delves into the mystical and ethical reasons behind the Torah's instructions for counting the people of Israel, particularly the Levite family of Kehat.

תפקד אותם, "you will count them." Why did the Torah have to repeat the instruction to count seeing the word נשא already meant "to count?" I have explained this in connection with the instruction to count the Kehatites (4,20).

Or HaChaim on Numbers 4:23:1

The Dual Role of the Census

JEWISH THOUGHT

The book of Numbers opens with a census, and the book is occasionally referred to in rabbinic literature as "the book of the count." Rabbi Jonathan Sacks reflects on the multifaceted role of censuses in the desert.

In Hebrew, we call the fourth book of the Pentateuch “Bemidbar” to reflect this chaos, but everything about the book of Numbers is enigmatic, even its title. In English, Numbers is so called because it begins with a census and is even referred to in rabbinic literature as the “Book of the Count.” A census is one way that we organize our world, show responsibility for it, and make an accounting. To confront chaos, humans do the only thing that they can do. They organize themselves and prepare for the uncertainty that they face…

Leadership in the Wilderness; Authority and Anarchy in the Book of Numbers, Part I, Chapter 1; Leadership in the Wilderness 9

The Unique Role of Each Individual

CHASIDUT

Each person in the Jewish community has a unique role and purpose, contributing to the harmony and completeness of the whole. Rabbi Mordechai Yosef Leiner of Izbica, in his Chasidic commentary Mei HaShiloach, uses the metaphor of a garden to illustrate each person's distinct individuality and roles.

“Count the heads … number them according to their armies, you and Aharon. And a man of each tribe shall be with you ….” (Bamidbar, 1:2–4)
The matter of counting relates to what is said in the Gemara (Berachot, 58a), “one man’s mind is not similar to another’s.” God allotted goodness and life to each individual, and no one is similar to his fellow. Therefore it is said, “count [literally, “raise”] the head,” or to stand each one in his proper place. By means of this he will be in his place, prominent and elevated…

Mei HaShiloach, Volume I, Numbers, Bamidbar 3

Divine Allocation of the Promised Land

MIDRASH

The division of the promised land among the tribes of Israel was not just a human decision but involved divine guidance. The third-century halakhic midrash, Sifrei Bamidbar, explains how the land was apportioned.

(Bamidbar 26:54) "To the (more) numerous (tribe) you shall increase its inheritance, and to the less (numerous) you shall decrease its inheritance." If one had five sons when he left Egypt, and ten sons when he entered the land, I apply to them "To the numerous you shall increase its inheritance." If he had ten sons when he left Egypt, and five when he entered the land, I apply to them "and to the less you shall decrease its inheritance." "To a man": to exclude women, tumtumim, and hermaphrodites…

Sifrei Bamidbar 132:2

The Census of Reuben

TANAKH

The census of the tribe of Reuben provides a detailed account of all males aged twenty years and over who could bear arms. The book of Numbers begins with a census that meticulously registers the descendants of Reuben by name and head, emphasizing their preparedness for war.

They totaled as follows: The descendants of Reuben, Israel’s first-born, the registration of the clans of their ancestral house, as listed by name, head by head, all males aged twenty years and over, all who were able to bear arms—

Numbers 1:20

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