{"id":43046,"date":"2018-10-30T13:17:48","date_gmt":"2018-10-30T11:17:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=43046"},"modified":"2022-05-26T07:02:50","modified_gmt":"2022-05-26T04:02:50","slug":"why-its-dangerous-to-count","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/why-its-dangerous-to-count\/","title":{"rendered":"Why It\u2019s Dangerous To Count"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":50634,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[689,537,354],"acf":{"old_id":"43046","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":33923,"related_cahpter":"80","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"To win the battle of the spirit, the victory of heart, mind and soul, you do not need numbers","content":"

There is a fascinating verse in Exodus: ‘When you take a census [literally, \u201cwhen you lift the head\u201d] of the Israelites to determine their number, each one is to give to the Lord an atonement offering for his life when they are counted, <\/span>so that they will not be stricken by plague<\/span><\/i> when they are counted’ (Ex. 30: 12). Evidently, it is dangerous to count Jews. Why?<\/span><\/p>\n

I once offered the following explanation. Nations normally take a census to estimate their strength: military (the number of people who can be conscripted into an army), economic (the number from whom taxes can be raised) or simply demographic (the numerical growth or decline of the nation). The assumption behind every census is that there is strength in numbers. The more numerous a people, the stronger it is.<\/span><\/p>\n

That is why it is dangerous to count Jews<\/span><\/i>. Jews 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. Jews constitute a fifth of a per cent of the population of the world: by any normal standards too small to be significant. Nor is this something new.<\/span><\/p>\n

In one of his concluding addresses in Deuteronomy, Moses said: ‘The Lord did not set his affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, <\/span>for you are the fewest of all peoples<\/span><\/i>‘ (Deuteronomy 7: 7). The danger in counting Jews is that if they believed, for a moment, that there is strength in numbers, they would long ago have given way to despair.<\/span><\/p>\n

How then do you estimate the strength of the Jewish people? To this the Hebrew Bible gives an answer of surpassing beauty. <\/span>Ask Jews to give, and then count their contributions<\/span><\/em>.<\/span><\/i> Numerically, Jewry is small, but in terms of its contributions to civilization, it is vast. Somehow this small people produced an unceasing flow of patriarchs, priests, poets and prophets, masters of halakhah and aggadah, codifiers and commentators, philosophers and mystics, sages and saints. It was not once that the Jewish imagination caught fire, but in century after century, sometimes under the worst persecution known to any nation on earth.<\/span><\/p>\n

If you want to know the strength of the Jewish people, ask them to give, and then count the contributions. To win the Jewish battle, the battle of the spirit, the victory of heart, mind and soul, you do not need numbers. You need dedication, commitment, study, prayer, vision, courage, ideals and hope. You need to offer people tough challenges through which to grow. I learned this when I was a child.<\/span><\/p>\n

From: <\/span>Future Tense<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":105146,"id":105146,"title":"-628ea104a7fca--628ea104a7fcdex30-count numbers.png","filename":"628ea104a7fca-628ea104a7fcdex30-count-numbers.png.png","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/10\/628ea104a7fca-628ea104a7fcdex30-count-numbers.png.png","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/why-its-dangerous-to-count\/628ea104a7fca-628ea104a7fcdex30-count-numbers-png\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"628ea104a7fca-628ea104a7fcdex30-count-numbers-png","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":43046,"date":"2022-05-25 21:35:00","modified":"2022-08-21 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