census as love for Bnei Yisrael

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  1. The Camp of Israel

    Rabbi Alex Israel | 35 minutes

    In this introduction to Sefer Bemidbar, which starts with a census, we look at the idea of counting and examine Rashi’s comments here and elsewhere about the census being part of God’s love for Bnei Yisrael. Other commentators further enhance and expand our perspectives on the Divine census and the encampment of Bnei Yisrael in the desert.

  2. Parashat Pinhas and the Primacy of Counting in the Book of Bemidbar

    Dr. Yael Ziegler | 34 minutes

    At the beginning of Parashat Pinhas is the second Divine command to count Bnei Yisrael (the first at beginning of Bemidbar).)  This event has far more importance than just counting the people. It becomes the name for the book: the Sages' name for the book of Bemidbar  is"The Book of Counting" - the Sages – see it as the essence of the book.

    We examin various suggested reasons for God's command to count Bnei Yisrael, and we note that the second counting has a major difference in the reasons for counting from that of the first census: we find military vs. inheritance to explain the disparities.