I struggled this week so it's short and a bit underdeveloped but, well, there is too much cooking to do to give it more time. :)

Not Counting and Counting

With the confluence of Shabbas, Parshas Bamidbar, and the 49th day of the Omer, it seems impossible not to think about numbers and how significant they are in Jewish life. We are known as the People of the Book, and here we are…moments before celebrating receiving the Torah…and we are surrounded by numbers.

The Jewish people’s relationship to counting is interesting. It is, perhaps, a reflection of our ability to control life. Parshas Bamidbar begins with Hashem commanding Moshe to take a new census of the Jewish people, to count them by tribe and by the houses of their fathers. This is not the only census of Bnei Yisrael in the Torah, and yet we know that Jewish law tells us that we may not count the Jewish people.

The Jewish people are a designated force in the world. We are meant to show the world what it means to live by Divine guidance. This also means that we must show the world our trust in Hashem. Counting ourselves, focussing on our physical number and our worldly strengths or weaknesses, shifts the focus away from acknowledging Hashem’s ultimate control.

Klal Yisrael’s numbers, then - and now, have never been awe-inspiring, until you focus on the fact that the numbers have always been almost insignificant in comparison to the rest of the world population. However, having given us the responsibility of becoming an am kadosh, Hashem did give us control of time. This is most often recognized in discussions about the declaration of Rosh Chodesh, but as we approach Shavuos we are reminded of that which we have a responsibility to count.

We count our days, we count our weeks, and we count our years. We live in a cycle of sevens, longing for the step into the eighth day, into the time of being beyond the confines of the natural order and living in the Messianic age with a full understanding of Hashem.

As we finish our count of the Omer on the day from which the Jewish people draw their strength (Shabbas), may we all be zoche to enter Shavuos truly recognizing the power of the Torah and Hashem’s true malchus.