Nit ein, nit zwei (“not one, not two”)… Counting heads is not something our communities usually feel comfortable with, but when it cannot be avoided, there are various ways we can avoid counting people properly; we might count negatively as above, count fingers or coins instead of people, or use biblical verses to avoid counting heads, which, traditionally, we have come to regard as fraught with danger.

The Second Book of Samuel records a census that was held at the end of King David’s reign, which led to a plague in which 70,000 people died (24:1-16). The number of deaths proves a point: too often we associate counting people with death. Even today we tend to count fatalities in pandemics (remember those dreaded daily statistics during the Covid pandemic?), natural disasters and wars.

Moreover, most censuses were held to mobilise the male population for warfare, as is the case in this week’s parashah, Bemidbar, the first portion in the appropriately named Book of Numbers, known also by its Hebrew name Chumash Hapekudim, the Book of Enumeration.

Rashi, the famous 11th-century French exegete, explained God’s instruction to hold a census as a sign of love for the people, comparable to a child who counts and recounts his cherished toys, however, when we read the whole of Numbers 1:2, we realise that “the whole Israelite community” only refers to the Israelite men of fighting age, leaving out women, children and those unable to fight.

It confirms that there is indeed a problem with counting people, for we cannot help but count in categories; by counting we set boundaries, define groups and differentiate between those who are included and those who are excluded; counting people can tell a story, be a political statement, or a tool to hurt.

Take for example the beautiful concept of a minyan, the requirement of a minimum community of ten people. “Ten people” is already a wider definition than the traditional minyan, which traditionally constitutes ten adult men: children and women are not included.

In today’s world inclusivity is important because we know that being counted is a validation, an act of empowerment. Some of us (Progressive Judaism for example) — include women in a minyan as a matter of course, but might still unwittingly exclude others, without even realising it, for counting people remains a very tricky business.