The Numbered and the Numberless (BaMidbar)

I am always intrigued by the relationship between the Parasha, the weekly Torah portion, and the Haftarah, the portion from the prophetic and historical books of the Bible, which the rabbis designated to be read together with the Torah portion. The Parashah BaMidbar stands at the beginning of the book of Numbers (BaMidbar). The book of Numbers begins programmatically with a strictly ordered census of the Israelites, or to be more precise, of the arms bearing Israelites (women and children not counted) according to their tribes and according to their position in the Israelite camp. Each tribes' and each family's position in relation to the travelling Sanctuary is precisely determined. For the modern reader, for this reader, there is a slightly numbing quality to this hierarchical order.

It is all the more interesting to contemplate the almost dialectical position of the Haftarah in relation to the Parashah. The Haftarah is taken from the prophet Hosea. Whereas the Torah portion insists on strict numbering and listing, Hosea proclaims:

"And the number of the children of Israel shall be like the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured nor numbered."

The grand metaphors of sea sand and heavenly stars of course corresponds rather better to God's promise to Abraham then the reality of military census.

Whereas the Torah portion lists all the tribes separately, and a Midrash even claimed they were divided by navigable rivers, Hosea prizes unity above tribal distinctions:

"And the children of Judah and the children of Israel shall be gathered together, and they shall appoint themselves one head..."

The book of Numbers only counts "all those in Israel who are able to bear arms" (1:3), i.e. only the men of fighting age. Ellen Frankel, in her The Five Books of Miriam, lets "Lilith the Rebel comment": "As a result of this census, the women now disappear from view..." (p. 198)

But I think it is possible to use the Haftarah to undermine this clearcut exclusion. Hosea says:

"And say to your brothers 'Ammi' (my people) and to your sisters 'Ruchamah' (the one who receives [divine] mercy)."

In placing side by side "brothers" and "sisters", Hosea reinstates the integrity of a people consisting of men and women working together - a utopian vision that we are still trying to realise.

The gap between the numbered and the numberless opens a space for reflection, something for modern sensibilities to ponder; it returns social responsibility to the individual reflecting on the Parasha and Haftarah, the two faces of the Torah portion, together.