The Talmud, Yoma 22b asks: Why weren’t the Kohanim counted
by a headcount (why were their fingers counted)? Rabbi Yitzchak said: It is forbidden to count
the people of
through a head count, even for the purpose of a mitzva for it is written in
Shmuel Alef 11:8: “He counted them
through pottery shards.” According to Rav Ashi we derive the prohibition from
Shmuel Alef 15:4: “Saul had all the people summoned and he counted them through
lambs.”
We see from here that even when preparing for war, King Saul
counted the people indirectly.
The Gemara continues: Rabbi Elazar said: Whoever counts the
people of
transgresses a negative commandment for it is stated in Hoshea 2:1 “The number
of the children of
Why does the Gemara quote the prohibitions from the Neviim
(Prophets) rather than from the Torah (Shmot 30:12) “When you take a census of
B’nai Yisrael according to their numbers, every man shall give God an atonement
for his soul (a half shekel) when counting them, so that there will not be
plague among them when counting them.” ? According to the Maharsha, this pasuk
in Shmot does not necessarily address future generations. It may have only been
directed to the generation that sinned with the golden calf who needed
atonement.
In Parshat Bamidbar (Bamidbar 1:2) there is no mention of
the half shekel: “Take a head count of the entire congregation of B’nai Yisrael
according to their families to the house of their fathers counting the names of
all males individually.” Rashi and Ramban insist that this was done with the
half shekel like in Shmot. Abravanel states that this time the count was taken
without the half shekel.
According to Sefer HaChinuch, when the Mishkan and Beit
HaMikdash stood, once a year the half shekel was collected to help pay for
everything that was needed for the continual and additional burnt offerings.
At the end od Shmuel Bet, King David insisted that Yoav the
captain count the people. Yoav didn’t want to count them but King David
insisted so Yoav counted them. Afterwards, Kind David repented but God sent a
plague that killed 70,000 men.
Abravanel explains that King David’s problem was that he
counted the people for the wrong reasons. He was counting the people to pride
himself in front of his enemies.
We learn from here that we shouldn’t count people for no
reason.
The question remains, can we count people in times of
necessity?
When necessary, we can count indirectly. In other words, you
can count kipot, hats or jackets the same way that the fingers of the Kohanim
were counted. In this way we have a clear picture of who is there without
counting heads.
When counting to see if there are ten people for a minyan,
words from the pasuk “Hoshia et amecha uvarech et nachlatecha ureim vinasem ad
olam” are used instead of numbers. You only have a minyan once you have recited
the entire pasuk!
