Bamidbar: NUMBers

Bamidbar: NUMBers

The parsha, and the book that is named after it is called Numbers in English.  Our scholars (z”l) called it Sefer pekudim- the book of the those who count.  We read the book at the end of our counting  of the omer.

Fo many people, arithmetic has a numbing quality, the mind blanks when the quantitative function is called forth. The first counting  in the Parsha, the deployment of the army of Israel,  may be intended to this.  It may be a display of the overwhelming force represented by this people, a psychological tactic to fend off attack. Veracity is optional.

The parsha has both cardinal ( 1,2,3...) and ordinal ( first second, third...) numbers.  Numbers and addresses are mixed together.  Is this the origin of addressable ( random access)  memory, the basis of electronic computing?  Only very distantly.

When the Saints come marching in; I want be in that number. 

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