The Great Wealth Debate
In a small town, two boys were locked in a heated argument over which of their fathers was the richest.
The first boy declared, with the air of authority typical of eleven-year-old boys, “There’s no one in town richer than my dad! His pockets are always brimming with coins—dimes, quarters, nickels—jangling like a marching band every time he walks by!”
“That’s true,” the second boy admitted. “Your father does have a lot of coins in his pockets. But my dad? When he pays for something, he opens his wallet, and it’s stuffed with crisp ten-dollar bills. Sure, he doesn’t have as many bills as your dad has coins, but each ten-dollar bill is worth far more than all those dimes and nickels put together!”
Can Israel Be Counted?
The Book of Numbers begins, as its name suggests, with a census of the Israelites. But this isn’t merely about tallying heads. It’s a lesson in understanding who we are and what it means to belong to a unique community.
The weekly Haftarah dramatically declares: "And the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured nor counted" (Hosea 2:1).
At first glance, it’s a beautiful image—a nation beyond measure, as infinite as the grains of sand on the shore. But it also presents a paradox: how can we speak of the number of the Jewish people if they are, by definition, uncountable?
Rare Jewels
The Talmud suggests an answer: When the Jewish people live according to God’s will, they are indeed beyond counting, as countless as the sand on the seashore. But when they stray from God’s commandments, then they are just another people—limited, finite, measurable.
A people disconnected from its purpose is like a pocketful of jangling coins—easily counted, easily replaced, indistinguishable from any other.
But when we live according to our highest calling, when we uphold God’s commandments, we transcend the realm of finite numbers. We are like rare, precious jewels, each one beyond measure. Even if we are counted, our true worth can never be fully determined.
