Count or Raise? Translation is a tricky business. Very often, when a word is translated to another language, some of its cultural, philosophical, and spiritual connotations can be lost. One example would be the first commandment of the Book of Numbers, when G-d commands Moses and Aaron to count the Jewish people. The verse states: Take the sum of all the congregation of the children of Israel, by families following their fathers' houses; a head count of every male according to the number of their names. (Numbers 1:2) The literal translation of the Hebrew word for "take the sum" {"Seu Et Rosh"}, is "lift up the head". Biblical Hebrew has multiple words for counting, such as "Lispor" or "Lifkod", so why does the Torah use the unusual term "lift up the head" instead of a more direct word for counting? The great 17th-century sage and Kabbalist known as the Holy Shalah explains that the purpose of the census was to "raise the head", to raise and elevate the importance of each individual. The sages explain that this census was associated with the temple's construction in the desert, "when He came to cause His Divine Presence to rest among them, He counted them". The Torah's message to each and every individual is that bringing G-dliness into this world, transforming the world into a home for the Divine presence, is dependent on every individual. Every individual must "raise up his head" and realize that the purpose of creation is in his or her own hands. As the Talmud teaches and codified by Maimonides: A person should always look at himself as equally balanced between merit and sin and the world as equally balanced between merit and sin… if he performs one mitzvah, he tips his balance and that of the entire world to the side of merit and brings deliverance and salvation to himself and others.
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