An ancient ritual protocol demands we not directly count people in establishing the presence of a minyan (a quorum of ten) for public prayer. Some obviate this prohibition by assigning to each worshipper a single word from Psalms 28:9 (Hoshiya et amecha…), comprising exactly ten words. Others contrive (not) to count, by saying “Not one, not two,” etc. I prefer the somewhat wry method of assigning each individual one of the ten plagues: dam, tzefardeya, kinim….”
Rabbi Elazar taught that “One who counts Jews, even for purposes of a mitzvah, violates a biblical prohibition,” citing Hosea: “The number of the People Israel shall be like the sands of the sea, which cannot be measured or counted” (Yoma 22B; Hosea 2:1). Rabbi Nachman bar Yitzchak objected: given the duplicate phrasing of the verse, counting Jews actually violates two biblical prohibitions!
It is precisely when we are tempted to despair – as when uncertain that a minyan will materialize… or when feeling deeply the Jewish community’s minority status – that Jewish tradition cautions us against a preoccupation with numbers. When confronted with the deceptively diminutive dimensions of the Jewish People, we recall God’s covenantal promise of a glorious destiny: we “shall be like the sands of the sea, which cannot be measured or counted.”
An ancient ritual protocol demands we not directly count people in establishing the presence of a minyan (a quorum of ten) for public prayer. Some obviate this prohibition by assigning to each worshipper a single word from Psalms 28:9 (Hoshiya et amecha…), comprising exactly ten words. Others contrive (not) to count, by saying “Not one, not two,” etc. I prefer the somewhat wry method of assigning each individual one of the ten plagues: dam, tzefardeya, kinim….”