Free Republic

One of the early expressions of the dignity of the individual is in this week's Torah reading. The greatness of giants is a commonplace -- Adam, Noah, the Patriarchs, Moses - these are all noteworthy names. But the anonymous, the scores of thousands who were not leaders and chiefs, the masses -- they too are endowed with worth by the simple theme of this week's Torah reading, the census. Counting implies value, for worthless things are not counted, certainly not as individual units but in the mass at best. The Torah counts Israel to the last man, because each one,...