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In this week's Parsha, G-d tells Moses to take a census of the entire community of the twelve tribes of Israel, counting the names of all males of at least twenty years old and able to bear arms. G-d then tells Moses and Aaron to count the Levites from one month old and then the Kohathites from age thirty to fifty.

After counting each group, G-d describes to Moses the roles each group would take in moving the Mishkan between camps. The Levites were instructed to carry, set up and take apart the Mishkan. At each encampment, in the center was the Mishkan, surrounded by the Levites, divided into three groups; Kehatites to its south, the Gershonites to the west, the sons of Merrari, to the north, and the tents of Moses, Aaron & Aaron's sons in front of the Mishkan's entrance in the east. The remaining Am Yisrael, to the east were Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun; to the south, Reuben, Shimon, and Gad; to the west, Ephraim, Menasseh, and Benjamin; and to the north, Dan, Asher, and Naphtali.

Each person assigned a role and is individually counted by name, before Moses and Aaron as the Torah forbids the counting of Jews directly. This teaching shows us that every single person of Am Yisrael is important, is counted and has an important part of the Torah that no one else can replace.

Read the Parashat Summaries this month:

Parashat Bamidbar

Parashat Nasso

Parashat Beha’alotcha

Parashat Sh’lach