Census – Ask the Rabbi
Q. I understand you oppose the census question on religion. Is this because of the traditional Jewish aversion to counting people?
A. The results of the religion question need to be treated with caution.
They do not recognise that some really have no religious commitment but state “Anglican”, for instance, because they think that is normative, whereas a person who claims membership of a smaller group, especially an ethnic religion like the Jews, Moslems, Hindus or Buddhists, is more likely to be telling the truth and expressing a genuine feeling of belonging.
As far as Jews are concerned, the fact that one need not answer the question at all or can state that one has no religion, means that Jewish figures need an upward correction of 25-30%.
Judaism does not object to the principle of filling in a census form, though there is a traditional Jewish reluctance to count people.
The Talmud states (Yoma 22b) that whoever counts Israel commits a transgression. This may be because victims of catastrophes are counted (e.g. the numbers who died in the plague that befell the followers of Korach), and we do not want to appear to be inviting misfortune.
Others say that counting people reduces a person to a number and fails to recognise the unique quality of every individual.
In ancient Israel a census was carried out indirectly by means of the half shekel that each person gave (Ex. 30:11-16) or, according to the sages, by means of pebbles or sheep (rabbinic exegesis of I Samuel 11:3 and 15:4).
