[Avodah] The census numbers in bamidbar

[Micha Berger]

On Sun, Jun 01, 2025 at 04:50:52PM -0400, Akiva Miller via Avodah wrote:
> To sum up: If someone can show me a discussion in Chazal about which of
> these 3 shiurim to use for the definition of Reshus Harabim, that
> discussion might shed light on the roundedness of the census of the
> shevatim. But if this question never came up, then perhaps Chazal were
> signaling something to us, perhaps that the distinction between "exact" and
> "rounded" is less important than we are tempted to think.

I think in general, differences that cannot be experienced first-hand
aren't the topic of halakhah.

IOW, *maybe* the difference between 600,000 and 601,730 people is
irrelevent for the same taam hamitzvah as tartigrades in your water
are irrelevent.

It is also possible that the pragmatics rule... Perhaps we cannot be
held accountable for the difference in census any more than we can be
held accountable for the squarness of our tefillin beyond the diagonal
being at least as close to the square root of 2 as 1.4.

But I lean toward the first idea. I developed the theory that metzi'us
(literally: that which can be found) is the world-as-experienced,
the world as we should have taken care to experience it (in cases that
require birur) and the world as we ought to experience it to the point
that everything looks like a nail.

After all, if mitzvos were given letzareif behem es hebarios, then
what matters is how we experience our actions, and not some abstract
reality. Like a placebo, or like knowing that chocolate cake or cigarette
is a bad idea -- abstract things we know do little to shape who we are
compared to experiences and emotions.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger                     Time flies...
http://www.aishdas.org/asp               ... but you're the pilot.
Author: Widen Your Tent                          - R' Zelig Pliskin
- https://amzn.to/2JRxnDF