Census

March 5, 2010
Rabbi Seymour Rossel

      March is census time. This month, every household in the United States of America will receive a form to be completed and returned to the Census Bureau. Their form has only ten questions and ideally it is designed to be answered in just ten minutes. Most questions are statistical, but they obviously reflect the current state of cultural and economic conditions here in the United States. The form begins by asking how many people are residing in your home. And that is already a loaded question. We can anticipate that the number of people in each home has risen since the last census, because the present economy has forced many individuals and young couples to move back into their parent's homes and forced many elderly who might otherwise be in nursing or care facilities to be cared for at home by adult children.

      The second question tries to clarify the first. It asks if there are any "other" people living in your home even on a temporary basis. This might include foster children, cousins or other relatives, live-in babysitters, and those who may be visiting from other countries.

      The third and fourth questions are more straightforward. Is this a home that is rented, leased, or owned? And what is your telephone number, in case the Census Bureau needs to call you for better answers.

      Fifth, the form asks for the name of each person in the household and the sixth asks for each person's sex -- providing only the two typical answers: male or female. Most people will have no difficulty with determining this, just as they will have little trouble giving the answer to question seven which asks for each person's age and date of birth.

      The eighth question reflects a concern extending back as far as the census of 1970. It asks how many in the household are of Spanish, Hispanic, Latino, or Cuban extraction. The Census Bureau comments that this information is needed to enforce anti-discrimination laws and to help local governments know the extent of bi-lingual programs necessary for everyday affairs. Here in Texas, we do not need any explanation, we know that America is becoming more and more a bi-lingual and bi-cultural society.

      The ninth is the "race" question first asked in 1790. Strangely, it still does not define Jewish or Semitic as a race, despite the recent large influx of immigrants from Arab nations and the fixation of the U.S. government on threats from extremist Muslims living in the United States. All Semitic folk, Jewish and Arab, will just check the box that says "White." But the question does go on to break down in excruciating detail all the possible varieties of a person's Asian extract.

      The tenth and last question asks if each person sometimes resides elsewhere, either for extended periods of time or on a temporary basis, whether in college or in a summer residence.

      Now, you do not need a rabbi to tell you that it is your civic duty to complete the form and return it to the Census Bureau. But a rabbi may offer a few surprising words about the coincidence of the U.S. census and this week's portion, Ki Tissa. There were no forms to be filled out at Sinai, but we read this week of a census taken there by imposing a poll tax of one half-shekel for each male above the age of twenty. The tax was considered a "ransom" for the lives of the Israelites. Failure to pay it would bring on a plague. The Torah does not say what kind of plague, but today we might think of the disease for failure to pay taxes as the "IRS plague."

      The Bible records many times of census -- it is obvious that census taking is necessary to the conduct of public affairs -- but there is always an inference that every census is accompanied by danger. This seems appropriate, since most head counts were taken in relation to army service and warfare. In fact, a peacetime census in ancient Israel was not only rare but considered hazardous. This is reflected in the later use of the Hebrew word kenas,  taken from the Latin "census," meaning a "penalty" and conveying the meanings of "sentencing," "imposing a fine," and "confiscating property."

      Surely, no one in ancient times ever looked forward to a census. So, too, many in the United States today dread the census. These folk would rather not be counted and identified. Some are illegal immigrants and some are people supposedly on work or university visas -- even including some who pay taxes -- but they would rather not have their particular situations scrutinized. It is unlikely that the census of 2010 will track them down; and they will certainly not make it easy, so the final count will be skewed by large groups of people who avoid being numbered.

      Back in Temple times, the half-shekel (the equivalent of the Roman tetra drachma coin), the census tax on every Jew for maintaining the Temple was inspired by the Torah, since the purpose for the tax at Sinai was the construction of the Tabernacle. For the maintenance of the Second Temple, the half-shekel tax was paid annually by Jews no matter where they lived. When the Temple was destroyed, the Roman emperor Vespasian forced the Jews to continue paying this tax, calling it the Fiscus Judaicus, but now it was sent to the imperial treasury in Rome. To maintain their rights, Jews throughout the Roman empire paid their yearly annual tax for nearly two hundred years.

      While the Temple still stood, the annual half-shekel census tax was collected in the month of Adar (the month we are now in). On the first of Adar, tax collectors were sent to every Jewish community. As a kind of warning, the Sabbath before the first of Adar became known as Shabbat Shekalim, and the story of the census we read tonight was added to the weekly reading, reminding Jews to prepare to pay taxes. You might say that this year's U.S. census very appropriately comes in the same season, just before taxes are due. From ancient times to present times, the census and the collection of taxes have always been two parts of one process.

      So get your pencils ready to answer ten simple questions so that you can get your pocketbooks ready to pay your fair share of taxes. It's an American tradition, but it's a Jewish tradition, too. And let us say: Amen.