How many Jews were at Sinai?

This question is important because the Sages tell us that evey Israelite Soul was personally present at Mount Sinai and personally accepted the Torah. For instance while speaking of converts we have this from the Azamra Rebbe:

The idea that all converts already have a Jewish spark comes from a verse in the Torah. On the last day of Moses' life, all the Jewish people gathered together and God spoke to them, saying: "Not with you alone do I seal this covenant and oath. I am making it both with those here today before the Lord our God, and also with those not here today." (Deut. 29:13)

This verse is rather perplexing. Who is the group that God refers to as being "not here today"?

The Talmud (Shevuot 39a) explains that this refers to future converts, whose souls were also at Sinai. (By the way, this helps explain why one of the primary requirements for conversion to Judaism is the acceptance to keep all the 613 mitzvot – just as the Jews did at Mount Sinai.)

A close look at this verse in the original Hebrew reveals something startling. In the first part of the phrase, "but with those here," the last letters of those four Hebrew words actually spell out the name "Yitro." Yitro was the father-in-law of Moses, and the first convert to Judaism following the exodus from Egypt.

Another source for the phenomenon you describe is found in the Talmud. In discussing the laws of conversion. It says: "A convert who comes to convert..." This begs the question – why does it say "a CONVERT who comes to convert"? Rather, it should say, "a GENTILE who comes to convert"! The reason is because the future convert already has a Jewish spark inside of him.

One of the most well-known converts was the Polish nobleman, Abraham ben Abraham. He converted to Judaism in the 18th century, and was sentenced by the church to death. It is said that even before his conversion, unidentifiable feelings, which testified to the greatness of his spirit, would overwhelm him every Shabbat. Rabbi Yoel Schwartz in "Jewish Conversion" quotes him as saying: "Although the nations rejected the Torah, individual members of those nations sought to accept it. Only the refusals of their peers prevented them from realizing their aspirations. The souls of these individuals appear in every generation as converts."

But not only with you am I making this covenant and this oath, but with those standing here with us today before the Lord, our God, and [also] with those who are not here with us, this day. For you know how we dwelled in the land of Egypt, and how we passed among the nations through which you passed.

and [also] with those who are not here: also with future generations. — [Tanchuma 3]

Therefore if we could determine how many Israelites were there and received the Torah from the hands o Moshe Rabeinu we can know how many Israelites in totsl there are. That number would logically be the number of Jews living at the end of the Olam Hazeh. in the days prior to the comig of HaMashiach ben David. But in that time some of those Jewish Souls will be fallen. Of verses 15-17 Rashi tells us:

For you know: [Verses 15-17 are understood as follows:] Since you saw the idolatrous nations, perhaps one of you was enticed to follow their ways, and "perhaps there is among you…" (verse 17), therefore, I must place you under an oath [because you are in this position of extra susceptibility].

We continue:

For you know how we dwelled in the land of Egypt, and how we passed among the nations through which you passed. And you saw their abominations and their repugnant idols [of] wood and stone, silver and gold which were with them. Perhaps there is among you a man, woman, family, or tribe, whose heart strays this day from the Lord, our God, to go and worship the deities of those nations. Perhaps there is among you a root that produces hemlock and wormwood. The Lord will not be willing to forgive him; rather, then, the Lord's fury and His zeal will fume against that man, and the entire curse written in this book will rest upon him, and the Lord will obliterate his name from beneath the heavens. And the Lord will separate him for evil, out of all the tribes of Israel, according to all the curses of the covenant, written in this Torah scroll. And a later generation, your descendants, who will rise after you, along with the foreigner who comes from a distant land, will say, upon seeing the plagues of that land and the diseases with which the Lord struck it:

Sulfur and salt have burned up its entire land! It cannot be sown, nor can it grow [anything], not [even] any grass will sprout upon it. It is like the overturning of Sodom, Gemorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, which the Lord overturned in His fury and in His rage.
And all the nations will say, Why did the Lord do so to this land? What [is the reason] for this great rage of fury?
For they went and served other deities, prostrating themselves to them deities which they had not known, and which He had not apportioned to them.
And the Lord's fury raged against that land, bringing upon it the entire curse written in this book.
And the Lord uprooted them from upon their land, with fury, anger and great wrath, and He cast them to another land, as it is this day.
The hidden things belong to the Lord, our God, but the revealed things apply to us and to our children forever: that we must fulfill all the words of this Torah.

Great atheism is coming to the world as a test from on high. The world's many sins are causing a terrible lack of faith. Happy is the person who stays firm in his faith in these times.
The fact that I am predicting this will not prevent the increase of Godlessness and confusion. Long ago Daniel and others made it known that this would happen in the days before the Mashiach. "Many will purify themselves and be refined, and make themselves shining white. But the wicked will do evil. and only the wise shall understand" (Daniel 12:10 ).
Knowing that this has already been foreseen, it would seem that it should not be such a great trial for people to remain strong and firm in their faith. But the truth is that even though the prophets made this known long ago, it will still be a great trial. Many will fall by the way , and that is why it is written: "the wicked will do evil."
I am revealing this for the sake of the few pure souls who will remain firm in their faith. They will certainly face great battles even in their own minds. But when they see that this has already been predicted, it will give them greater strength and encouragement -- Sichot Haran #35

We are advised by our sages against counting the Jewish people, however as the information is in Torah and relavant to our times it seems worthy of consideration.

How many [[[ooof us exist? Bamidbar (the Book of Numbers) gives us an estamation of Eternal Tribe.

Numbers 1:1–4:20

HaShem ordered a census of the twelve tribes of Israel be taken. These figures give us some idea. Based on them we conclude that some 603,550 Israelite males of draftable age, which is say 20 to 60 years, were counted. These were the avarage Israelites. In addition to them, the tribe of Levi numbered 22,300 males of one month and older.

The numbers of the Twelve Houses were: Judah: 74,600, Issachar: 54,400, Zebulun: 57,400, Reuben: 46,500, Simeon: 59,300, Gad 45,650, Ephraim: 40,500, Manasseh: 32,200, Benjamin: 35,400, Dan: 62,700, Asher: 41,500 and Naphtali: 53,400.

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* Rabbi Shlomo Nachman © May 9, 2019
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