In his 2012 Dvar Tzedek, Rabbi David Singer writes about the census of the Israelites in Parashat Bamidbar. A midrash on the parashah explains that God counts the Israelites as if they were jewels in his possession, periodically checking them to ensure they are safe. For Singer—and other contemporary commentators—“the poignancy” [of this midrash] “is marred by the fact that the census accounts for only 600,000 adult men; so evidently missing from the ‘lovingly counted jewels’ is fifty percent of the population—its women.” While there are historical reasons for women’s absence from the Torah’s census, Singer notes that “rationalizing women’s exclusion…cannot erase the uncomfortable value judgement on women’s worth… nor does it justify the perpetuation of this exclusion in societies today.”