I like to think of the Jewish people as ninjas. 

Hollywood has demonstrated to us again and again that ninjas function according to the fundamental principle of what has been coined the “Inverse Ninja Law.” Put quite simply, the Inverse Ninja Law dictates that ninjas — often depicted as nearly-invincible warriors — when in large groups, boasting more training, more weapons, greater number and even better costumes, will be easily defeated by a single or small group of individual ninjas. 

This resonates to me as the recurrent narrative of the Jewish people. Jewish history is the quintessential tale of a small group of people who continue to be victorious over a larger, more powerful, more organized enemy nation. It is the story of the Israelites who emerge from Egypt victorious. It is the story of the Jews who defeated the Hellenizers and rededicated the Temple in Jerusalem. It is the story of a small, minority group of Jews who continue to succeed and flourish in the modern world. 

This principle of the few thriving against the many is foretold in the promise that God makes in this week’s Torah portion. God said, “Five of you shall give chase to a hundred, and a hundred of you shall give chase to ten thousand; your enemies shall fall before you by the sword” (Leviticus 26:8). 

Some commentaries have noted that the numbers in the verse seem to be inconsistent. If five are successful against one hundred, then one hundred should be victorious over only two thousand. Indeed, this is precisely the question posed by Rashi, the famed medieval French commentator whose work has become inseparable from Biblical understanding. 

Rabbeinu Bahya, a noted rabbi and Torah scholar who lived in Spain about two centuries after Rashi, attempted to rectify these numbers by asserting that, in fact, when the passage references the hundred who will give chase to ten thousand, it means the hundred “fives” who will give chase, thus equalizing the proportions between the numbers. Yet, this response leaves us a bit empty. If the two ratios do remain consistent, then why would the Torah go out of its way to say the same thing twice? Is the Torah merely giving us a lesson in mathematical proportions?

Rabbeinu Bahya and Rashi both conclude by citing a teaching from the Sifra, the rabbinic midrashic text which expounded upon the book of Leviticus. In the Sifra, the Rabbis contend that this seeming discrepancy is very much intentional and is in the text to teach us a very important lesson: One cannot compare the multitudes who follow the Torah to the few who follow the Torah. 

In a sense, our Sages also see the Jewish people as the original subjects of the Inverse Ninja Law — they are the small group of ninjas who manage to miraculously defeat a platoon of more highly trained ninjas. As they grow in number, not only do the amount of people they are able to defeat grow in number, but the ratio of victor to defeated grows as well. 

The Jewish people are a religious community, though, and not a military unit. Yet, the lesson of the Sages is still incredibly profound. As a community, we are so much greater than the sum of our parts. Moreover, as we build that community up and incorporate more individuals, more organizations, more synagogues, and more resources into the folds, we grow yet even more exponentially. 

Each of us is not merely one person who brings a particular set of skills and passions to the community. For even one of us to sit on the sidelines is not a negligible absence. Five of us, when together, can be like a hundred. A hundred are like ten thousand. Ten thousand may be like millions. And a million may exceed all measure.