You and Aaron should count all those in Israel
20 years old and over who are fit to serve in
the army, by their troops.
Numbers 1:3
Counting something is a way of showing that we value it. By counting how much of something we possess, we express how much value each unit of the whole adds to the total value of the whole and how indispensable each unit is to the whole.
In a census, each individual counts for one – neither more nor less. Thus, by commanding Moses and Aaron to take a census, G-d informed the people that each one of them is equally dear to Him, as an individual. We each possess invaluable worth by virtue of our unique soul-essence. By virtue of this essence, which the lowliest among us possesses no less than did Moses, we are all, equally, G-d’s people.
When we recognize this, we, too, will cherish ourselves as individuals and cherish every other individual – as an individual of infinite worth – as well.
—from Daily Wisdom 3