Quoting%20commentary for Yoma 44:5
אמר רבי שמואל בר נחמני ר' יונתן רמי כתיב והיה מספר בני ישראל כחול הים וכתיב אשר לא ימד ולא יספר
R'Eleazar said: Whosoever counts Israel, transgresses a [biblical] prohibition, as it is said: Yet the numb of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Hosea II, 1. 'Cannot be numbered' is interpreted-and grammatically there is no solid objection as 'should not, must not be numbered', thus a positive statement becomes a prohibition. The assumption is justified that here again the ultimate basis of the prohibition is not this passage, but the passage is a peg on which to hang the idea. There are more obvious sources of the prohibition known to the disputants.');"><sup>6</sup></span> R'Nahman B'Isaac said: He would transgress two prohibitions, for it is written: 'Which cannot be measured nor numbered'.
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