Rashi, citing the Midrash, teaches that God’s counting of the people in the Torah is a way of demonstrating the love God has for humanity and the value we hold in God’s eyes. Indeed, the fact that each human is created in the “image of God” (Genesis 1:27) means that each of us has unlimited, even infinite value. Yet in many of our contemporary debates about poverty, immigration, and justice, some act as if certain human beings can be said, God forbid, to have greater value than others. Nothing could be more contrary to the spirit of Torah or more destructive to our mission of creating a more perfect world. While there are legitimate arguments to be had about how the rights of different people should be balanced in certain situations, the baseline of any discussion should be that all of us–all of humanity without except–are precious, all of us are valued, and all of us are worthy of love, respect, and care. Only then can we approach the most difficult problems we face with ethical and moral integrity. May we do all we can to infuse the debates of which we are a part with this central principle of Torah.