BaMidbar (במדבר – in the desert), Numbers 1:1-4:20 and Hosea 2:1-22
In the desert, Gd asked Moses to conduct a new census of the children of Israel. He also detailed the arrangement of the camps around the sanctuary and their marching order, like an army ready for battle.
Numbers 2:32:
אֵלֶּה פְּקוּדֵי בְנֵי-יִשְׂרָאֵל, לְבֵית אֲבֹתָם: כָּל-פְּקוּדֵי הַמַּחֲנֹת, לְצִבְאֹתָם–שֵׁשׁ-מֵאוֹת אֶלֶף וּשְׁלֹשֶׁת אֲלָפִים, וַחֲמֵשׁ מֵאוֹת וַחֲמִשִּׁים.
These are the counts of the children of Israel according to their ancestral houses; the total of the counts of the camps, according to their armies, was 603,550.
In the Negev desert, near Horvat Maon and the martyr kibbutzim of Nirim and Nir Oz, south of Gaza, lies the Maon Synagogue, an archaeological relic renovated in the 6th century, although the original building is much older. Its notable feature is the semi-circular apse designed to house a Torah ark.
The mosaics feature various symbolic representations, including a vine, palm trees, a shofar, a lulav, an etrog, a menorah, two lions, symbolizing the tribe of Judah. An Aramaic inscription mentions the names of the three donors of the mosaic and blesses the entire community.