Pinchas
As Theresa May stepped down as PM this past week she emphasised how being the second only female PM out of 77 PM’s goes to show that women today can achieve their potential and that there are no barriers – even to the top positions.
In this weeks Parsha, Pinchas, we are introduced to 5 incredible and formidable women – the daughters of Tzelafchad.
The daughters of Tzelofchad came to Moses to request a portion in the land of Israel. At that point in time it was understood according to Torah law that inheritance only passes to sons and not daughters.
The Daughters of Tzelafchad are undaunted. They sense the natural injustice of this situation.
What is more they are passionate lovers of the Land and want their fathers name to be eternally attached to it through them.
Listen to their powerful words to Moses:
“Our father died in the desert, but he was not in the assembly that banded together against the Lord in Korah’s assembly, but he died for his own sin, and he had no sons.
Why should our father’s name be eliminated from his family because he had no son? Give us a portion along with our father’s brothers. “
The Torah is silent about what this sin is that caused their father to die. The Talmud (our oral traditon) fills in the details with two opinions:
“Rabbi Akiva says: he was the wood-gatherer (Numbers 15:32–36) who violated the sanctity of Shabbat and was put to death. Rabbi Shimon says: He was among those who stormed the mountain to enter the Land (ibid. 14:40–45)
(this occured after the sin of the spies when God had delivered the devastating news that they would wander in the wilderness for a total of 40 years and only the next generation would enter the land. A group formed who then attempted to storm the land of Israel without Moses and against the will of Hashem. It was too late. Tragically they died.).
The result of their claim is recorded for all time:-
“Zelophehad’s daughters speak justly. You shall certainly give them a portion of inheritance along with their father’s brothers, and you shall transfer their father’s inheritance to them.
| Speak to the children of Israel saying: If a man dies and has no son, you shall transfer his inheritance to his daughter.” 27:7-8 |
The Midrash concludes from this episode that “It teaches us that their eye perceived what Moses’ eye did not.”
The Torah written in ancient world at a time when women were certainly treated as second class citizens, shows us the importance of a woman’s leadership role and capacity especially in regards to questions of morality. It is timely as Miriam – a key leader- had only recently died and so their was a vacuum of female input to the Jewish people.
The Lubavitcher Rebbe asks a brilliant question on this passage. Why when the daughters came to Moses did they mention their fathers sin (see verse above)? Surely mention of such a negative matter would detract from their argument?
He answers that on the contrary the daughters of Tzelafchad wished to strengthen their argument,
They were stressing that their father was NOT a part of the national sin of the spies who spurned the land of Israel. Therefore “Why should the name of our father be eliminated [from those receiving a portion in the Land]?”
According to the opinion that he was the “wood-gatherer,” he died many months before the spies’ mission (according to the Talmud, the incident of the wood-gatherer occurred on the second Shabbat after the giving of the Torah).
And if he was one of the “mountain stormers,” their sin was that they so deeply regretted falling prey to the spies’ evil report that they erred in the other direction, and lost their lives in the effort to enter the Land in violation of the divine decree.
Either way the daughters were showing how despite his sin their was no reason for his soul to lose its connection to the land of Israel.
May we merit to all have a portion in the land of Israel with the coming of Moshiach. This will be a time where female leadership takes its rightful place in the true spirit of Torah.
Shabbat Shalom!
PS there is no coincidences in history as all is part of the Divine plan. Thus the rise of feminism in the 20th and 21st century is part of the process towards the redemption where both men and women can fulfil not only their material/economic potential but more importantly their spiritual potential
