Overview of the Five Covenants:
1. Noah
2. Abraham
3. Torah to Moses and Israel
4. Priestly Dynasty to Pinchas
5. Kingship Dynasty to David
It was taught: The daughters of Zelophehad were wise, they were interpreters, they were righteous.
א"ר שמואל בר רב יצחק מלמד שהיה משה רבינו יושב ודורש בפרשת יבמין שנאמר (דברים כה, ה) כי ישבו אחים יחדו אמרו לו אם כבן אנו חשובין תנה לנו נחלה כבן אם לאו תתיבם אמנו מיד ויקרב משה את משפטן לפני ה'
Rabbi Shmuel bar Rav Yitzḥak said: "This teaches that Moses our teacher was sitting and interpreting in the Torah portion about men whose married brothers had died childless, as it is stated: 'If brothers dwell together, and one of them dies, and has no child, the wife of the dead shall not be married abroad to one not of his kin; her husband’s brother shall come to her, and take her for him as a wife' (Deuteronomy 25:5). The daughters of Zelophehad said to Moses: 'If we are each considered like a son, give us each an inheritance like a son; and if not, our mother should enter into levirate marriage.' Immediately upon hearing their claim, the verse records: 'And Moses brought their cause before the Lord' (Numbers 27:5)."
Rav Yehudah said: "Shmuel said: 'The daughters of Zelophehad were permitted to marry members of any of the tribes, as it is stated: “Let them be married to whom they think best” (Numbers 36:6). But how do I make sense of “Only into the family of the tribe of their father shall they be married” (Numbers 36:6)? The verse offered them good advice, that they should be married only to those fit for them.'"
(י) וַתִּקְרַבְנָה בְּנוֹת צְלָפְחָד (במדבר כז, א), אוֹתוֹ הַדּוֹר הָיוּ הַנָּשִׁים גּוֹדְרוֹת מַה שֶּׁהָאֲנָשִׁים פּוֹרְצִים... וְכֵן בַּמְּרַגְּלִים שֶׁהוֹצִיאוּ דִּבָּה (במדבר יד, לו): וַיָּשֻׁבוּ וַיַּלִּינוּ עָלָיו אֶת כָּל הָעֵדָה, וַעֲלֵיהֶם נִגְזְרָה גְּזֵרָה, שֶׁאָמְרוּ (במדבר יג, לא): לֹא נוּכַל לַעֲלוֹת, אֲבָל הַנָּשִׁים לֹא הָיוּ עִמָּהֶם בָּעֵצָה, שֶׁכָּתוּב לְמַעְלָה מִן הַפָּרָשָׁה (במדבר כו, סה): כִּי אָמַר ה' לָהֶם מוֹת יָמֻתוּ בַּמִּדְבָּר וְלֹא נוֹתַר מֵהֶם אִישׁ כִּי אִם כָּלֵב בֶּן יְפֻנֶּה, אִישׁ וְלֹא אִשָּׁה, עַל מַה שֶׁלֹא רָצוּ לִכָּנֵס לָאָרֶץ, אֲבָל הַנָּשִׁים קָרְבוּ לְבַקֵּשׁ נַחֲלָה בָּאָרֶץ, לְכָךְ נִכְתְּבָה פָּרָשָׁה זוֹ סָמוּךְ לְמִיתַת דּוֹר הַמִּדְבָּר, שֶׁמִּשָּׁם פָּרְצוּ הָאֲנָשִׁים וְגָדְרוּ הַנָּשִׁים.
"In that generation, the women would repair what the men had breached…for the men had not wanted to enter the land, but the women drew close in order to request a portion in that land. Therefore, this section was related on the heels of the death of the generation of the wilderness, for there the men had breached and the women had repaired…"
(דברים א, יז) והדבר אשר יקשה מכם א"ר חנינא ואיתימא רבי יאשיה על דבר זה נענש משה שנאמר (במדבר כז, ה) ויקרב משה את משפטן לפני ה'
The verse continues: “And the cause that is too hard for you, you shall bring to me, and I will hear it.” Rabbi Ḥanina, and some say Rabbi Yoshiya, says: On account of this matter, which displayed a degree of presumptuousness, Moses was punished, as it is stated: “And Moses brought their cause before the Lord” (Numbers 27:5). In this instance, when Zelophehad’s daughters presented their case to Moses, he did not know the answer himself and was compelled to ask God.
א"ר שמואל בר רב יצחק מלמד שהיה משה רבינו יושב ודורש בפרשת יבמין שנאמר (דברים כה, ה) כי ישבו אחים יחדו אמרו לו אם כבן אנו חשובין תנה לנו נחלה כבן אם לאו תתיבם אמנו מיד ויקרב משה את משפטן לפני ה'
Rabbi Shmuel bar Rav Yitzḥak said: "This teaches that Moses our teacher was sitting and interpreting in the Torah portion about men whose married brothers had died childless, as it is stated: 'If brothers dwell together, and one of them dies, and has no child, the wife of the dead shall not be married abroad to one not of his kin; her husband’s brother shall come to her, and take her for him as a wife' (Deuteronomy 25:5). The daughters of Zelophehad said to Moses: 'If we are each considered like a son, give us each an inheritance like a son; and if not, our mother should enter into levirate marriage.' Immediately upon hearing their claim, the verse records: 'And Moses brought their cause before the Lord' (Numbers 27:5)."
But this is not all that the five sisters do. They not only come forth, but also they speak with determination: “Our father died in the wilderness. He was not one of the faction, Korah’s faction, which banded together against God but died for his own sin; and he has left no sons. Let not our father’s name be lost to his clan just because he had no son! Give us a holding among our father’s kinsmen!” (Numbers 27:3-4).
Let’s analyze what this text reflects about these women. First, note that these women know their law and history. They use the fact that their father was not involved in Korach‘s rebellion (Numbers 16) as evidence to support his–and their–claim to the land. They know that the continuity of family name depends on inheritance of the land; and they realize that the current law is not adequate, for it does not take into account the unusual circumstances of a man without sons. They possess the acumen to recognize this omission–in God’s law! But because they consider God’s law to be just, or to aim to be just, they show no hesitation in pointing out the unfair nature of the present situation with complete confidence and supporting their claim with compelling arguments.
How does Moses react? The following verse states: “Moses brought their case before God” (27:5). Moses discloses his inability to assess the claims of these sisters. He takes the case to God, who responds by unequivocally supporting the sisters’ demand and even by promulgating a new and permanent law to secure inheritance for any daughters in such circumstances (27:6-8). Thus, the sisters’ claim leads to the law of inheritance’s being changed forever.
As stated above, a key to the sisters’ success is their full awareness of God’s laws and the people’s history and story. They insist on change by engaging Israelite traditions effectively, something the rabbinic sages recognized when they described the women.
According to the Talmud (BT Bava Batra 119b), Zelophehad’s daughters were wise (chachamot), astute interpreters (darshanyiot), and pious (rachmanyiot): “wise” because they spoke in the precise moment when the decision was issued; “interpreters” because they in essence said, “If our father had a son, we would not have spoken–because he would have the inheritance”; and “pious” because they did not want to marry men who were not worthy.
The achievement of Zelophehad’s daughters was a landmark in women’s rights regarding the inheritance of land, from those days up to now. In addition, however, the story of these five women offers a compelling lesson for all those who believe that their destiny is fixed or that divine justice has abandoned them. It encourages us to think differently— and provides a message of hope for all those faced with obstacles. Perhaps the most important legacy of Zelophehad’s daughters is their call to us to take hold of life with our own hands, to move from the place that the others have given us–or that we have decided to keep because we feel immobile–and to walk, even to the most holy center, to where nobody seems to be able to go.
After all, nothing is more sacred than life itself and the fight for what we believe is worthy. Thus, this parashah inspires us to discover that we too have the ability to know what is right for ourselves and what our rights ought to be. When we believe in our capacity to shape our history, to the point of being able to change even a law that came from the Revelation at Sinai, then we pay a tribute to Zelophehad’s daughters.
In our era, we can see this legacy in women such as Judith Eisenstein, who was the first to become a bat mitzvah in 1922, and in the first women ordained as rabbis: Regina Jonas (in 1935), Sally Priesand (Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in 1973), Sandy Sasso (Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in 1974), and Amy Eilberg (Jewish Theological Seminary in 1985). Like Mahlah, Noa, Hoglah, Milcah and Tirzah, they and the many other courageous women who followed in their footsteps came forth and opened the future for all women seeking to reclaim their Jewish inheritance in new and powerful ways.
Rabbi Silvina Chemen
Reprinted with permission from The Torah: A Women’s Commentary, edited by Tamara Cohn Eskenazi and Andrea L. Weiss (New York: URJ Press and Women of Reform Judaism, 2008).