Parashat Pinchas פָּרָשַׁת פִּינְחָס

In this week’s Torah portion, we will soon read of the five daughters of Zelophechad, whose actions changed Jewish history.  You may remember that they petitioned for the right to inherit their father’s land.  They had no brothers who would be next in line, so they asked to be allowed the right to Zelophehad’s estate.

Parsha Pinchas tells us that they petitioned in front of Moshe, Eleazar the priest, the chieftains, and the whole assembly.  Given how little power women had in those days, that act had to take great courage, and, no doubt, a belief in the rightness of their action. 

Many scholars argue that Moshe had to refer this question directly to God because he wasn’t sure how to respond.  This was such a unique claim that it left Moshe uncertain how to adjudicate the case. Others claim, however, that Moshe DID KNOW what the correct response was, but that he only appeared to be consulting God so that he would have the ultimate Judge backing him up.  Whatever the reason, these brave women won their case.

And they know how to argue - they use the patriarchal values of the time, and turn them to their favor.  “Let not our father’s name be lost,” they plead.  And they remind Moshe that their father was NOT one of the rebels who followed Moshe.  In fact, Rabbi Kushner’s commentary notes this fact and makes the point that Moshe may have recused himself so as not to appear biased by the daughters’ appeal to his own history.

We know how stingy the Torah can sometimes be with language. And we know that this stinginess is especially true when it comes to women in the Torah.  We know, for example, that Sarah died, but the focus of Chayyei Sarah is really ABRAHAM’S response to her death.  

How about Dinah?

Her actions set her brothers off on a murderous rampage, and yet we don’t have a clue about what happened to her after that.  In the Torah, women are often invisible or briefly mentioned or used to move the plot along with little sense of their own role in that plot. So, the fact that the daughters of Zelophechad get center stage here is especially noteworthy.  

They make a speech.
They are persuasive.  
They speak before MEN.
They are Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah.

So, what does this tell us? To me, it tells us that even God has to be willing to adapt to changing circumstances. The lawmakers of that time did not imagine that this circumstance would come up. They probably pictured every family having sons who could and would inherit.

But here was a case that was exceptional.  A case that demanded a new policy.  And that policy resulted in a landmark decision that changed our history. But beyond that one decision about property and inheritance, this episode makes an even larger point.

The story of the daughters of Zelophechad reminds us, as the Torah does so often, that even the weakest among us should have a voice.  And not just a voice.  But a voice that can transform an entire people