Parashat Pinchas
Tammuz 19, 5783/July 7-8, 2023
Torah: Numbers 25:10 - 30:1
Haftarah: Jeremiah 1:1 - 2:3 (First Haftarah of Rebuke)
This d'var torah is offered for a refuah shleimah for Chanah Bella bat Kreina and Devorah bat Feigel.
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We're continuing to read and discuss the Midrashic collection Ein Ya'akov.
On July 11, we'll be at BT Shabbat 89(a), page 171 of Ein Ya'akov (Glick edition) Volume 1 - "...ואמר ריב''ל" - "R. Joshua b. Levi said further:…”
Ein Ya'akov (Glick edition) is available for on-line reading or as a downloadable PDF at:
A pointed Hebrew text version with different pagination is available at Sefaria:
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SPEAKING TRUTH TO POWER - WITH THE POWER OF KNOWLEDGE
"The daughters of Tzeloph'chad speak right; you shall surely give them a hereditary portion among their father's kin; you shall transfer their father's share to them." Numbers 27:7
Tzeloph'chad died leaving no sons - only daughters. The law at the time was that females had no hereditary rights. The daughters challenge this, and God delivers a new law to Moses and the people, acknowledging the justice of their claim. A later stipulation is that while women may inherit land from their fathers, they must marry within their own clan, to keep the land within the clan's control.
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The Daughters of Zelophehad (illustration from the 1897 Bible Pictures and What They Teach Us by Charles Foster)
Later, the Rabbis ruled that widows and unmarried daughters are entitled to financial support by the deceased's estate, even when they do not inherit because there is a surviving son. The Rema (Rabbi Moshe Isserles) ruled in the Shulchan Arukh that fathers may leave an inheritance for their daughters, even when there is a surviving son. And the chief rabbinate of the land of Israel ruled in 1943 under a takkanah (a reparative enactment) that in Israel , daughters inherit equally with sons.
It all sounds primitive. Today we accept the notion of women's equality in inheritance, and in most, if not all aspects of our lives, as a given. But this was a sea change brought about by Tzeloph’chad’s daughters, and tells us much about Judaism and women, law and justice. Jewish women spoke up and demanded that a wrong be righted - and they got it! More broadly, Jewish law has a methodology for adjusting to changed circumstances and addressing injustice.
The Midrash says that Tzeloph'chad's daughters were learned in Torah, and that is how they were able to bolster their arguments for change in the law. If that is so, then it suggests that knowledge is an important weapon to wield in demanding justice from the power structure of society.
The Torah is your birthright. Learn it, and feel the power within!
Shabbat Shalom.
Rabbi Richard A. Flom
.הַלּוֹמֵד מִכָּל אָדָם ?אֵיזֶהוּ חָכָם
Who is wise? The one who learns from every person.
Ben Zoma - Pirkei Avot 4:1
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