Parashat Pinchas
Why Did Tzelafchad’s Daughters Merit Revealing the Law of Inheritance?
What Were Some Obstacles in Our Way of Gaining Acceptance in Bat Ayin?
We were
originally drawn to Bat Ayin because of its diverse neo-Chassidic orientation.
The community was made up of Breslovers, Chabadniks, and students of Rav Kook –
affectionately nicknamed ‘Chabakook.’ We didn’t want to be confined to a
box and were happy to remain eclectic, learning from a range of kosher sources
and befriending people with various outlooks. Bat Ayin was founded by idealists
with a vision to create an agricultural, spiritual community. When we arrived
33 years ago, families accepted into the Yishuv were allotted 2 dunams (half an
acre) of land to cultivate small-scale farms. We were deeply impressed as we
walked through Bat Ayin and were welcomed by young families with thriving
homesteads, their gardens bursting with vegetables, herbs, and flowers.
After undergoing
a very strict selection process to gain acceptance into Bat Ayin, we were told
that since we weren’t farmers, we wouldn’t receive the two-dunam plot, but only
the standard half dunam allotted in other yishuvim. Needless to say, we were disappointed.
I decided to plead our case, explaining that while we weren’t professional
farmers, we had significant gardening experience. I wrote a heartfelt letter to
the Bat Ayin Yishuv Council, describing how my family had cultivated beautiful
gardens for generations, and how I especially treasured the scent of my
grandmother’s citrus trees in Kfar Shemayahu, where I often helped her tend to
her gardens. In Denmark as well, we lived on a large plot of land bordering the
forest – the famous Deer Park – with apple trees, a rose garden, and a
vegetable patch where I remember planting peas and radishes as a child, praying
to Hashem, and being moved to write a poem. The last lines of that childhood
poem read:
“Looking towards heaven and praying to
G-d,
that the seed will unfold like peas in a pod,
to show us the way to freedom and peace,
chasing away hatred and making evil cease.”
Who are the
Role Models Affecting My Inherent Attachment to the Holy Land?
Thank G-d, my letter to the Yishuv council didn’t fall on deaf ears, and we were eventually granted a 2-dunam plot of land. The effort it took to gain this coveted portion made us cherish it all the more. We were eager to work hard and cultivate the land, which was dry, rocky, and full of thistles. Before long, we had planted various fruit trees – figs, olives, pomegranates, apples, pears, and cherries. I also fondly remember our vegetable patch that first year, overflowing with gigantic organic carrots and beets – surely the result of beginner’s luck.
Thank G-d, my letter to the Yishuv council didn’t fall on deaf ears, and we were eventually granted a 2-dunam plot of land. The effort it took to gain this coveted portion made us cherish it all the more. We were eager to work hard and cultivate the land, which was dry, rocky, and full of thistles. Before long, we had planted various fruit trees – figs, olives, pomegranates, apples, pears, and cherries. I also fondly remember our vegetable patch that first year, overflowing with gigantic organic carrots and beets – surely the result of beginner’s luck.
I have always felt a deep connection to the Daughters of Tzelafchad, who
likewise had to plead their case to receive an inheritance in the Land of
Israel. Looking back, I see how my early gardening experience sparked a
spiritual awakening that led me to write about G-d and prayer – concepts I had
never even heard of, having grown up in a completely assimilated Jewish family.
My inspiration had to come from somewhere beyond myself. Perhaps my soul was
subconsciously drawing from the holy legacy of these five sisters – long before
I had even the faintest idea of their existence.
Only years later
did I learn that the daughters of Tzelafchad are among the timeless role models
of love and longing for the Land. At a time when the prevailing sentiment was
marked by doubt and rejection of Eretz Yisrael, these five women stood up with
passionate devotion and asked for a portion in the Holy Land. They yearned to
reveal the presence of the Shechinah through redeeming the Land of Israel.
While the men despised the land crying, “Let us appoint
a leader and return to Egypt” (Bamidbar 14:4), the women loved the Land of
Israel declaring, “Give us a possession in the land” (Ibid. 27:4). The Kli
Yakar teaches that Hashem Himself affirmed their superior faith: “In My
opinion, according to what I see in the future, it would have been better to
send women to spy the Land, for they love the Land and would never speak ill of
it. But if you, Moshe, according to your own opinion, decide to send אֲנָשִׁים/anashim – ‘men’ –
behold, that is your responsibility. Therefore, it says, שְׁלַח לְךָ/shelach lecha –
‘Send for yourself’ – according to your own opinion. In My opinion, it would
have been better to send women” (Kli Yakar, Bamidbar 13:12).
The
Daughters’ Emunah in the Spiritual Conquest of the Land
The Chatam
Sofer offers a profound insight into the contrast between the men who
wanted to return to Egypt and the daughters of Tzelafchad who yearned for their
portion in the Land. He explains that the men’s desire to turn back stemmed not
from disbelief in Hashem per se, but from a misunderstanding of Hashem’s plan.
They believed that Moshe had deviated from the original Divine intent, which
they thought was simply to receive the Torah in the wilderness and then return
to Egypt, no longer enslaved, as Moshe originally requested from Pharaoh, as it
states, “…Hashem, G-d of the Hebrews, has appeared to us. So now, let us go for
a three-day journey into the wilderness, and we shall offer sacrifices to
Hashem our G-d” (Shemot 3:18). They presumed the time for redemption had
not yet arrived, since the full 400 years foretold to Avraham had still not
passed. They therefore interpreted the strength of the Canaanite nations as a
sign that the conquest was premature. In their eyes, the lack of supernatural
weakening of the nations indicated that the true geulah was still in the
future. But this was a grave mistake.
The daughters of
Tzelafchad, by contrast, demonstrated a deep understanding that the land had
already been spiritually conquered by Avraham. When Hashem commanded him,
“Arise, walk through the land… for to you will I give it” (Bereishit 13:17),
that act itself conferred kedushah and possession. The Chatam Sofer
notes that if inheritance depended solely on physical conquest, it would have
been reasonable to grant portions only to men who participated in battle. But
the daughters of Tzelafchad knew otherwise. Their claim for a portion revealed
their emunah that the Land already belonged to Am Yisrael by virtue of our
forefathers, and that every Jew, even women who would not fight, had a rightful
share.
This faith is
especially striking when contrasted with the doubts of the spies and their
followers. While the men said, “Let us appoint a leader and return to Egypt” (Bamidbar
14:4), the daughters said, “Give us a possession in the land” (ibid. 27:4).
Their vision penetrated beneath surface obstacles to perceive the spiritual
truth – that Hashem had already given the land to His people, and that now was
the time to actualize that promise.
Why are Women
More Attuned to the Land of Israel than Men?
When the spies returned from their
mission and spoke negatively about the Land, they incited the entire
congregation to complain (Bamidbar 14). As a result, a harsh decree was
issued against them because they said, “We cannot ascend.” The men of that
generation were sentenced to die in the wilderness. As it says, “They will die
in the wilderness and there will not remain for them a man, except for
Kalev the son of Yefuneh...” (Bamidbar 26:65). The verse specifies man
– not woman – because the women did not participate in their complaint.
On the contrary, they drew close and requested an inheritance in the Land. This
is why the section about the daughters of Tzelafchad is juxtaposed to the
description of the men’s downfall – to contrast the men’s defiance with the
women’s faithfulness (Midrash Bamidbar Rabbah 21:10).
Perhaps
this deeper spiritual sensitivity was heightened because the generation of the
wilderness stood at a crossroads – a time of transition between exile and
redemption. Men often function best within a structured, authoritative system
where expectations are clearly defined. In contrast, pregnancy, childbirth, and
motherhood cultivate in women a natural flexibility and attunement to ongoing
change. In times of national transformation – such as the wilderness then, and
the upheaval of today – it is often women who lead the way toward a new and
redemptive reality. These essential differences also explain why the Torah
imposes stricter ritual obligations on men, while women thrive in a more
organic and intuitive form of Divine service.
ספר במדבר פרק כז פסוק א וַתִּקְרַבְנָה
בְּנוֹת צְלָפְחָד בֶּן חֵפֶר בֶּן גִּלְעָד בֶּן מָכִיר בֶּן מְנַשֶּׁה
לְמִשְׁפְּחֹת מְנַשֶּׁה בֶן יוֹסֵף וְאֵלֶּה שְׁמוֹת בְּנֹתָיו מַחְלָה נֹעָה
וְחָגְלָה וּמִלְכָּה וְתִרְצָה:
“The daughters of Tzelafchad,
the son of Chefer, the son of Gilead, the son of Machir, the son of Menashe, of
the families of Menashe, the son of Yosef, came forward. His daughters’ names
were Machlah, Noa and Hogla, Milkah, and Tirtzah” (Bamidbar 27:1).
Malbim asks why the verse traces the
daughters of Tzelafchad back not only to Menashe but also explicitly to Yosef.
He explains that this lineage hints at a deeper distinction within the tribe.
Half of Menashe settled on the eastern side of the Jordan River – outside the
Land’s primary sanctity – because they did not hold Eretz Yisrael as dearly. In
that region, daughters could have easily inherited land, as seen with Machir,
who gave 23 cities in Gilead to his daughter.
However, the daughters of Tzelafchad
belonged to the half of Menashe associated with Yosef – who deeply loved the land.
Just as Yosef made his brothers swear to carry his bones up from Egypt for
burial in the Land of Israel, so too did these daughters yearn for a portion
within the land itself. That is why they insisted, “Give us a possession among
our father’s brothers” – meaning within the territory west of the Jordan (Yehoshua
17:2).
The gematria of יוֹסֵף/Yosef (156) equals that of צִיּוֹן/Tzion,
representing the inner point – the innermost inner. Wherever great holiness
resides, so too does its counterforce – the outer shell, or klipah. The
spies recoiled from the Land because they only perceived this external shell.
The mission of Mashiach ben Yosef is
to pierce this shell: to gather the exiles, build the Land, and reveal its
inner light. For those who seek only physical comfort, Israel is the wrong
address. But for those attuned to its
inner holiness, there is no greater closeness to Hashem than in Eretz Yisrael.
The daughters of Tzelafchad saw beyond the
exterior. Their love for the land flowed from an inner clarity rooted in
Yosef’s legacy of unwavering faith in the face of concealment. Despite being
betrayed, sold, and imprisoned, he never lost sight of Hashem’s guiding hand.
His unwavering faith led him to make his brothers swear to bring his bones to
Eretz Yisrael – a bold declaration of trust in future redemption. This profound
emunah was inherited by the daughters of Tzelafchad, his direct descendants.
Just as Yosef clung to the promise of the land through exile and concealment,
so did his granddaughters many generations later.
Since they internalized his clarity – that the Land
already belonged to Am Yisrael, spiritually and eternally – they merited the
land and the perception of its purpose as long as their spiritual perfection endured
(Akeidat Yitzchak, gate 84). So when they asked for their portion, it
wasn’t just a legal claim. It was a continuation of Yosef’s inner vision and emunah,
which granted them the merit to reveal a new halachah in the Torah – “their
eyes even saw what the eyes of Moshe did not see” (Rashi, Bamidbar 27:7)
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