Feminism and the Torah #839
07/26/2024 05:55:00 PM
Rabbi Irwin Huberman
Author | |
Date Added | |
Automatically create summary | |
Summary |
Parashat: Pinchas
"Let not our father's name be lost for his clan just because he had no son"
Feminism and the Torah
I have a question for you regarding the very nature of God.
Do you regard God as all knowing, perfect, and in full control of the world?
Or is it also possible that God, like humans, can be open to criticism and change?
This week, the Torah makes a case for an evolving God, as we are introduced to five women who initiate the idea of feminism into the Jewish narrative.
They are Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah and Tirzah—the daughters of Tz’lafchad—and here is their story.
On their way to the Promised Land, their father dies. This creates a problem. Jewish law dictates that only men can own land. With no sons to inherit Tz’lafchad’s holdings, the daughters contemplate their own security and future.
They take aim at the distinctly sexist practice, asking, “Why can’t we as women own and work the land?”
They express a new and radical vision of what Judaism—and ultimately the land of Israel—could be.
They approach Moses, requesting a change to the law. They remind him that their father was a righteous man—neither a rebel nor a complainer.
“Let not our father’s name be lost for his clan just because he had no son,” they plead. “Give us his holdings among our kinsmen.”
The Talmud, our oral tradition, agrees. Some ancient rabbis noted that God’s law often appears to “have greater compassion for males than for females.”
Moses listens to their arugement and agrees to advance their issue to a higher power—God.
God ponders Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah and Tirzah’s request and ultimately concludes that even God’s law can be subject to review and change.
“The plea of Tz’lafchad’s daughters is just,” God says. “You should give them a hereditary holding among their father’s kinsmen; transfer their father’s share to them.”
And the law is changed.
What a monumental moment in Jewish tradition. It inspires us to consider that as the world evolves, so must Torah.
It also speaks of a God who is capable of change—where gender equality, dignity for all, fairness and compassion must be the primary driver of the Torah and—by extension—society and the laws which govern it.
There is a story in the Midrash—our ancient collection of stories, myths and explanations—where Moses is studying Torah with God.
Moses is puzzled by one passage. He notes that numerous times, the Torah says that a child shall be guilted by the sins of his ancestors back three or four generations.
Moses challenges God, referring to a story from the early pages of the Torah, which implies that Abraham’s father, Terach, was an idol maker and seller.
Moses advances the position that, “If that is so, how do you explain the rise of Abraham? Shouldn’t Abraham have been condemned for the sins of his father? Then, if so, Judaism would have never begun.”
God considers for a moment, and responds, “I believe I have learned something from you today.” And in so doing, God reveals a willingness to amend Jewish understanding and practice, based on how the Torah is applied on earth.
Later, in the Book of Jeremiah—the prophet Jeremiah writes that each of us is responsible for our own successes and failures.
That is why the story of Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah and Tirzah is so important.
Friends, I like the idea of a God who is omnipotent. I need to believe that the challenges all of us currently face are part of an overall journey toward a better, more perfect world.
It is part of my faith.
But let us also remember that as God’s emissaries on earth—through that divine spark within each of us—God is connected and enlightened every day.
Indeed, we live in a world where—less and less—gender, our background or how we love, cannot determine our capacity to perform a job, own land, or even seek high political office.
The Torah reminds us in its closing pages, “The Torah is not found in heaven.” Rather, Jewish law thrives in the way we apply it to daily life.
This week, we remember the courage of Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah and Tirzah, who approach Moses and, ultimately God, asking that an injustice be corrected.
They remind us that if God possesses the capacity to review, improve and evolve each day, so can we.
I believe that the greatest enemy of Judaism, and life itself, is stagnation. As we evolve on earth, in some way, according to both oral and written tradition, so does God.
Life is a journey. Judaism calls it a sulam, a ladder that we perpetually climb in our understanding of what is right.
How comforting it is to know that a dynamic and engaged God evolves with us along the way.
Shabbat shalom, v’kol tuv.
Rabbi Irwin Huberman
Tue, February 18 2025
20 Shevat 5785
Update this content.
Update this content.
Update this content.
Rabbi's Last 50 E-Sermons
From Whom Did You Learn "Your" Torah? #863
Thursday, Feb 13 10:00amThe Voice of Women #862
Friday, Feb 7 5:00pmNowhere Without our Children and Elders #861
Friday, Jan 31 5:00pmReclaiming our Voice #860
Friday, Jan 24 5:00pmWhat's in Your Hebrew Name? #859
Friday, Jan 17 5:00amVisiting the Sick: Is There a Right Time? #858
Friday, Jan 10 5:00pmDads and their Imperfect Journeys #857
Friday, Jan 3 5:00pmWhat Does "Israel" Really Mean? #856
Friday, Dec 13 5:01pmRunning From OUr Problems #855
Friday, Dec 6 3:00pmThe "R-Rated Torah"#853
Friday, Nov 22 11:39amLeaving God Behind #852
Friday, Nov 15 5:00pmYour Name Means Something #851
Friday, Nov 8 5:00pmDemocracy as a Jewish Practice #850
Friday, Nov 1 5:00pmThe Rabbi and the "Ugly" Man #849
Friday, Oct 25 5:00pmsUKKOT AND THE tENEMENTS #848
Friday, Oct 18 5:00pm"Wedding After the Funeral" #847
Friday, Sep 27 5:37pm"The King is in the Field" #846
Friday, Sep 13 5:00pmJudging Others Too Quickly #845
Friday, Sep 6 5:00pmIs Life a Blessing or a Curse? #844
Friday, Aug 30 5:00pmWhat is in Your Heart? #843
Friday, Aug 23 5:01pmLearning Judaism's 11th Commandment #842
Friday, Aug 16 5:00pmThe Plague of Remaining Silent #841
Friday, Aug 9 5:07pmThe Stories of Our LIves #840
Friday, Aug 2 5:00pmFeminism and the Torah #839
Friday, Jul 26 5:55pmEmails - Are They Private? #838
Friday, Jul 19 4:00pmJews in a Changing World #837
Friday, Jul 12 5:01pm"Are We There Yet?" #836
Friday, Jul 5 5:37pmLessons From a Flip Phone #835
Friday, Jun 28 5:00pmRegrets and Second Chances #834
Monday, Jun 24 4:00pmFrom Gaza to Tel Aviv: Seven Days in Israel #833
Friday, Jun 14 2:42pmRevisiting October 7 #831
Friday, May 31 4:00pmGrudges: Is There an Expiration Date? #830
Friday, May 24 4:48pmCan We Disobey the Torah? #829
Friday, May 17 5:00pmGod Blesses All Work #828
Friday, May 10 5:00pmWhich Goat are We? #827
Friday, May 3 5:30pmThe Bible's "Sexiest" Book #826
Friday, Apr 26 6:00pmDeath by Overwork #824
Friday, Apr 12 4:46pmHockey, Law and Joe Lieberman #823
Friday, Apr 5 2:00pmThe Nuns Study #822
Friday, Mar 29 6:10pm" To Give is to Live" #820
Friday, Mar 15 3:51pmArguing: A Jewish Tradition #819
Friday, Mar 8 5:31pmGolden Calves of Today #818
Friday, Mar 1 5:16pmMy Uncle Allan #817
Friday, Feb 23 5:40pmWhere Does God Live? #816
Friday, Feb 16 5:30pmOur Mothers' Lost Prayers #815
Friday, Feb 9 5:00pmTwo Brothers and a Watch #814
Friday, Feb 2 4:30pmCreating Our Own Miracles #813
Friday, Jan 26 5:06pmNowhere Without our Children #812
Friday, Jan 19 4:52pmSomewhere Over The Rainbow: The Jewish Dream #811
Friday, Jan 12 6:24pmThe Six Women Who Saved Judaism #810
Friday, Jan 5 5:30pmUpdate this content.