blogs/rabbi-huberman

Question: Are you comfortable with a God who can right a wrong—especially when it comes to women’s rights?

Then stay tuned for the fascinating story of the five Daughters of Tzelafchad, who convince God to change Jewish law.

This week’s parashah takes place at the end of the Israelites’ 40 years of wandering. The Jewish people are preparing to cross the Jordan River to battle the Canaanites and assume ownership of the Promised Land 

A lot of plans are being made and many questions need to be answered: Which tribes will be assigned to which regions? How many within a tribe have survived the journey? Which communal responsibilities will each tribe assume?

There is excitement in the air—but not for everyone.

Enter five daughters of their recently deceased father, Tzelafchad. They ask Moses where they fit within the male-dominated system of land ownership. 

According to Jewish law and ancient Middle East practice, land ownership was passed from father to son.

But what about women who, for decades, had maintained the Jewish home and supported their husbands in commerce and in battle? 

As the Midrash reflects, “For forty years, the men tore down fences and the women repaired them.” (Numbers Rabbah 21:10).

And now, as the time approaches for the Israelites to claim the Promised Land, the five daughters—Machlah, Noa, Choglah, Milkah and Tirtzah, who have no brothers—address Moses: “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 24:5)

Moses does not know what to do. Indeed, the daughters are prepared to assume the responsibility of land ownership. They are prepared to work, and perhaps most importantly, they want ownership of their father’s land to pass to future generations.

So Moses takes their request to the highest authority. And without pausing, God renders a decision:

“The plea of Tzelafchad’s daughters is just: You should give them a hereditary holding among their father’s kinsmen: transfer their father’s share to them.

“Further, speak to the Israelite people as follows: “If a man dies without leaving a son, you shall transfer his property to his daughter.” (Numbers 6-8)

Given today’s egalitarian lens, God does not provide a perfect solution. Perhaps the daughters’ land ownership will only last one generation. But as we consider the message it sends to Jews across the ages, God’s decision demonstrates the Torah’s responsibility to change.

The issue of women’s rights within Judaism has been endlessly debated.

Within today’s modern landscape, it is perhaps inconceivable to many that women cannot be called to the Torah or lead services.

The Talmud itself is in many ways unsure. It states that women and youth may be called to read the Torah—but it is ill advised lest it be perceived that men are unable to do so.

Additionally, there are those who adopt a more stringent view that there are specific gender roles and mitzvah responsibilities assigned to men and women. Some contend that the voice of a woman (kol isha) can be distracting.

Luckily, within Judaism, there is a concept knows as pluralism—meaning that each of us possesses the freedom to support the Jewish philosophy of our choice as long as the basic precepts of Judaism are respected: kindness, compassion and respect for all.

While the Talmud speaks about discouraging women from being called to the Torah based on k’vod hatzibur, respect for the “congregation,” other rabbis point to a higher standard—k’vod ha’bri’ot—the honor and dignity of all human beings. 

So, where does this leave us today, especially when a woman wishes to be called to the Torah for a bat mitzvah—as our past president, Phyllis Spector, did a few weeks ago?

What harm can there be when a young woman in her thirteenth year leads the entire service?

Is the daughters’ plea frozen in time, or does it inspire us to consider that if God can change the law in favor of women’s inclusion, then we can consider the issue of change and inclusion within Judaism.

Judaism offers freedom of choice where each opinion, “in the name of heaven,” must be respected. 

As the Talmud reminds us, “these words and als these words are the words of the living God.”

In this week’s parashah, God demonstrates the capacity to change with the time, ordering Moses to change the law in the name of justice.

And this thread leads us to the last century where in 1943, just prior to the founding of the State of Israel, the chief rabbinate of Israel declared based on this week’s parashah, “Daughters inherit on an equal footing with men.”

Sometimes it takes a long time to achieve change, but through the Daughters of Tzelafchad passion, we are inspired to consider a new vision of Judaism not limited by gender but rather based on one’s deep desire to participate, study and pray Jewishly.

God sends a decisive message in this week’s Torah portion: “The plea of the Daughters of Tzelafchad is just.”

Those simple words direct us toward a Judaism neither limited nor divided by gender.

Through this week’s parashah, we are inspired to consider that Judaism is based upon liberation, not on restriction.

Moreover, this week as we learn through God’s Supreme Court decision—God approves of this message.

Shabbat shalom, v’kol tuv.

Rabbi Irwin Huberman