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DVAR TORAH: Legacy of the Foremothers
The Torah tells of five sisters who took an important stand against gender
discrimination
by Alice Shalvi
Retired President of the Schechter Institute of Jewish Studies
(Based on Parshat Pinchas, Numbers 25:10-30:1)
Seldom in our scriptures do women appear as initiators or leaders of actions
that affect the entire nation. The Torah generally depicts a patriarchal society
in which the leaders are all male; while the women are active and influential,
if at all, only within the home and family.
Outstanding exceptions to this rule are the five daughters of Zelophehad
(Numbers 27:1-11). Today, Jewish women who seek equal status within Judaism,
Jewish society and religious practice often cite them as exemplars.
Prompting the sisters to public action is the allocation of the territory that
the Children of Israel will receive once they enter the Promised Land. Following
immediately after a census of all the tribes, it is clearly based on the
patrilinear principle of inheritance, via the male descendants of Jacobs's sons.
The list is abruptly interrupted (26:33) when it reaches Zelophehad, a
descendant of Manasseh, who had no sons, only five daughters: Mahlah, Noah,
Hoglah, Milkah and Tirzah. They do not challenge the patrilinear principle per
se, but rather the way in which it affects a family like theirs, in which there
are no sons. Their mode of action and the arguments they educe, neither radial
nor egocentric, prove highly effective.
Firstly, the sisters act in unison; theirs is a common cause. The principle of
primogeniture, which is so central in Genesis, is here of no importance. We do
not even know the order of their birth * their names are given in different
order on different occasions. However, even as they act in accord, their names
are repeatedly explicitly mentioned, as if to stress their individuality.
Secondly, they display great courage in choosing the social context of their
appeal. They stand in the most central, public and significant place in the
camp, in the presence of both the religious and secular leaders of the
community. Evidently fully aware of the male-dominated society in which they
live, they diplomatically refer not to their own rights but rather to those of
their dead father. Lacking a male heir, his name (and his land) will be lost to
his clan. He will be dishonored. Therefore, they request, "Give us a holding
among our father's kinsmen." This reference to the other male members of the
tribe serves to reinforce the fact that they are not in essence rebelling
against patriarchy.
Their argument, although logical, is so unprecedented that Moses finds himself
unable to pass judgement. He brings their case before the Lord, as he had done
only three times before. God's response is clear: "The plea of Zelophehad's
daughters is just." No English translation captures the emphatic nature of the
judgment, which in Hebrew is conveyed by an unusual reversal of common syntax so
it could literally be translated as "Truly (or correctly, justly) the daughters
of Zelophehad speak." The monosyllabic first word * "Ken" * with its two hard
consonants, sharpens the emphasis.
Not only do the daughters win their case, but it sets a legal precedent
applicable to future generations. "Henceforth, if a man dies without leaving a
son, you shall transfer his property to his daughters."
Wise, courageous, assertive yet also tactful and diplomatic, these foremothers
can serve as a model. Yet lest their success lead us into believing that they
have assured full autonomy and equal rights for women, we need to read on. In
Chapter 36, their kinsmen point out that giving Zelophehad's share of the land
to his daughters carries with it the risk that, should they marry men from
another tribe, the land will be lost to their own tribe's ancestral posterity.
In response, Moses, "at the Lord's bidding," passes judgement, using the same
syntactical form as used by God earlier, but in this case to limit the women's
autonomy: "They may marry only into a clan of their father's tribe. This the
sisters obediently do."
The episode can indeed serve as inspiration and encouragement for contemporary
Jewish women, but the ultimate outcome reminds us that male demands and
authority may remain sovereign even when a significant degree of progress is
achieved. Though Jewish women of all denominations have in recent years made
enormous strides towards equality, much still remains to be accomplished if they
are to break through the barriers established by the Orthodox rabbinical
establishment, particularly in Israel and especially in all matters relating to
personal status, over which that establishment continues to enjoy sole
jurisdiction.
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