Community Corner

Stand Up and Be Counted

Growing up in the era of Women's Lib in the 1970's I am the daughter of a single working mom. But I have chosen a traditional marriage and was a stay at home mom until my children were in middle school. Whenever we come to Parashat Pinchas in the Torah, something always wants me to break into that 1970's Feminist anthem from Helen Reddy, “I Am Woman”.

We open the Parasha with G-d speaking to Moses, saying Pinchas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the high priest has turned back G-d's wrath from the Israelites by displaying his passion for G-d. G-d grants him a pact of friendship; a pact for him and his descendants of the priesthood for all time.

G-d instructs Moses and Eleazar to take a census of the men in the Israelite community, those over the age of twenty. All of the tribes are counted. The entire enrollment of the Israelites is noted as 601,730. (Men) G-d speaks to Moses and tells him that the land shall be “apportioned as shares, according to the listed names” The large groups will increase the share and the smaller groups will reduce the share. (Numbers 26:50-55)

The daughters of Zelophehad, descended from Manasseh, the son of Joseph came forward to Moses and Eleazar. The 5 daughters, Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah, came before the entire assembly at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting and state that their father died in the wilderness; that he was not a part of Korach's rebellion, but died for his own sin and left no sons. They plead that “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 27:1-4)

Moses brought their case to the Lord, and G-d says to Moses that the plea of the daughters is just; that they are to be given a hereditary holding among their father's kinsman and that their father's share of the land should be transferred to them. Further, God decrees that this shall be the law of procedure for the Israelites; if a man dies without leaving a son, property shall be transferred to his daughter, if he has no daughter, then to his brothers. If there are no brothers, then his property shall be assigned to his father's brothers, and then to his nearest relative in his own clan. While the law makes certain that the property remains in the clan, it's very important to note that G-d has made sure that the daughters are able to receive property on their own. That is to say, they do not need to have a husband or any other male clansmen to inherit for them. This is a big win for Zelophehad's daughters and women in the Torah.

These last weeks, if you read the numerous articles in the Jewish Journal, you will be swamped with opinions on the Women of the Wall and egalitairian worship at the Western Wall in Jerusalem. I will leave you to make your own conclusion as this is a very heated political and religious issue. I only note Rabbi Bradley Shavit Artson's comment that spoke to me. He says that “nowhere in the Torah does it suggest that G-d is accessible at the that Wall more than anywhere else.” As someone who was not allowed to have a Bat Mitzvah on Shabbat morning, or even read from the Torah in 1974, I hope for a solution that is just for all of us, and that it is resolved soon.

Shabbat Shalom
Cantor Toby Schwartz