D'var Torah

I always love it when contemporary issues mirror those in the Torah! Take this week’s Torah portion, the end of the Book of Numbers in a double portion called Matot and Masei (Numbers 30:2-36:13). The end of the Book of Numbers revisits the story about the daughters of Zelophehad, who back in Parashat Pinchas (Numbers 27) argued for their inheritance rights to their father's ancestral land.

Zelophehad had no sons. At the time of his death only sons, who were counted in the census of the people, were given land. Zelophehad's daughters would have received no inheritance. The five daughters spoke up before Moses and all the men of the Great Assembly and challenged the law. They argued their father was a good man. "Let not our father’s name be lost to his clan just because he had no son,” they protested. Moses took their case to God, according to the Torah, and God ruled that the sisters were correct in their legal arguments and changed the course of the law of inheritance, and essentially women’s rights, forever. So we thought.

Then comes this week’s Torah portion: Masei. There’s an appeal to their case by the sisters’ male relatives. The appeal wins! Moses amends the new law and says women can only inherit ancestral land if they marry into a family of their father’s tribe. What? Yes, in order to inherit the land of your father, if you are a woman, you have to now marry your cousins, which hands over the inheritance to the same men who would have inherited it had the sisters not pleaded their case to begin with!

What a setback for the women.

Some commentators suggest the women still come out with more than they would have had in the first place. But, this whole story reminds me of what is happening in our courts today. There are laws that we have come to accept as set in stone, the law of the land, because people spoke up about injustice through the ages. But now, others come to power and overturned decisions that have existed for most of our lives. The women in the Torah took giant steps forward, then, a bit later, giant steps backward.

Whether the issue is reproductive rights, student loan debt forgiveness, affirmative action, LGBTQ+ rights, some feel our country has taken giant steps backward because of recent legal decisions, just like in this week’s Torah portion. However, we need to remember that our country made advancements in equal rights because people spoke up, just like the daughters of Zelophehad. We need people to continue to be like those five sisters and keep speaking up so that all are treated equally and justly.

Shabbat Shalom,

Cantor Michael Shochet