In the Torah readings coming up, we meet an unusual family. They are unusual in the sense that they are a family of five sisters who find themselves in what they consider to be an unfair situation.
Unfairness is not part of the covenant as they understand it, and so they decide to express their concern. This makes them astounding sisters. Introduced in text as the daughters of Zelophehad, these sisters innovate Judaism and teach us about the complexities of covenant, leadership and community. What makes them so astounding is that they didn’t intend to change the nation. They simply intended to address a question.
Just before the nation approaches Israel, as the portions of the land are being allocated, these women come before Moses with a plea for their family. Their father died without leaving any sons. With no sons, there will be no inherited land portion given to the family, and the father’s name will subsequently disappear.
The daughters proclaim their father’s innocence of any crime, saying that justice would determine that they, the daughters, inherit the intended land portion, even in the absence of male family members. Their plea is for justice on a personal level, since on a national level, it makes no difference whether any single family inherits or not, since these are tribal land affiliations. The question is only a question of justice.
Moses brings their case before God, who not only affirms their rights, but consequently changes the inheritance laws of Israel for all time. And immediately afterward, God tells Moses that he will die before entering the land of Israel. Moses asks that God designate the next leader who can bring the people into the land, and Joshua is named.
These two events, occurring one right after the other, bring the strands of covenant to the forefront. The entire discussion begins with a plea for justice. Zelophehad’s family will have no future without a grounding element. The women have rightly understood that the grounding element must be the land of Israel. They are correct.
Moses has a designated family tribe, Levi, and he has left sons. There is no grounding question. However, he, as leader, is concerned with the grounding of the nation. His statement that God must designate the person to come after him is to understand that land alone will not suffice. Leadership is essential. By designating Joshua, God has stated that leadership must come from shared history and vision.
The final step occurs when God states that Joshua must continuously consult and follow the words of Eleazar the priest. Jewish spirituality is to inform everything.
Yet these fundamentals of covenant began with the appearance of five women, sisters, speaking on behalf of their father. The midrash in Exodus Rabbah speaks of a parable of a king who had one daughter. He loved her greatly, and as she grew, her expressions of love grew, so that the king began to call her his sister, and even later, he called her his mother. The daughters of Zelophehad began as daughters, but they presented their case as sisters and ultimately guarded the direction of justice and covenant as matriarchs.
With these ingredients – justice, land, leadership and spirituality – everyone is ready to move forward. It all began with women who had the courage to speak on behalf of justice.
