Bostoner Torah Insights: Bostoner ‘Chassidus’ in Hebrew and English: Parshas Pinchas – 21 Tamuz 5784
Bostoner Torah Insights - Yerushalayim
Bostoner Torah Insights
Bostoner ‘Chassidus’ in English
Parshas Pinchas – 21 Tamuz 5784
Bostoner Rebbe shlit”a – Yerushalayim
Secretariat Email: bosto...@gmail.com
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The Gemara (Bava Basra 119b) says about the daughters of Tzlofchod, “They were wise, they were able to expound the Torah, and they were righteous”. As a proof that they were wise and could expound the Torah, R’ Shmuel the son of R’ Yitzchak says that Moshe was teaching the laws of Yibum and the daughters of Tzlofchod raised the point, ‘If we are equal to a son, we should inherit. If not, then our mother should be required to do Yibum.' This logical reasoning apparently stumped Moshe Rabbeinu who was required to consult with Hashem in order to answer this claim.
As proof that they were righteous, R’ Eliezer the son of R’ Yaakov mentions that each of them was at least 40 years old when she married. Since as a general law of nature, a woman who marries after age 40 will not bear children, it follows that they were righteous, and a miracle was done on their behalf, just as Hashem had performed for Yocheved, to conceive and bear a child at such an advanced age.
Although not stated explicitly in the Torah, The Gemara (Bava Basra 120a) gives Yocheved’s age when she gave birth to Moshe as 130. This is based on: (a) Yocheved was one of the 70 souls that entered Egypt with Yaakov Avinu (Bava Basra 123a), (b) Bnei Yisroel were in Egypt for 210 years (see Rashi to Beraishis 42:2), and (c) that Moshe was 80 years old when he stood before Paro (Shemos 7:7).
One may ask why the Gemara compares the daughters of Tzlafchad to Yocheved whose age is not explicitly written in the Torah, when it could have compared them to Sarah Imaynu whose age of motherhood is written explicitly (Beraishis 17:17). Perhaps, the miraculous nature in which Sarah was able to conceive was far more reaching than the other women. The Gemara Yevamos 64b states that aside from her advanced age, Sarah was not born with a uterus and never had the capacity to have children. On the other hand, the daughters of Tzlofchad and Yocheved, are presumed to have been born with the capacity to have children and only lost this ability at an advanced age due to the natural development of a woman’s body, which Hashem restored to them.
Why was it so important that the laws of inheritance should be conveyed in the context of the scenario of the daughters of Tzlofchad (See Rashi to Bamidbar 27:5 and Sanhedrin 8a)?
Yocheved and Miriam merited having ‘houses’ of Kings and Kohanim descend from them on account of their faith in Hashem and fear of Heaven as midwives of the Jewish People (Sotah 11b). Later, when Paro decreed that male babies should be cast into the Nile, the Gemara tells us (Sotah 12a) that Amram, the leader of the generation, divorced his wife as an example to all that Jews should cease to procreate. His daughter Miriam advised her father that his decree was more severe than Paro, as Paroh’s decree was only against the male babies, but Amram’s decree would also prevent Jewish girls from being born.
The Rebbe zt”l would explain that the objective of Paro’s decree was to destroy the concept of Jewish tribes, which come from the male families, since Eretz Yisroel was to be divided by tribal families. If there were Jewish women, or even Jewish boys born without Jewish fathers, the Jewish nation would not merit to inherit the Land of Israel. This was the point of Miriam and why she had to risk her life for the birth of Jewish males, in that they are essential to inherit the land of Avraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov initially, even if afterward the land would be bequeathed to male and/or female descendants. The righteous daughters of Tzlafchod merited for the laws of inheritance to be given in their names, on behalf of the righteous women who came before them, like Yocheved and Miriam, who ensured that there would be male Jewish children to inherit Eretz Yisroel in the first place.
The Chasam Sofer points out that Moshe Rabbeinu decided on his own to give a portion in Transjordan or M’Eiver L’Yarden to half of the tribe of Menashe, since we never see them making such a request. He explains that the descendants of Eisav will fall into the hands of the sons of Yosef, as the Navi states, “The House of Yaakov will be a fire and the House of Yosef a flame and the House of Eisav like straw, they will kindle among them and consume them, and there will be no survivor of the House of Eisav (Ovadiah 1:18). Thus, in order to protect the two tribes of Reuven and Gad, Moshe selected half of the tribe of Menashe, one-quarter of his total resources against Eisav, leaving the remaining three-quarters of his forces, Ephraim and the other half of Menashe, to protect the remaining tribes in Eretz Yisroel proper.
The daughters of Tzlofchad cherished the land of Eretz Yisroel on the West Bank of the Jordan more than the land on the East Bank of the Jordan, and therefore married their more distant cousins from Menashe who lived there, rather than within their own family who received land M’Eiver L’Yarden.
Today, we should not rely on miracles. Rather we should make our efforts to assure that our daughters marry at a young age, to assure the continuance of Klal Yisroel, and specifically in Eretz Yisroel. The daughters of Tzlofchad continue to be a shining example for all righteous Jewish women, to put the concerns of the existence of Klal Yisroel before other material or economic concerns. In the merit of the righteous women of Egypt, that generation was redeemed (Sotah 11b) and in the merit of the righteous women of our generation, we should merit the Geulah Shlayma, speedily in our days.
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