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JULY 1, 2021 | The Jewish Home OCTOBER OCTOBER29, 29,2015 2015||The TheJewish JewishHome Home
From the Fire Parshas Pinchas
Leadership – Stay in Touch By Rav Moshe Weinberger Adapted for publication by Binyomin Wolf
W
e learn a halacha of historical significance in this week’s parsha. Following the daughters of Tzlafchad’s request for an inheritance because their father died without sons, the pasuk (Bamidbar 27:8) says: “Speak to the children of Israel to say, ‘If a man dies, and he has no son, you shall transfer his inheritance to his daughter.’” Chazal (Yalkut Shimoni, Remez 774) teach, “The portion of inheritances should have been taught through Moshe Rebbeinu, but the daughters of Tzlafchad were meritorious and it was taught through them, for good things happen through the meritorious and bad things thorough the guilty.” Why was the daughters’ request so meritorious? They made the following claim (Bamidbar 27:4): “Give us a portion among the brothers of our father.” As background, they informed Moshe (ibid. 3), “Our father died in the desert and he was
not among the assembly that banded together against Hashem in the assembly of Korach. Rather, for his own sin he died…” While we understand that Korach did not have a good reputation, why was it relevant to their claim to make sure Moshe knew their father was not a follower of Korach? It must be that all of the complaints of Korach, his assembly, Dasan, Aviram, and their ilk shared one common denominator, as we see from their never-ending grumbling: “Is it not enough that you brought us up from a land flowing with milk and honey to cause us to die in the desert?! … You have not even brought us to a land flowing with milk and honey…” (ibid. 16:1314). Their complaints all revolved around negativity toward Eretz Yisroel. “Let us turn around and return to Egypt” (ibid. 14:4). The daughters of Tzlafchad wanted to make sure there was no
room for error. Their claim to the land was only based on a love for Eretz Yisroel and a strong desire to cling to it. They were telling Moshe that their father was not part of Korach’s assembly. Rather, his “Zionist” credentials were impeccable. They wanted Moshe to know that their claim was based on a love for Eretz Yisroel. Nothing else. Their request was not based on a desire for wealth or property. That is why the pasuk traces their lineage back to Yosef (Rashi on ibid. 27:1). Just as Yosef loved Eretz Yisroel so much that he could not bear the thought of being buried in Egypt, so too the daughters of Tzlafchad were motivated purely by a desire to connect to the land. In their request, the daughters of Tzlafchad do not even use the word “inheritance” or “property.” Rather, they only ask for a “portion.” All they wanted was to connect themselves to Eretz Yisroel. That is why
they wanted to ensure Moshe knew that their father was not among the people who negated the Jewish people’s essential connection to Eretz Yisroel. When Hashem tells Moshe to grant their request, He tells him (ibid. 7), “The daughters of Tzlafchad speak justly.” They word “kein, justly” does not only mean that they were right. It means, as the brothers said to Yosef as viceroy, “Keinim anachnu, We are honest” (Bereishis 42:11). Although Moshe Rebbeinu was unimaginably great, on his level, he had somewhat of a blind spot. He had a suspicion that these young women only wanted a portion in Eretz Yisroel as a way of accumulating wealth or status. So Hashem had to tell him, “No, these women are honest. Their desire for a connection to Eretz Yisroel is based on a pure and simple love for the land.” Moshe, on his level, failed to rec-
