The death of Tzelofchad

After nearly 40 years in the wilderness, the Children of Israel are about to enter the Land. The daughters of Tzelofchad — Machla, Noa, Chogla, Milka, and Tirza — approach Moshe, Elazar, and the princes with a request:

Our father died in the wilderness, and he was not among the assembly who assembled against God in the assembly of Korach, for he died in his sin, and he did not have sons. Why should our father’s name be diminished within his family because he has no son, give us a landholding among our father’s brothers. (Bamidbar 27:3-4)

Upon entering and conquering the Land of Israel, each family received a nachala, a landholding within their tribal territory, to be passed on in perpetuity from father to son. The nachala is inherited strictly through the paternal line. Because Tzelofchad had no sons, it seemed that his branch of the family would not receive a nachala.

Moshe is unsure of the law in this situation. He brings the case before God, who responds that Tzelofchad’s daughters should indeed be granted their father’s rightful portion in the Land.

This episode in Parashat Pinchas is the first time we hear of Tzelofchad in the Torah. The Sages, however, connect him with two possible events in Parashat Shelach, which took place thirty-nine years earlier.

The Israelites were in the wilderness, and they found a man gathering wood on Shabbat. Those who found him gathering wood brought him before Moshe and Aharon and the entire assembly. They placed him in custody, because it was not specified what should be done with him. God said to Moshe: The man shall surely be put to death, let the entire assembly stone him with stones… (Bamidbar 15:32-35)

Our sages taught: The gatherer, this is Tzelofchad…the words of Rabbi Akiva. (Shabbat 96b)

According to this interpretation, the sin for which Tzelofchad died was a very serious one, desecration of Shabbat. Because this was the first incident of public Shabbat desecration in history, it was not immediately clear which form of execution should be carried out, and Moshe need to consult with God.

In the continuation of the talmudic passage, Rabbi Yehuda ben Beteira disagrees with Rabbi Akiva, and suggests that Tzelofchad was one of the ma’apilim, those who defiantly charged forward to conquer the Land after God had decreed that their generation would die over the course of forty years in the wilderness following the sin of the spies.

And they arose early in the morning and went up to the heights of the mountain, saying: We are here and ready to go up to the place that God said, for we have sinned. And Moshe said: “Why do you transgress God’s word; this will not succeed. Do not go up…God is not with you.” And they charged forward to go up to the mountain heights…and the Amalekites and Canaanites who dwelt in that mountain came down and smote them and crushed them until Chorma. (Bamidbar 14:40-45)

If Tzelofchad was the wood-gatherer, then his daughters—probably as young girls—had already experienced the procedures for Divine rulings in unclear cases. With their father in jail, they must have hoped for an easier method of execution, or even for a loophole that would spare him from death altogether. But God decreed that he should be stoned, and the sentence was carried out.

Following that traumatic experience, Tzelofchad’s daughters could easily have avoided Moshe’s court, never asking for a nachala and never receiving one. Why should they expect Moshe to listen to the daughters of a Shabbat-violator? Why should they expect God to care about their father’s legacy?

And yet—they chose to ask. They argued their case before Moshe, Elazar, and the princes. They turned to a system that had caused their family tremendous pain, and this time, the answer was “yes.” The same God who decreed that Tzelofchad should be stoned outside the camp in just punishment for his sin upheld the justice of his daughters’ petition to perpetuate his legacy in the Land of Israel.

Or perhaps Tzelofchad was one of the ma’apilim, those who refused to accept the Divine decree that they would die over the course of forty years in the desert, and only their children would enter the land. Repenting of their earlier fears, the ma’apilim prepared to courageously conquer the Promised Land.

The language of this account echoes that of Avraham’s absolute commitment in the story of the akeda, the binding of Yitzchak (see Bereishit 22:1-3). Va-yashkimu – they arose early. Hinenu – we are here. There is one key difference. Avraham was dedicated to obeying God’s command, even the most terrible and incomprehensible command imaginable. The ma’apilim insisted on carrying out what they believed was God’s will, although they had been clearly warned that they were disobeying God.

In light of the possibility that Tzelofchad was among the ma’apilim, his daughters’ story also gains extra meaning. The ma’apilim could not accept the harsh Divine decree that they would never enter the land. They charged forward, risking and losing their lives in pursuit of an imaginary religious ideal.

Tzelofchad’s daughters faced a patriarchal system in which, as women, they could not receive a nachala and carry on their father’s legacy. Their courage was not in defying God, nor in mutely accepting their family’s exclusion from inheritance. Rather, they sincerely sought to do God’s will by asking Moshe for a ruling that would open up new possibilities. And because they were willing, if necessary, to hear “no,” they merited to hear “yes.”