{"id":48349,"date":"2019-01-28T17:30:38","date_gmt":"2019-01-28T15:30:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=48349"},"modified":"2022-08-21T14:04:43","modified_gmt":"2022-08-21T11:04:43","slug":"two-views-of-greatness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/two-views-of-greatness\/","title":{"rendered":"Two Views Of Greatness"},"content":{"rendered":"
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“The daughters of Zelophehad came forward” (Num. 27:1): This was greatness for them and greatness for their father… that such women came forth from them. They were wise and righteous women. What was their wisdom? They spoke at the appropriate moment, for Moses was engaged upon the subject of inheritances, saying: “Among these the land shall be divided” (26:53). They said to him: “If we have the status of a son let us inherit like a son; if not, let our mother perform the levirate marriage.” Immediately, “Moses brought their case before God” (27:5). \u00a0(<\/span>Bamidbar Rabbah 21:11<\/span><\/i>) <\/span><\/p>\n

The midrash reverses our expectations: these women bring glory to their distinguished ancestors. They are wise, righteous: these terms, applied usually to men, are now inflected in the feminine form. But this midrash aims to define their wisdom, grounding it in their fine sense of timing. If they are considered their father’s seed\u2014”like sons”\u2014they should inherit; or if their father left no seed, let their mother conceive from her dead husband’s brother. They have a case only in the present circumstances, where there are no male heirs:<\/span> l’fi sha’ah<\/span><\/em>, in accord with the reality of the moment, they plead their cause. <\/span><\/p>\n

Another midrash, however, takes a different view of the greatness of these women and makes a more radical claim, writing that in the moment that the people are hankering Moses to return to Egypt, the daughters stand up: They answered, We know that in the end all Israel will claim their share in the Land; as it is said, “It is a time to act for God\u2014they have transgressed Your Torah!” Don’t read like this; read “They have transgressed Your Torah in acting for God!”… Where there is no man, try to be a man! \u00a0(<\/span>Yalkut Shimoni <\/span><\/i>773)<\/span><\/p>\n

Inspired by the energy of loving conviction, the women speak against the status quo of legal understanding. They speak with a fierce serenity. Their passion becomes a paradigm for all human courage in the face of conformity. “Where there is no man, try to be a man!” Of course, the midrashic authors are fully aware of the shock effect of this aphorism as applied to women. Unmistakably gendered, “Try to be a man, a <\/span>gever<\/span><\/i>” evokes masculine might (<\/span>gevurah<\/span><\/em>) as the aspiration\u2014and achievement\u2014of these women. For a moment, the reader is jarred; the boundaries of gender slip. <\/span><\/p>\n

It is to speak without the support of conventional frameworks; to speak at the particular historical moment when one’s speech will resound uncannily\u2014when it may create change. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Excerpted from: \u00a0Bewilderments, Schocken Books, 2017, p. 270<\/span><\/p>\n

Image: <\/span>https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/w\/index.php?curid=7171509<\/span><\/a>. The Daughters of Zelophehad,, illustration from <\/span>The Bible and Its Story Taught by One Thousand Picture Lessons<\/span><\/i>. Edited by Charles F. Horne and Julius A. Bewer. 1908.<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":48350,"id":48350,"title":"Num26-7-The_Daughters_of_Zelophehad","filename":"Num26-7-The_Daughters_of_Zelophehad.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num26-7-The_Daughters_of_Zelophehad.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/two-views-of-greatness\/num26-7-the_daughters_of_zelophehad\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"num26-7-the_daughters_of_zelophehad","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":48349,"date":"2019-01-28 15:30:17","modified":"2022-08-23 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