{"id":48432,"date":"2019-01-29T18:12:11","date_gmt":"2019-01-29T16:12:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=48432"},"modified":"2022-08-23T17:40:09","modified_gmt":"2022-08-23T14:40:09","slug":"on-the-cusp-of-changing-norms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/on-the-cusp-of-changing-norms\/","title":{"rendered":"On The Cusp Of Changing Norms"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[614,483,373,761],"acf":{"old_id":"48432","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":37333,"related_cahpter":"144","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"Five marriageable daughters - from Numbers to Jane Austen and Shalom Aleichem","content":"

\u201cIt is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.\u201d This opening line from Jane Austen\u2019s Pride and Prejudice<\/em>, a tale of upper-class English society in the early nineteenth century, introduces the story of the five Bennet sisters as they search for suitable husbands. In this world of dances and balls at lavish country house estates, marriage to a wealthy man is the only way to secure a woman\u2019s future, for she cannot inherit her father\u2019s title or estate. Whether she is beautiful like Jane, smart like Elizabeth, plain and serious like Mary, ditsy and silly like Kitty, or foolish like Lydia, marriage is the only solution.<\/span><\/p>\n

Later in the nineteenth century, we find another fictional family of five daughters \u2013 this time in Yiddish. Sholem Aleichem\u2019s stories of Tevye the Dairyman later became the much loved musical, Fiddler on the Roof<\/em>. Like Pride and Prejudice<\/em>, Fiddler on the Roof<\/em> tells the story of five young women as they approach marriageable age. Once again, the five sisters are dependent on marriage to secure their future. While in Pride and Prejudice<\/em>, both Jane and Lizzy eventually marry suitable husbands, the young female protagonists in Fiddler on the Roof<\/em> challenge their community\u2019s rules for marriage. Tevye is caught between his community\u2019s expectations and his daughters\u2019 breaking of the boundaries. Tzeitel, Hodel and Chava make their choices and break their father\u2019s heart. (Shprintze and Bielke are still too young \u2013 but we can guess what is in store for them). The parallel story of an approaching pogrom suggests that the entire community is doomed \u2013 perhaps because of the younger generation\u2019s actions.<\/span><\/p>\n

In Numbers 27, we find another family of five sisters: Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah and Tirzah, daughters of the late Zelophehad. Women cannot inherit their father\u2019s land, and so are dependent on marriage to secure their future, while their father\u2019s inheritance is divided among the other men of the tribe. Yet, this story runs a little differently. These women speak up. They approach Moses, Elazar the Priest and the other men in power, and ask for their father\u2019s inheritance to be given to them. Moses does not answer them immediately, but refers their question to God, who tells Moses: \u2018The plea of Zelophehad\u2019s daughters is just: you should give them a hereditary holding among their father\u2019s kinsmen; transfer their father\u2019s share to them\u2019 (Numbers 27:7). God agrees with the five sisters that they are entitled to inherit their father\u2019s estate.<\/span><\/p>\n

This surprising, even revolutionary, response instigates a change in the law. God instructs Moses to tell the people of Israel that \u2018If a man dies without a son, you shall transfer his property to his daughter\u2019 (Numbers 27:8). Here we find an ancient example of the theme played out in Fiddler on the Roof<\/em>. Jewish tradition evolves, despite opposition to change. Even in the Torah, change in tradition was possible.<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":48433,"id":48433,"title":"num27-FB-Daughters-of-Zelophehad","filename":"num27-FB-Daughters-of-Zelophehad.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num27-FB-Daughters-of-Zelophehad.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/on-the-cusp-of-changing-norms\/num27-fb-daughters-of-zelophehad\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"num27-fb-daughters-of-zelophehad","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":48432,"date":"2019-01-29 16:11:40","modified":"2022-04-19 08:25:43","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":500,"height":500,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num27-FB-Daughters-of-Zelophehad-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num27-FB-Daughters-of-Zelophehad-300x300.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num27-FB-Daughters-of-Zelophehad.jpg","medium_large-width":500,"medium_large-height":500,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num27-FB-Daughters-of-Zelophehad.jpg","large-width":500,"large-height":500,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num27-FB-Daughters-of-Zelophehad.jpg","1536x1536-width":500,"1536x1536-height":500,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num27-FB-Daughters-of-Zelophehad.jpg","2048x2048-width":500,"2048x2048-height":500,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num27-FB-Daughters-of-Zelophehad.jpg","post_full_size-width":500,"post_full_size-height":500,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num27-FB-Daughters-of-Zelophehad-420x420.jpg","home_baner-width":420,"home_baner-height":420}},"embedded_video":"","video_duration":"","show_fb_comments":true,"credit_media":""},"tile":{"top_caption":"","main_caption":"On The Cusp Of Changing Norms","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"Five marriageable daughters - 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