The Torah describes the public appeal of the daughters of Zelophehad, Mahlah, Noa, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah, to Moshe. They explained that their father had died without sons, and now, with the entry into the Land, his portion would be lost. Therefore they requested to inherit his portion and continue his name. Moshe brought the request before God, who established the laws of inheritance: daughters precede the brothers of the deceased in the order of succession.
Later, the heads of the tribe approached Moshe and expressed their concern that the daughters of Zelophehad might marry into another tribe, and after their deaths their portion would be removed from the tribe’s inheritance. Following this, God decreed that daughters who inherit land must marry within their own tribe. It was later determined that the prohibition on heiresses marrying outside their tribe applied only to that generation, until the conquest of the Land and settlement in it during the days of Yehoshua bin Nun was completed.
The Sages inferred from the text that these five daughters had a special quality of love for the Land. Since the Torah traces their lineage all the way to Yosef, because he loved the Land, as it says, “You shall bring up my bones from here,” so too his descendants loved the Land. They also saw them as an example of the virtue of the women of Israel in the wilderness. Rashi writes: “But the decree of the Spies was not issued against the women, because they loved the Land.”
The commentators struggled to understand where the Sages saw their love for the Land. Perhaps they only wanted an inheritance in the Land? The Netziv explains that in their request, “Give us a possession among our father’s brothers,” they had the option to receive a large portion with half the tribe of Manasseh in Transjordan. Yet they specifically asked for land in the Land of Israel, among their father’s brothers, the family of Hepher, and not with the brothers of their father’s father, Gilead and Machir, who settled in Transjordan. This was despite the fact that Manasseh’s portion in Transjordan was already conquered and available to them. From here we see that they loved the Land of Israel.
The Talmud in Bava Batra says: They were wise, they were interpreters of Scripture, they were righteous.
We learn two great foundations from them, and these are the foundation of the 4th of July:
To Initiate and Not Stay Silent
The daughters of Zelophehad were not ashamed to approach Moshe in front of all of Israel. They saw a situation where their father’s name was about to be lost, and they rose up and acted. They did not wait for someone else to fix the law. They demanded: Give us a possession.
This is exactly what happened on July 4, 1776. The thirteen colonies saw ongoing injustice. taxation without representation, laws imposed from abroad, rights trampled. They could have stayed silent and continued as colonies. But they chose to initiate. They gathered in Philadelphia, stood before the King and before the entire world, and declared independence. They did not wait for someone to grant them freedom. They took responsibility and created a historic precedent. Initiative changes laws. With the daughters of Zelophehad, a law of inheritance was established for generations. With the Founders, a new nation was established.
But Ask Correctly
Rabbi Avigdor Nebenzahl points out a deep insight. The daughters of Zelophehad did not come and say, “Why should our portion be lost?” Anyone can raise that claim. They said, “Why should the name of our father be lost?” If we do not receive a portion in the Land of Israel in our father’s name, then our father in the World of Truth will be lacking. For a portion in the Land of Israel is a portion in Gan Eden, as explained by the Ibn Ezra.
They did not ask for themselves. They asked for continuity, for the honor of previous generations, for an eternal value.
The American Declaration of Independence is built the same way. It does not open with personal grievances of “we deserve.” It opens with a declaration of “natural rights” granted by the Creator: Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. The Founders argued that the King of England was violating a Divine order. They did not demand only for their own comfort. They demanded in the name of a principle greater than themselves, in the name of future generations, in the name of liberty as a supreme value. A true request does not shout “me.” It shouts “justice.”
The daughters of Zelophehad teach us that freedom begins with two choices: choosing to stand up and speak, and choosing to love your own portion even when there is an easier option across the river. On the 4th of July, America chose both.
Shabbat Shalom.
Rabbi Eliyahu Tal