Pinchas 5772

In this week’s parsha G-d tells Moshe to apportion the Land to each of the tribes as an inheritance. The five daughters of Tzlaphchad petition Moshe: “Our father died in the desert…and he had no sons…Give us a portion along with our father’s brothers.” The Midrash tells that the daughters’ request inspires Moshe to ask G-d to designate his two sons as his successor. (Later in the parsha, G-d appoints Yehoshua (Joshua) instead.)

It appears as if Tzlafchad’s daughters ask for material possessions while Moshe asks for spiritual continuity. What relationship is there between the two requests?

To answer, we must know who Tzlaphchad is. The parsha tells us he is the great-great-grandson of Menashe, who was Yosef’s (Joseph’s) son. Tzlaphchad dies in the desert in the second year after the Exodus from Egypt, 38 years before this week’s parsha takes place.

There is a conflicting opinion in Talmud about Tzlapchad’s identity and the reason he dies. Rabbi Akiva (Shabbat 96a) professes that Tzlaphchad purposely violates Shabbat and is killed to show the Israelites they need to observe the mitzvot (commandments) in the desert. Rabbi Judah ben Betaira maintains that Tzlaphchad tries to go with a group to Canaan after G-d decrees his generation’s death in the desert. The group perishes at the hands of the Canaanites and Amalekites.

Writes Rabbi Naftali Silberberg on chabad.org: “[Tzlaphchad and his group] died because of their love for the Holy Land. Their love was so intense that it blinded their senses causing them to disregard Moses’ stern admonition that their mission was not sanctioned by G-d and would not succeed.”

Rabbi Silberberg contends that Tzlaphchad’s daughters’ request for a portion carried on their father’s legacy, the extreme love of the Land of Israel. Therefore, writes Rabbi A.L. Scheinbaum citing Horav Mordechai Rogov, Tzlaphchad’s daughters’ request was not motivated by material needs; rather it was spiritual in nature and focused on Jewish continuity and survival.

The daughters fear that if they are forced to live elsewhere, their father’s memory and traditions will not be transmitted to his descendants. Although Tzlaphchad dies for acting on his principles and he doesn’t live to know his grown daughters, nearly four decades after his demise his ideals live on with them. 

As parents, if we want our children to share our values, we must translate our values into actions. If we wish our children to carry on our Jewish traditions, we must actively engage in the rituals and practices of our religion. If we desire our children to love the Land of Israel, then we must take them to Israel and become at home there.