Parashat Mattot/Masa'ei, Numbers 30:2 - End

The great heat wave we experienced in New York City this week -- including some record setting temperatures -- has  caused me to rethink my image of the Israelites walking in the desert.  This week’s portion – Mattot (literally, “canes,” but here in the meaning of “tribes”) and Masa’ei (literally, “the journeys of”) – demonstrates, among others, just how much ground they actually covered in their forty years of travels. (See Numbers 33:1-43).  Now my own main worry this past week was the broken AC in my living room (I was mostly nervous for my baby-boy Michael, who practically lives there). But the Israelites, who had to endure the desert sun for forty years, did not have air condition; they did not have running water; in fact, they did not have any real idea that they will have any water in the coming days – a truly demoralizing notion, especially if you walk all day in the desert. In fact, all they had was a true, wholehearted belief in their God.  Now that’s a true statement of faith, at least in my book. And while I am not sure they had many options to go elsewhere in the middle of the desert, the very fact that they confined their complaints to several isolated incidents – rather than, say, a long, continuous, string of grief and pain expressions, as well as escalating anger – does provide a different look, perhaps, of their true nature.

[Now bear in mind, of course, that the text is very selective, and was written by the “winner” (“his-story” – history is the story of the victor, to whom goes the spoils, including what – and what not – to report). Recall further that any and all hints of resentment or opposition were met with terrible faith. That, too, may teach us something on “the regime of fear” that may have controlled these people. Still, the people were many – more than 600,000 – and Moshe is one; at some point, had they all – or a strong majority – wanted an out, they would have gotten their way. But they didn’t and for that I give them credit this week.]

In today’s note I would like to highlight a very interesting point that may teach us something about the current Obama administration.  If you may recall (and it is perfectly understandable if you have already forgotten – it seems so long ago), Obama came to the White House on the wings of a “Yes We Can” campaign. He promised “Change,” and to do things differently in Washington DC. But then Congress happened. And when Harry (not Reid, but Obama himself) met Sally (pick your favorite conservative leader in either chamber) – all good intentions came to a screeching halt. Or, in other words, when the ideal and platonic notions of good, equality, human rights, and prosperity met with the realities politics, with cynicism, and with cold cost-benefit calculations – most initiatives were eventually left out. (Take, for example, the fantastic idea of a public option [well recognized in other  Western Democracies]  that would require all health insurance companies to reduce their rates and compete more vigorously – gone with the wind.)

How is all that even remotely related to this week’s portion? To properly understand that, we have to begin with last week’s portion (Pinchas) and the story of B’not Zlophchad (The Daughters of Zlophcahd). No doubt one of the very first feminist groups, these five brave daughters of Zlophchad – who, luckily for his daughters, never had a male son – were intelligent, well spoken, independent (and, according to Midrash, beautiful as well). In Numbers 27:1-11 we encounter their wonderful and very inspiring story. (Please go ahead and read it – it is self explanatory). In short, when their father passed, since he did not have a male son, he could not bequeath (give away after his death) his land to anyone; the five daughters, then, were left without any property. So they came before Moshe to plead their case. Now this trivial detail is not trivial as it seems: recall that Moshe had accepted, a while ago, an advice from his father in law to establish a much elaborated, multi-tiered legal system that would essentially bring before him only the hardest of cases. Here, not only that the five daughters (apparently) went through all the “lower courts,” but their case was heard – as the text emphasized – before Moshe, Elazar the Great Priest (Aharon, the first Great Priest, passed a short time prior), the Heads of the tribes, and “all of the community” -- and all that is happening in front of Ohel Mo’ed – the Tent of Meeting, where the tabernacle was housed. In short, this is the Supreme Court sitting in full session.

And their argument was unique. Like many feminists thousands of years later – Ruth Bader Ginsburg comes to mind most prominently – they presented their case more in terms of human rights than women’s rights (as, indeed, we have learned: Women’s rights ARE human rights). Their claim was that their father and his memory will be hurt by erasing his name from the list of property owners after his death; in addition, the whole tribe would be disadvantaged, as fewer families would have land within it.

The case is so complicated, it seems, even for Moshe and he can't make up his mind. Should he give these five unmarried (!) women their own land (for the first time ever), as their claims are just and reasonable, or should he continue with the “men-only” policy, which worked so well over the years (for men, at least). So Moshe “brought their case before the Lord” as some translations tell us, or, in the more beautiful Hebrew original suggests, he “brought the case closer to God.” And God did not hesitate: Not only did He give the Daughters of Zlophchad their land (in this specific case), but He also took the opportunity to announce a general law regarding all women – who may, from now on, receive land from their deceased father (only if, unfortunately, that father bore no sons).

So that’s the ideal, “Yes We Can,” part of the story. In today’s portion, we meet “the heads of Congress” – the elderly members of the Tribe of Menashe, where it all happened. They, too, come to plead their case before “Moshe and the Heads of the Tribes” (though neither in front of the chief religious authority nor in front of the people). They, too, framed their arguments in terms of general public interest – nothing to do with women’s rights in particular. And here is what they had to say, in essence: (See Numbers 36:1-12): "You have provided the daughters of Zlophchad with real property. Now these women would eventually marry; and most likely, to people outside their Tribe. Once that happens, all five parcels would be reduced from our Tribe, and added to the land of the other tribe (As land parcels – how else – follow the husband). What should we do?"

Notice that this is somewhat of an appeal on a final Supreme Court decision (authored by God Himself, no less).  But Moshe is not too impressed; he doesn’t even need to summon God to solve this hard, after-the-fact appeal. Rather, he merely orders a simple solution – the women should marry inside the Tribe; thus, he argues, the lands would always remain within the Tribe. [The much simpler solution, that the land would actually follow its real owner, man or woman, apparently never occurred to him at this stage in history.] This is the law of Zlophchad daughters, and this is the law in general. And yes, the text adds, the daughters indeed married "inside their tribe" - they married their cousins, and everyone was happy, or so it seems. The interesting thing to me, at least, was the way Moshe chose to phrase his decree (of marrying inside the Tribe): “They may marry anyone they wish, provided they marry in to a clan of their father’s tribe.” (Numbers 36:7).

This reminded me of an answer that my father, an extremely sharp lawyer, gave me when I asked him what does the dress-code requiring lawyers (in Israel) to wear “dark suits” to court mean; he said, and I quote: “You may choose any color you like, provided it is black.”

Shabbat Shalom.