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Drash for Shabbat Pinchas By Dr. Alan Winfield - July 6, 2007 Even God can change His mind. This week’s parsha, Pinchas, includes a wonderful story of the daughters of Zelophehad. In preparation for the coming entrance into the Promised Land, God has mandated a census of the forces of Israel by tribe, both to evaluate the fighting force of the people, and to help in the allocation of land. Within the tribe of Manasseh was one, Zelophehad, who had five daughters and no sons. According to the existing law, already established during the wandering through the desert, only men were permitted to inherit their father’s property. Such a limitation was typical of the cultures of the times. After all, only men could own property, manage finances, and lead the community. And Moses and the Elders seemed to think that this was a reasonable way to do things. But the daughters objected, pointing out that with the then existing law, because they had no brothers, their father’s family would be dispossessed, losing everything, and indeed, not even able to preserve the family name. They appealed to Moses and the Elders. Moses questions God who, acting in a very godly manner, agrees with the daughters, permitting them to inherit the land. Thus He revises previously stated Divine legislation. He changes His mind. The ramifications of such legislative change are far reaching, and set a precedent that can lead to the righting of all sorts of injustices and inequities. A bit later in the same Parsha, recalling that he was not permitted to enter the Promised Land, Moses petitions God to choose his successor, who will lead the Israelites into their new home. God selects Joshua, and instructs Moses to “lay your hands upon him”. This symbolic transmitting of leadership, referred to as “s’micha”, has been adopted in our tradition in clerical ordination. And it got me to thinking. When I was a boy, clerical leadership was gender specific, to say the least. There were no female rabbis or cantors. In fact, even the ten individuals counting as a minyan were restricted to men alone. But things did begin to change. The first Bat Mitzvah in this country was in 1922. Judith Kaplan, the daughter of Rabbi Mordechai Kaplan, who founded the Reconstructionist Movement, was called to the Torah. In Germany in 1935, Regina Jonas became the first woman Reform Rabbi, receiving a private ordination. She later perished in 1944 at Auschwitz. The sixties saw several young women attend Hebrew Union College, and finally, in 1972, amidst great fanfare, Sally Jane Priesand became America’s first woman rabbi. The Reconstructionist Movement followed thereafter when Sandy Eisenberg Sasso was ordained. By the year 2000, the Reform Movement had ordained 335 women rabbis, the Reconstructionist Movement, 98. And how much richer we all are for this change. Finally, the story made me wonder how the original rules forbidding women from inheritance, leadership and scholarship came into being; why Moses and the Elders, good and moral men, didn’t notice the injustice, why they needed the daughters of Zelophehad to point out the unfairness of the situation to them. Rashi, our famous biblical interpreter, explained this by saying that “their eyes (the daughters of Zelophehad) saw what the eyes of Moses did not see”. And this may , indeed, be the core lesson in this Parsha. Sometimes we don’t see the truths that are right in front of us. We don’t recognize injustice. It isn’t just gender equity. We are all often guilty of the failure to truly see unfairness and inequity in the world around us. We ignore problems of others. We turn away from the homeless, the disabled, the minorities, giving token awareness to their needs but not really recognizing their humanity. We can do better than this. In the words of Rabbi Bradley Artson, “the daughters of Zelophehad teach us an essential lesson for being fully human. They teach us the imperative of truly seeing - with our eyes, our minds, and our hearts.” Shabbat Shalom.
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