D'var Torah By: Steven Kushner for ReformJudaism.org
Five Women Whose Names We Should All Remember
The story of the daughters of Zelophehad (Numbers 27:1-11) has all of the earmarks of a Jane Austen novel: the disenfranchisement and injustices borne by women surrounding the question of inheritance rights; the formal but respectful articulation of the grievances of those women; the dramatic and triumphant vindication of their plight and plea.
The story starts out revolving around the issue of land allotments in anticipation of the Israelites settling the land of Canaan. Ownership of land was an essential component of the society of ancient Israel. This was a people that wandered, a migrant nation, a community of slaves. The idea of owning property, of having something permanent that would endure into the future and could be handed down from generation to generation was a central value. But it applied only to men.
Continue reading.
Follow us on
No comments:
Post a Comment