במדבר פרק כז

Chapter 27: The Daughters of Tzlofchad and the Transfer of Leadership to Yehoshua

Two Distinct Topics in One Chapter

Today’s chapter is composed of two parts that have no connection to each other. The first part actually belongs as a continuation to the previous chapter, and afterwards there is a new topic that relates to the story of Moshe transferring the kingship, the leadership, the governance of the kingdom to Yehoshua.

The Story of the Daughters of Tzlofchad

The Background

The first matter is the well-known story of the daughters of Tzlofchad, and this will be a continuation of what we had here regarding the division of the land, where it says “la’eleh techalek ha’aretz” and so forth. There are no details written, but one must understand that it was according to the number of names of the male children, just as those who were counted in the census.

Now there was a Jew named Tzlofchad, he is naturally counted among the families, there is a family of Tzlofchad, meaning the son of the family of Chefer is Tzlofchad, and it even states there his daughters are counted. It appears to state there the reason why it’s written there, specifically because there will be a story about them in the next section, “lo hayu lo banim ki im banot,” and the names of his daughters.

The Claim of the Daughters of Tzlofchad

Vatikravnah – they came with a claim. That is the meaning of the word “vatikravnah,” because “vata’amodnah lifnei Moshe” – this is a way of saying, they filed a “motion,” as we say today in court, “lifnei Moshe v’lifnei Elazar v’lifnei hanesi’im v’chol ha’edah.”

And what do they say? That their father died in the desert, not with the congregation of Korach, he simply died in the desert with his own sins, but the difference between him and all other fathers is, he didn’t have a son, they have no brothers. So who will receive the inheritance?

And an interesting thing emerges, that essentially the families were the first generation, the generation that left Egypt who were supposed to inherit, and their children would receive. And now they say there is no one to inherit, because they are only daughters.

Moshe Goes to the Almighty

And Moshe goes to the Almighty. It’s an interesting thing that there is no halacha. One might think it relates later to the matter of “nevuah shel Moshe” etc., but “vayakrev Moshe et mishpatan lifnei Hashem”. He comes with a question. How does one go before Hashem? How exactly does one go before Hashem? Moshe Rabbeinu knew how, and perhaps later we will learn other things that existed before this.

The Answer of the Holy One, Blessed Be He

And what does the Almighty say? Yes, the daughters of Tzlofchad are right, one must indeed give them “betoch achei avihem,” they should be with their father’s just like their uncles.

And this is not just a law for today, this is an eternal law, as He states “v’zot livnei Yisrael chukat mishpat”.

The Laws of Inheritance

And He goes through all the rules. Essentially, this is the only place where laws of inheritance are stated at all. Until now it was just passed down orally, when a question arose they had to work out all the laws of inheritance, and especially what happens when someone has no heirs.

So the Torah goes through, on the contrary, let’s say the rules:

– First to inherit is the son

– And if there is no son there is a daughter

– And if there is no daughter there are brothers

– And if there are no brothers there are the father’s brothers

The entire order of inheritance as it should be. And this is an eternal chukat mishpat, so that one should know the law.

Later we will see that another problem arose, that now the daughters of Tzlofchad will subsequently marry other men, so there is another parsha that will come later, it’s actually a continuation that should have been here.

The Transfer of Leadership to Yehoshua

The Command to Moshe

But now we move on to another story, which is essentially the end of the story of the desert.

The Almighty tells Moshe Rabbeinu, “Go up to Har Ha’avarim, you can see the Land of Israel, but you will not enter there because of the incident at Mei Merivah.” And this is essentially, we mainly know the story from the end of Parshat V’zot Haberacha, where it states again that this happened, but here it’s speaking about being still in the middle of the desert and needing to reach the end, and this is the main command that is stated.

Moshe’s Request

And what does Moshe say? “Vayedaber Moshe el Hashem leimor”. This is an interesting verse, we have seen the Megaleh Amukot says this formulation, the entire Torah is “vayedaber Hashem el Moshe,” here is the only place “vayedaber Moshe el Hashem leimor.”

And what does Moshe say? What will be with the people? “Yifkod Hashem Elokei haruchot l’chol basar”, similar to the language he used in Parshat Beha’alotcha, where it also states the matter of who will be the leaders and so forth.

And the people need to have “ish al ha’edah asher yetzei lifneihem va’asher yavo lifneihem”, and they should not be “k’tzon asher ein lahem ro’eh”. One must clarify exactly what his request is, what is he lacking?

The Appointment of Yehoshua

And the Almighty tells Moshe, “True, take Yehoshua bin Nun.” What is he? “Ish asher ruach bo”. These are the qualifications that Yehoshua has, whatever that means.

And what will you do to him? You will give him semicha, “v’samachta et yadcha alav”. And another interesting thing, you will establish him “lifnei Elazar hakohen v’lifnei kol ha’edah”. What is the meaning here of Elazar the kohen? And kol ha’edah we understand.

And you will give him “mehodecha”, meaning from your power, from your beauty, from your divine presence, whatever it is. And “l’ma’an yishme’u kol adat bnei Yisrael”, he will be your successor.

The Difference Between Moshe and Yehoshua

V’lifnei Elazar hakohen ya’amod, and yet he says one should not take it like Moshe and Aharon stood. V’sha’al lo b’mishpat ha’urim, meaning, it appears that Moshe Rabbeinu was a prophet, he could speak to the Almighty directly, as we see “vayikra el Moshe vayedaber Hashem eilav me’ohel mo’ed,” as was spoken in the previous parsha.

Not so with Yehoshua, perhaps he was also a prophet, but not necessarily a prophet, he had to go, if he wanted to know what the Almighty wanted, he had to go to the kohen, to Elazar the kohen, and he would tell him through the Urim V’Tumim, that is the meaning of “v’sha’al lo,” if he needed prophecy, holy prophecy, he could know what to do.

But the main thing, according to the simple meaning, as the plain meaning is, this refers to war, he should go lead the people, the simple leading in and out of war, and so forth.

Moshe’s Fulfillment

And so Moshe does, this is the fulfillment, the Almighty, Moshe fulfills, “vaya’as ka’asher tzivah Hashem”, he takes Yehoshua and he establishes him before Elazar, “vayismoch et yado alav ka’asher diber Hashem b’yad Moshe”.