Unusually in this week’s Torah portion we find five women who are named. We are used to hearing about unnamed women in the Bible, such as Samson’s mother, the woman who was killed in Judges and so on.
In fact, not only are the names of Zelophehad’s daughters recorded in our sacred text, we also find two of these names (Noah and Hoglah) appearing on ostraca, pieces of ancient clay fragments, which refer to areas of considerable size in northern Israel. A rare archaeological find.
Why is it that these five women are punching above their weight in terms of identity, power and impact in ancient Israel? Part of the answer may lie in how they chose to organise and mobilise themselves.
Their problem is that their father’s property will not pass to them as Israelite law dictated that the property should be passed to the next male relative and they had no brothers. Their answer? They came together and found the person who held the most power, Moses, and appealed to the principles of justice and equity.
Their father, they said, was a good man and his clan would lose out on his property simply because of this unfair rule. Moses is convinced and takes the case to God. God agrees and the result of the women’s organising and speaking truth to power means that property law was changed so that brotherless daughters could inherit their parent’s property.
There are many examples of the power that woman can have when they organise and mobilise themselves and apply pressure to those in power. If you have not heard of the successful kosher meat riots in New York in 1902 by disgruntled women, make sure you look it up!
The daughters of Zelophehad are role models to us all. When things are unjust, when it all feels overwhelming and we are in despair, find others, work out what change is possible and apply pressure as a collective.
If a group of five women in ancient Israel can initiate a law in Torah, change God’s mind and enact a legacy for generations after them, then the possibilities to build a better world for us all are endless.
