Voices of WRJ: Parashat Pinchas

This week we celebrate our foremothers Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah and Tirzah, the daughters of Zelophehad, whose model of advocacy for social justice still stands thousands of years later. Zelophehad has died in the wilderness, leaving no son to inherit. Traditionally, land was inherited through the male line but Zelophehad had died leaving five daughters and no sons. When the allocations were being made to the tribe of Manasseh, the Torah says that the daughters of Zelophehad came forward and, “stood before Moses, Eleazar the priest, the chieftains, and the whole assembly, at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting,” and they said in part, “Our father died in the wilderness…he has left no sons. Let not our father’s name be lost to his clan just because he had no son! Give us a holding among our father’s kinsmen (Numbers 27:2-4)!" Of course, in that time, women weren’t exactly encouraged to help make “policy decisions” on things like the law of inheritance and for them to have approached Moses and the chieftains must have required tremendous courage. But there they were, standing up for themselves and asking to be treated fairly. Moses took the request to Adonai, who said, “The plea of Zelophehad’s daughters is just,” and directed that the daughters were to receive their father’s share. So here’s the lesson for us–silence in the face of injustice gets you nowhere. Speaking truth to power, recognizing injustice and refusing to ignore it, educating and advocating for improvement–this is how we effect change. I was privileged in June to attend the White House Summit on Working Families, joining a strong Double Booked contingent arranged by the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism (RAC). Speakers included President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, First Lady Michelle Obama, Dr. Jill Biden, Gloria Steinem, and a broad mix of leaders from Congress, business, labor and academia, as well as “ordinary citizens” (who were, frankly, pretty extraordinary!) Recurring themes included the need for flexibility (scheduling, telecommuting, work models), paid family leave (including parental leave), affordable childcare, a higher minimum wage, and pay equity. Women of Reform Judaism is examining our past resolutions and statements on these matters, discussing next steps with the RAC, and planning how we will move forward with advocacy and programming related to one or more of these imperatives. Sadly, thousands of years after Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah and Tirzah stood up for themselves, the need continues. This portion has special meaning for me as I first studied it for my Bat Mitzvah in 1997, shared with Janet Brooks and Cheryl Gurney, who I had only recently met thorough our sisterhood and who are now dear friends. Parashat Pinchas was later the vehicle for WRJ’s exploration of a women’s commentary on the Torah, with prototypes published in 2001 and 2003 that experimented with content and format. When The Torah: A Women’s Commentary was completed in 2008, it included in this portion Judith Rose’s “I Know About the Woman Who Sits and Waits” (p. 988), which beautifully captures the notion that women cannot just wait for change: “…I know about the daughter longing for change who can/no longer/sit and wait I know about the daughter longing for change who gives her Self the gift of meaning full spaces I know about the daughter longing for change who hopes for her daughter not to sit and wait.” Women of Reform Judaism never “sits and waits.”