The first feminist precedent in the Bible Daughters of Zelophehad-part 2

Posted by Eli Dahan on November 30, 2009 under Bible, Biblical Hebrew, Jewish Folklore | Be the First to Comment

Moses did not know what to tell them, because that was the first time that a request like this brought to his attention. He brought their request before God. God agreed and asked Moses to tell it to the daughters. Because of the daughter’s initiative, God establish a new inheritance law in Israel for men who died without sons, as mentioned in Numbers 27:1-7

“  וַתִּקְרַבְנָה בְּנוֹת צְלָפְחָד, בֶּן-חֵפֶר בֶּן-גִּלְעָד בֶּן-מָכִיר בֶּן-מְנַשֶּׁה, לְמִשְׁפְּחֹת, מְנַשֶּׁה בֶן-יוֹסֵף; וְאֵלֶּה, שְׁמוֹת בְּנֹתָיו–מַחְלָה נֹעָה, וְחָגְלָה וּמִלְכָּה וְתִרְצָה.  וַתַּעֲמֹדְנָה לִפְנֵי מֹשֶׁה, וְלִפְנֵי אֶלְעָזָר הַכֹּהֵן, וְלִפְנֵי הַנְּשִׂיאִם, וְכָל-הָעֵדָה–פֶּתַח אֹהֶל-מוֹעֵד, לֵאמֹר.  אָבִינוּ, מֵת בַּמִּדְבָּר, וְהוּא לֹא-הָיָה בְּתוֹךְ הָעֵדָה הַנּוֹעָדִים עַל-יְהוָה, בַּעֲדַת-קֹרַח:  כִּי-בְחֶטְאוֹ מֵת, וּבָנִים לֹא-הָיוּ לוֹ.  לָמָּה יִגָּרַע שֵׁם-אָבִינוּ מִתּוֹךְ מִשְׁפַּחְתּוֹ, כִּי אֵין לוֹ בֵּן; תְּנָה-לָּנוּ אֲחֻזָּה, בְּתוֹךְ אֲחֵי אָבִינוּ.   וַיַּקְרֵב מֹשֶׁה אֶת-מִשְׁפָּטָן, לִפְנֵי יְהוָה. וַיֹּאמֶר יְהוָה, אֶל-מֹשֶׁה לֵּאמֹר.  כֵּן, בְּנוֹת צְלָפְחָד דֹּבְרֹת–נָתֹן תִּתֵּן לָהֶם אֲחֻזַּת נַחֲלָה, בְּתוֹךְ אֲחֵי אֲבִיהֶם; וְהַעֲבַרְתָּ אֶת-נַחֲלַת אֲבִיהֶן, לָהֶן”

” Then drew near the daughters of Zelophehad, the son of Hepher, the son of Gilead, the son of Machir, the son of Manasseh, of the families of Manasseh the son of Joseph; and these are the names of his daughters: Mahlah, Noah, and Hoglah, and Milcah, and Tirzah. And they stood before Moses, and before Eleazar the priest, and before the princes and all the congregation, at the door of the tent of meeting, saying: ‘Our father died in the wilderness, and he was not among the company of them that gathered themselves together against the LORD in the company of Korah, but he died in his own sin; and he had no sons. Why should the name of our father be done away from among his family, because he had no son? Give unto us a possession among the brethren of our father.’ And Moses brought their cause before the LORD. And the LORD spoke unto Moses, saying: ‘The daughters of Zelophehad speak right: thou shalt surely give them a possession of an inheritance among their father’s brethren; and thou shalt cause the inheritance of their father to pass unto them.”

The daughters of Zelophehad were not the first women in the Bible that straggle to improve their personal status. However, they didn’t just improve their personal status, they also improve the status of other women that were in the same position. That was a precedent that changed the Jewish law .

The Sages states that :”The daughters of Zelophehad were clever, knew how to interpret, and were righteous. Clever, in that they spoke out at the proper time.”

Also according to the Sages, Zelophehad ’s daughters were five of the twenty three beloved women in the Bible.

Main phrases of the post + transcription + translation

Eli@eteachergroup.com

The first feminist precedent in the Bible Daughters of Zelophehad-part 1

Posted by Eli Dahan on under Bible, Biblical Hebrew, Jewish Folklore | Be the First to Comment

In the Book Of Numbers we can find a very unique story in the ancient time: the story of Zelophehad ’s daughters. Zelophehad was a man of the tribe of Manasseh. He had five daughters: Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah and Tirzah, but no sons.

Zelophehad followed Moses out of Egypt and died in the wilderness before reaching the promised land. The daughters of Zelophehad lived before there was a law that determines woman’s right and obligation to inherit property in the absence of a male heir in the family.In order to perpetuate their father’s name, the daughters asked that the land be given to them instead.

What will Moses say to them in a patriarchal world?

Should he give them the opportunity to inherit their father property?

We know that in the old ages the men gave the property, but in some cases if there wasn’t a man – the woman got the property…

To be continued….

Main phrases of the post + transcription + translation

Eli@eteachergroup.com

The tenth commandment- an improvement in the women status?

Posted by Eli Dahan on November 28, 2009 under Bible, Biblical Hebrew, Gender, Jewish Folklore | Be the First to Comment

As we saw last time in our journey to understand the biblical Hebrew, the ten commandments appear two times in The Scriptures- the first in the book of Exodus; the second in Deuteronomy. A question that always rises is why Moses needed to say the Ten Commandments twice? One time isn’t good enough?

Though those 40 years have passed by, the generation is not the same. This is off course the traditional answer- Moses needed to say the words one more time before the people of Israel entered the promise land in order tom remind them and also in order to tell them for those who are new to the crowd – the new generation….

But, my dearest friends, if we will look close enough we will find some differences between the ten commandments in the book of Exodus to those which appears in the book of Deuteronomy. Today we will focus on the tenth from the tenth…

In exodus (20:13) the tenth goes like this:

“לֹא תַחְמֹד, בֵּית רֵעֶךָ; לֹא-תַחְמֹד אֵשֶׁת רֵעֶךָ, וְעַבְדּוֹ וַאֲמָתוֹ וְשׁוֹרוֹ וַחֲמֹרוֹ, וְכֹל, אֲשֶׁר לְרֵעֶךָ”

“You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”

In Deuteronomy (5:17) the tenth goes like this:

“וְלֹא תַחְמֹד, אֵשֶׁת רֵעֶךָ; וְלֹא תִתְאַוֶּה בֵּית רֵעֶךָ, שָׂדֵהוּ וְעַבְדּוֹ וַאֲמָתוֹ שׁוֹרוֹ וַחֲמֹרוֹ, וְכֹל, אֲשֶׁר לְרֵעֶךָ. 

“You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife.You shall not set your desire on your neighbor’s house or land, his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”

Not just the words are different, also the order- at first the house was more important than the wife; in the book of Deuteronomy the wife is more important than the house- my question is this – is this reflects a change of 40 years or a change of an author, who had more feministic stile in his writings….?

Main phrases of the post + transcription + translation

Eli@eteachergroup.com

The Ten Commandments

Posted by Eli Dahan on November 23, 2009 under Bible, Biblical Hebrew, Jewish Folklore | Be the First to Comment

The Ten Commandments, or the Decalogue (10 words), are ten mitzvoth in Holly Scriptures that God has command the people of Israel just after The Exodus. God himself wrote the Ten Commandments on two stone tables (luchot Ha’brit) and gave them to Moses on Mount Sinai to serve as principles of moral behavior for all mankind.

The Ten Commandments can be found in two books of the Torah: The Book of Exodus 20: 2-13 and The Book of Deuteronomy 5:6-18.The first four commandments were given to help the people of Israel to love, honor and obey God.

The next six commandments were guides to help the people of Israel build good relationships with each other based on love and mutual respect.The main reason that God gave Israel the Ten Commandments is that it constituted a covenant between God and Israel asmentioned in The Book of Deuteronomy 9: 9, 11, and 15 that refers to them as “the tablets of the covenant” three times:

“  בַּעֲלֹתִי הָהָרָה, לָקַחַת לוּחֹת הָאֲבָנִים לוּחֹת הַבְּרִית, אֲשֶׁר-כָּרַת יְהוָה, עִמָּכֶם; וָאֵשֵׁב בָּהָר, אַרְבָּעִים יוֹם וְאַרְבָּעִים לַיְלָה–לֶחֶם לֹא אָכַלְתִּי, וּמַיִם לֹא שָׁתִיתִי….. וַיְהִי, מִקֵּץ אַרְבָּעִים יוֹם, וְאַרְבָּעִים, לָיְלָה; נָתַן יְהוָה אֵלַי, אֶת-שְׁנֵי לֻחֹת הָאֲבָנִים–לֻחוֹת הַבְּרִית. … וָאֵפֶן, וָאֵרֵד מִן-הָהָר, וְהָהָר, בֹּעֵר בָּאֵשׁ; וּשְׁנֵי לוּחֹת הַבְּרִית, עַל שְׁתֵּי יָדָי.”

” When I was gone up into the mount to receive the tables of stone, even the tables of the covenant which the LORD made with you, then I abode in the mount forty days and forty nights; I did neither eat bread nor drink water…. And it came to pass at the end of forty days and forty nights, that the LORD gave me the two tables of stone, even the tables of the covenant…. So I turned and came down from the mount, and the mount burned with fire; and the two tables of the covenant were in my two hands.“

to be continued , shavoua tov (good week)

Main phrases of the post + transcription + translation

 Eli@eteachergroup.com