Everyone always wants to find segulos for shidduchim. Look no further than the Tzror ha'Mor at the end of our parsha:
להורות כי לפי שבנות צלפחד חבבו הארץ. זכו בשכר זה שכל השבטים היו רצים אחריהם. וכולם היו רוצים וחפצים להזדווג להם. באופן שכשראו זה ראשי האבות של מנשה. נתייראו שיזדווגו לשבט אחר. והם היו רוצים להשיאן לבניהם.
The reward for the Bnos Tzelafchad having such great love for Eretz Yisrael is that everyone wanted to marry them! (Dont be so cynical and think that it was only because they suddenly found themselves blessed with a portion of land = $$$). This is what worried the leaders of sheivet Menashe. With so many suitors, the Bnos Tzelafchad were liable to marry out of the tribe and take their portion of land with them to another sheivet.
The parsha relates their complaint and Moshe's response:
Vayikrivu roshei ha'avos... m'mishpichos Bnei Yosef (36:1)
...kein matei Bnei Yosef dovrim (36:5)
Mimispichos bnei Menashe ben Yosef hayu l'nashim (36:12)
Why again and again is Yosef mentioned here? We all know Menashe is the son of Yosef?
Recall Rashi in last week's parsha explained that the Torah introduced the Bnos Tzelaphchad by giving us their yichus all the way back to "..Menashe ben Yosef" (27:1) because:
למשפחותא מנשה בן יוסף – למה נאמר, והלא כבר אמר: בן מנשה? אלא לומר לך: יוסף חיבב את הארץ, שנאמר: והעליתם את עצמותי (בראשית נ׳:כ״ה), ובנותיו חיבבו את הארץ.
Yosef was a Zionist, he loved Eretz Yisrael. The Bnos Tzelafchad were a chip off the ol' block and reflected that same attitude.
This is why the Torah stresses Yosef's identity in explaining the argument of the leaders of Mensahe. "Where did that love of Eretz Yisrael through which you earned a portion of nachala come from?" they argued to Bnos Tzelafchad. "It came from the genes of our sheivet -- the genes of Yosef hatzadik who loved Eretz Yisrael. Therefore we have a right to hold that land in within the tribe because if not for the genes you got from us, you wouldn't have a claim."
Hashem responds to their complaint by saying:
לַטּ֥וֹב בְּעֵינֵיהֶ֖ם תִּהְיֶ֣ינָה לְנָשִׁ֑ים אַ֗ךְ לְמִשְׁפַּ֛חַת מַטֵּ֥ה אֲבִיהֶ֖ם תִּהְיֶ֥ינָה לְנָשִֽׁים׃
Which is it? Can the Bnos Tzelafchad marry "la'tov b'eineihem," whoever they liked, or must they marry "l'mishpachas avihem," only within their sheivet?
Chazal resolve the issue (see Ramban, Meshech Chochma) by darshening that Bnos Tzelafchad could marry whoever they liked, but as an eitzah tovah they should marry within the sheivet.
Tzeror haMor explains pshat is that Hashem is agreeing with the leaders of Menashe -- the land should not be taken from the sheivet. However, half of sheivet Menashe lives in Eiver ha'Yarden. Someone who lives there might marry one of the Bnos Tzelafchad and maybe just keep an apartment in Eretz Yisrael for vacations. Therefore, Hashem also said that they should not only marry within the sheiveit, but women such as these who so strongly feel a love for Eretz Yisrael should marry "la'tov b'einehem," only to those who they consider "tov," those who share their same idealism and outlook and passion for Eretz Yisrael.
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Beautiful! Works well with your vort from last year quoting the Ishbitzer in Parshas Balak.
ReplyDelete"Yosef...loved Eretz Yisrael.* The Bnos Tzelafchad were a chip off the ol' block and reflected that same attitude."
ReplyDeletea tzadik's words are never in vain: was it not enough for Yosef to take his father's right hand and say, 'not so my father, for THIS is the bechor' (48:18)? but a ruach ha'kodesh prompted the additional 'put your right hand on >his< head'. on whose head? Tzelafchad's! [thus was the son of Cheifer** blessed--by Yosef himself--with five meritorious daughters]
*{was it a love of the land that urged Yosef to request a tranport of his bones, or rather adhesion to his father (to whom he swore a burial in Israel), as when Yaakov's image interrupted the temptation toward Potiphar's wife? maybe Yosef was again drawn to lie with Egypt, nation he'd both dominated and saved? maybe the sheaves of his youthful dream were wheat of Mitzrayim?}
**he who died bamidbar 'for his own sin' (ki-b'chet'o meis, 27:3), not for the common sin >against eretz Yisrael< prompted by the spies' report (sin common to the army men of the tribes of >Ephraim and Menashe<)
'a ruach ha'kodesh', or Hashem Himself would not let the tzadik's words waste:
Delete(zeh ha'bechor: Menashe);
seem: Machir;
y'mincha: Gilad;
al- : Cheifer;
>rosho: Tzelafchad< .