Shabbat Parashat Pinchas - 5786

Shabbat Parashat Pinchas - 5786

Rabbi Hal Miller

  The daughters of Tzelophechad son of Cheifer son of Gilad son of Machir son of

  Menashe, of the families of Menashe son of Yosef, drew near. And these are the

  name of his daughters: Machlah, Noah and Chaglah and Milcah and Tirtzah. [Bamidbar 27:1]

The daughters of Tzelophechad are listed three times in the Torah and once in Yehoshua, in multiple different ways. What do these differences mean?

In Bamidbar 26:33, during the census, the daughters are listed as "Machlah and Noah, Chaglah, Milcah and Tirtzah." Our verse uses the same order, but the vav prefix indicating the word 'and' appears in different places: "Machlah, Noah and Chaglah and Milcah and Tirtzah." Then in 36:11, not only is the vav prefix different, but there is a swap between the places of Noah and Tirtzah: "Machlah, Tirtzah, and Chaglah and Milcah and Noah". Yehoshua [17:3] in regard to the division of the land, lists: "Machlah and Noah, Chaglah, Milcah and Tirtzah" which is the same as the census in Bamidbar 26:33.

The commentators explain these differences with three general categories, that the daughters are listed either by chronological age, by wisdom, or by the order in which they married. In addition, many discuss that the changes are meant to show that the girls were equivalent in their importance, where each order of listing is at random to defeat any claims of precedence. But these explanations have many holes. First, Machlah is always first, Chaglah is always third, and Milcah is always fourth, so the claim of randomness is difficult. There is never an 'and' before Machlah although each of the others has at least one instance of it.

As to equivalence, we must ask why a change in order would demonstrate such. The order in which the tribes are listed varies in many places, and although all Jews are considered more or less equivalent (with the possible exception of Kohanim) certainly the tribes were never claimed to be equivalent. It would have been much easier for the Torah to just tell us that these girls were equivalent in their level of spirituality. Additionally, the order of the names is the same in some of the verses, with only the 'ands' being different, so how would we come to the conclusion they were equivalent based on this? We must also ask how they can be considered equivalent if they are listed at any point in order of wisdom.

The Gemara [Bava Batra 120a] says that our verse is in order of wisdom and in 36:11 they are listed in order of age. It then mentions a Baraita that the daughters were equivalent because in 36:11 it says "became wives" which means all of them were the same. Rashi concurs, adding that the girls married in age order, which reconciles between two of our categories. But Or HaChayim asks where we are informed that the girls married in age order, and argues that the census and our verse were listed in chronological order, and in 36:11 by wisdom, which is opposite of Rashi. He answers the question about equivalence in the face of a listing based on wisdom by saying that instead they were listed this way to show that they were in fact equivalent in wisdom, and that none of them married until they had found compatible partners, and Rav Hirsch concurs with this.

Ibn Ezra states on Shemot 20:1, "Scripture generally varies its reportage when a matter is repeated and no significance should be read into the differences." But he then says that the order is age in 27:1 and marriage in 36:11. Most commentators disagree with Ibn Ezra and say that everything in the Torah has significance.

Talelei Oros explains the situation with the 'and' prefixes. He says that when one lists two things, "X and Y", the 'and' implies they are equivalent. By moving the 'ands' around, the Torah is teaching that all the girls are equivalent. He does not explain how this answers our other questions.

Although many attempts are made to explain, there is no consistency as to why these names are listed in the various orders they are. Perhaps they are all correct.