The Gemara has of late been discussing the biblical laws of inheritance, which are largely rooted in the biblical story of the daughters of Zelophehad. On today’s daf, the rabbis turn their attention from broader questions of inheritance to the daughters themselves.
The sages taught: The daughters of Zelophehad are wise, they are interpreters, they are righteous.
The Talmud next explains how each of these characteristics manifested in their lives:
They are wise — that they spoke in accordance with the moment. As Rabbi Shmuel bar Rav Yitzhak says: Tradition teaches that Moses our teacher was sitting and interpreting in the Torah portion about men whose married brothers had died childless, as it is stated: “If brothers dwell together, and one of them dies, and has no child, the wife of the dead shall not be married abroad to one not of his kin; her husband’s brother shall come to her, and take her for him as a wife” (Deuteronomy 25:5). They said to him: If we are each considered like a son, give us an inheritance like a son; and if not, our mother should enter into Levirate marriage.
The wisdom of the daughters of Zelophehad is demonstrated by their ability to identify the right time to make their ask. But there’s more to it than that. Rabbi Shmuel bar Rav Yitzhak describes Moses sitting and teaching Torah to a crowd. For the daughters to know that the time is right, and to seize the moment, they have to be part of that crowd, regularly going to learn Torah from Moses, the ultimate Torah teacher. Whether we imagine Moses teaching in a large public square, or a traditional beit midrash (study hall), the daughters of Zelophehad made space for themselves as part of that learning community. And when the time is right, they make a logical argument — that daughters should either be treated like sons for the purpose of inheritance, or not be treated as children at all for the purpose of Levirate marriage.
They are interpreters — that they were saying: If (our father) had had a son, we would not have spoken.
The word translated here as interpreters is darshaniyot, which is related to the word midrash and to the verb the Talmud uses to describe Moses’ public teaching — doresh. This isn’t an accident. The daughters are not only students of Torah, but are able to read the text carefully and generate their own insights based on their reading — just like Moses. Those who are welcomed into the community of learners are empowered to contribute to it, regardless of their gender.
They are righteous — that they did not marry, but rather (waited) for one who was fit for them. Rabbi Eliezer ben Ya’akov teaches: Even the youngest among them was not married at less than 40 years of age.
The Talmud sees the daughters’ commitment to find the right life partner as a sign of their righteousness. Rashbam suggests that they were looking for someone in their extended paternal family, so that their inheritances from Zelophehad would stay within his tribe. But whatever “fit for them” means, the daughters were patient — very patient, considering that the Talmud tells us that the earliest any of them got married was at age 40. (And before you worry about their fertility, the Talmud is going to go on to tell us that God created a miracle and they were all able to conceive even with their later marriages.)
So often in rabbinic literature, women are described as exceptional for their kindness and their roles as loving wives and mothers. These are indeed important characteristics. But this text paints a picture of a different kind of exceptional woman: a public student of Torah, an interpreter and teacher just like Moses, who knows her worth and is willing to wait. Today’s daf reminds us there is no one right way to be a biblical or talmudic woman.
Read all of Bava Batra 119 on Sefaria.
This piece originally appeared in a My Jewish Learning Daf Yomi email newsletter sent on October 22, 2024. If you are interested in receiving the newsletter, sign up here.
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