The Women Who Stood Up to Moses for their Rights

Women standing up for what's fair has a long history. In the book of Numbers, we encountered the five daughters of Tzelophechad who took the unprecedented stand of coming before Moses and the priests to stake their claim to fairness following their father's death: "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 27:4)

Moses consults God who replies, "The plea of Tzelophechad's daughters is just: You should give them a hereditary holding among their father's kinsmen; transfer their father's share to them. Further, speak to the Israelite people as follows: If a man dies without leaving a son, you shall transfer his property to his daughter" (Numbers 27:7-8).

Imagine the courage of these women who chose to stand before the entirety of the Israelite leadership -- all of whom were male -- to seek out nothing more than a fair claim on their father's inheritance.

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