“The daughters of Tzelofḥad, son of Ḥefer, son of Gilad, son of Makhir, son of Manasseh, from the families of Manasseh son of Joseph, approached; and these are the names of his daughters: Maḥla, Noa, and Ḥogla, and Milka, and Tirtza” (Numbers 27:1). “The daughters of Tzelofḥad…approached” – that generation, the women would repair what the men would breach, as you find that Aaron said to them: “Remove the gold rings that are in the ears of your wives” (Exodus 32:2).
But the women were not willing, and they reprimanded their husbands, as it is stated: “All the people removed the gold rings [which were in their ears]…” (Exodus 32:3), but the women did not participate with them in the act of the calf. Likewise with the spies who disseminated slander: “They returned and caused the entire congregation to complain against him, [to disseminate slander about the land]” (Numbers 14:36).
The edict was decreed against them, as they said: “We will not be able to ascend” (Numbers 13:31). But the women were not party with them to that counsel, as previously in the portion it is written: “No man was left of them, except Caleb son of Yefuneh, [and Joshua son of Nun]” (Numbers 26:65) – man but not woman, because they [the men] did not wish to enter the land, but the women approached to seek an inheritance in the land.
This is why this portion is written adjacent to the death of the generation of the wilderness, as it was there that the men breached and the women repaired.