(Numb. 27:1:) “Then came forward the daughters of Zelophehad.” In that generation the women were fencing<sup class="footnote-marker">11</sup><i class="footnote">On raising a fence about the Law, see <i>Avot</i> 1:1.</i> that which the men were breaching.<sup class="footnote-marker">12</sup><i class="footnote">Numb. R. 21:10.</i> Accordingly you find that Aaron said to them (i.e., the men in Exod. 32:2), “Take off the gold rings [that are in the ears of your wives…]”; but the women were unwilling and protested against their husbands. Thus it is stated (in vs. 3), “So all the people took off the gold rings that were in their<sup class="footnote-marker">13</sup><i class="footnote">Since “their” is masculine here, there is an implication that the men only took their own earrings.</i> ears.” Thus the women did not take part in making the [golden] calf. So also in the case of the spies who had spread slander (according to Numb. 14:36), “when they returned, they made [the whole congregation] murmur against him.” A decree was issued against them, because they had said (in Numb. 13:31), “We are unable to go up [against this people for they are stronger than us].” The women, however, were not with them in their counsel. What is written above the matter (in Numb. 26:65)? “Because the Lord had said to them, ‘They shall surely die in the wilderness,’ not a man of them remained.” [Note that Scripture speaks of] “a man,” and not of "a woman.” Because they (i.e., the men) did not want to enter the land, but the women came forward to ask for an inheritance [in the land]; (Numb. 27:1) “Then came forward the daughters of Zelophehad.” Therefore the <i>parashah</i> [about the death of that generation] was written next to this <i>parashah</i>, because what the men broke down the women fenced in. Another interpretation (of Numb. 27:1), “Then came forward [the daughters of Zelophehad ben Hepher ben Gilead ben Machir ben Manasseh, of the families of Manasseh ben Joseph”: [Their action was] an honor to them. [It was also] an honor to their father, an honor to Machir, an honor to Manasseh and an honor to Joseph that such righteous and wise women had issued from him.<sup class="footnote-marker">14</sup><i class="footnote">Numb. R. 21:11.</i> But what was their wisdom? They [only] spoke up at the proper time, when Moses was busy with the <i>parashah</i> about inheritance (in accordance with Numb. 26:53), “To these shall you apportion the land [for an inheritance].” [So what was their wisdom? That] they said to him, “If we are like a son, let us inherit; but if not, let our mother perform levirate marriage (marry her husband's brother).”<sup class="footnote-marker">15</sup><i class="footnote">His duty would be to rear children in the name of the deceased father. On levirate marriage generally, see Deut. 25:5-6: also Gen. 38:8-9; Ruth 4:5.</i> Immediately (in Numb. 27:5), “Moses brought their cause before the Lord.” They were righteous, In that they had never been married to someone unworthy of them. Then why did they meet with Moses now? So that he would not [put on airs] over having abstained from his wife for forty years.<sup class="footnote-marker">16</sup><i class="footnote">Since Moses regularly stood in the Divine Presence, he needed to preserve an unbroken state of purity.</i> The Holy One, blessed be He, informed him through these [women], saying, “Here are women who without being commanded [remained unmarried] for forty years, until they were married to someone worthy of them.”