The Kli Yakar - Parshat Pinchas

• Why do Jewish women possess such soul-love for Eretz Yisrael?
• What made the Daughters of Tzelafchad so special?
• What can we learn from Bnot Tzelafchad?
  

(Note: All text in block quotes are the words of the Kli Yakar in direct translation.)
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The Women Who Love Eretz Yisrael and Tzedaka

"And of these, there was no man counted by Moshe and Aharon Hakohen...." (Bamidbar 26:34)

The Kli Yakar starts off by repeating the statement within the verse:

"And of these, there was no man."

Yet then the Kli Yakar emphasizes:

But there were women....

The Kli Yakar goes on to explain:

Praying at the Kotel

But there were women because the decree of the Spies was decreed upon the men because the men hated the Land and had said (Bamidbar 14:4): "We’ll appoint a leader and return to Egypt." But the women cherished the Land, and thus Tzelafchad’s Daughters said, "Give us a possession."

The Kli Yakar gives two reasons for this, but we will look at the just first reason he gives:

Just like you have a land that cultivates tzanuim (people who behave with personal dignity), you have a land that cultivates adulterers.

He goes on to explain the reason why the Jews strayed in the land of Sheeteem: Sheeteem cultivates adulterers. Then the Kli Yakar returns to the subject of Eretz Yisrael and states:

The Land does not tolerate immorality as is said in the parsha of immorality (Vayikra 18:25-27) "Because of all the abominations the people of the Land committed, the Land vomited out her inhabitants." And we have already written above that the men were licentious and because of that, they hated the Land. But the women were kosher and tzanuah....and because of that, they cherished the Land that cultivates tzanuim. And you should know that even Sheeteem, which cultivates adulterers, can still draw healing from the Holy Land as indicated in Yoel 4:18: "And a spring will come out of the House of Hashem and irrigate the River of Sheeteem"....So it states that there wasn’t a man in this number in order to tell you: "But there were women." That’s because this number hints at the tsniut of the women, which was greater than that of the men.

Still commenting on this same verse, the Kli Yakar continues:

Then men hated the Land because they were hard-hearted and distant from tzedakah; they didn’t possess the yearning and the will to go from a Place of Exemption [a place where they are exempt from many mitzvot] to a Place of Obligation [a place where they are obligated in more mitzvot].

As noted in Parshat Shelach, "hate" is very strong word and the idea of the men hating the Land is originally from the Yalkut, with which the Kli Yakar apparently concurs. As written in Parshat Shelach, this idea doesn't seem to reflect many of the Jewish men living in Eretz Yisrael today. In that post, I offered a theory to explain this dichotomy, but maybe I'm wrong. Furthermore, we also see today that the vast majority of tzedakah donors are men. Actually, men have always been the biggest contributors of tzedakah. So I don't know. But this is what it says.
 
He goes on to explain that the men resented giving terumah and maaser, and that they possessed an “ayin tzara” regarding Hashem’s Kohanim.

But the women of that same generation were tzidkaniyot [righteous] and loved tzedakah; and likewise with the mitzvah of challah, which is unique to women and connected to the Land, and likewise with the rest of the terumot and maaserot. Therefore, they loved the Land, to go to the Place of Obligation because the average woman does not have authority and control over her husband’s possessions. Therefore, they [the women] had a desire to go to a place where the obligation to give is forced upon their husbands. And this was said by Chazal in Sotah 11: "Our forefathers were redeemed from Egypt in the merit of righteous women"....In their merit, they [Bnei Yisrael] left the Place of Exemption for the Place of Obligation, which was their [the women's] soul-yearning.

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Haifa--The territory of the Tribe of Menashe so cherished by Bnot Tzelafchad

Yosef’s Daughters and Their True Inheritance
The Kli Yakar, quoting Baba Batra 119, explains that Bnot Tzelafchad were tzidkaniyot who loved tzedakah. Pointing out the Torah's emphasis on calling their tribe Menashe ben Yosef, he says that just as Yosef Hatzaddik loved the Land, so did his daughters.

According to the Kli Yakar, the inheritance of Tzelafchad’s Daughters comprised the two traits they inherited from their great-great-great-great-grandfather, Yosef Hatzaddik.

1. Tzedakah – Just as Yosef Hatzaddik generously provided for his father’s entire household, Bnot Tzelafchad wanted to acquire a portion of the Land so that they would be obligated in the mitzvot of tzedakah (terumah and maaser).
2. Just as Yosef Hatzaddik protected himself from licentious behavior, thus did Tzelafchad’s Daughters protect themselves from licentious behavior (by being careful to only marry men suitable to their lofty goals).
   

Territory belonging to the Tribe of Menashe--what is known today as Ajlun, Jordan. Photo courtesy of Smart Viral.

Rabbi Shlomo Ephraim of Luntschitz (1550-1619) lived in Bohemia (which is today Poland and Czechoslovakia). He served as rabbi and dayan and wrote several books, the most well-known being his commentary on the Chumash known as the Kli Yakar.
This is my own translation and any errors are also mine.