30 Jun PINHAS: BENOT SELOFCHAD’S LOVE FOR ERETZ YISRAEL

Parashat Pinhas tells
the story of Benot
Selofhad – the five
daughters of a man
named Selofhad,
who died in the
wilderness leaving behind only these five
daughters, without any sons. As Beneh
Yisrael were preparing to enter the Land
of Israel, these women approached Moshe
and asked that they inherit the portion
in the land that had been earmarked for
Selofhad. Moshe consulted with Hashem,
who informed him that indeed, when
there are no sons, a person’s daughters
inherit his estate.
The Torah introduces this story by
identifying Selofhad as “Selofhad, the
son of Hefer, the son of Gilad, the son
of Machir, the son of Menashe, from
among the families of Menashe, the son
of Yosef” (27:1).
Rashi raises the question of why the Torah
found it necessary to mention Yosef in this
context. We are, quite obviously, already
well-aware of the fact that Menashe was
one of the two sons of Yosef. Why are we
reminded about Yosef in the introduction

to the story of Benot Selofhad?
Rashi answers that the Torah wanted to
draw an association between these five
women and their righteous ancestor,
Yosef, whose legacy their carried through
their love for the Land of Israel. Yosef
made his brothers promise before
his passing that they would bring his
remains to Eretz Yisrael for burial, out
of his deep love for Eretz Yisrael. And
his descendants – Benot Selofhad –
similarly displayed their commitment to
Eretz Yisrael by approaching Moshe and
imploring him to give them their father’s
portion of the land.
Later commentators questioned how
Rashi saw in Benot Selofhad’s request an
expression of love for the Land of Israel.
Seemingly, they just wanted property;
they give no indication that they longed
specifically for a portion of Eretz Yisrael.
Imagine a youngster is participating in
a program and the people running the
program are serving pizza and nothing
else. If the youngster comes forward
and asks for a slice of pizza, does this
necessarily show his love for pizza? Of
course not. He’s hungry and wants food,

and pizza is the food that’s being served.
By the same token, it seems, Benot
Selofhad simply wanted property. How
did Rashi know that Selofhad’s daughters
felt special love for Eretz Yisrael?
One answer given is that Rashi inferred
this from the timing of the request.
Selofhad died many years earlier, yet his
daughters came forward to claim their
inheritance rights only now, as the nation
prepared to cross into the Land of Israel.
They did not ask for any of Selofhad’s
possessions throughout all the years after
his passing. He undoubtedly had valuable
assets, but this did not concern them. The
fact that they approached Moshe only
now, on the cusp of Beneh Yisrael’s arrival
in the land, shows that they felt a special
connection to Eretz Yisrael, following the
legacy of their illustrious ancestor, Yosef.
The Netziv (Rav Naftali Tzvi Yehuda
Berlin of Volozhin, 1816-1893) offers
a different explanation. As mentioned
earlier, Selofhad was a grandson of Gilad,
the son of Machir. Later (Bamidbar 32:40),
we read that the family of Machir was
given a portion in Eber Ha’Yarden – the
territory east of the Jordan River – as their

permanent area of residence. Selofhad, as
a member of this family, should thus have
had rights to a piece of land in this region,
and not in Eretz Yisrael. His daughters,
however, asked that they be given a share
not in Eber Ha’Yarden, but in the Land of
Israel. They would not have been satisfied
with territory in the region settled by the
Machir family. Due to their great love
for the Land of Israel, they insisted on
receiving land in Eretz Yisrael instead of
the region settled by their father’s family
– and Rashi thus understood that they, as
loyal heirs of Yosef, shared his special
love and commitment to the sacred land
that Hashem has given us.