Ostensibly, the story of the daughters of Tzelofhad is a Halakhic section which created a significant legal precedent: From this point onwards, in certain instances, women may inherit their father's estate. However, the dramatic description of the events alludes to something beyond the legal realm. The Torah describes a group of women who approached Moshe, Elazar HaKohen, the leaders of the tribes and the entire nation at the entrance to the Mishkan. The description seems staged. The leadership and Moshe might naturally congregate, but why should the entire nation be present?
The claim of the daughters of Tzelofhad is simple and straightforward. The laws known to Moshe do not offer a solution for this case. He could have taken the easy route, rejecting their claim, by hiding behind the existing laws that he knew. The perceived unfairness of the situation is merely a product of the gap that exists between human and divine morality. However, Moshe did not ignore his intuition and decided that this case demanded further investigation. According to Midrash Tanhumah (Pinhas 9) not only did Moshe understand that this law demanded further investigation, Moshe actually knew the Halakhic conclusion. Moshe's humility prevented him from answering on his own. Seeing those surrounding him unable to answer, looking to him, he too, out of humility, looked to God for the answer.
The Zohar (Vol. 3 Balak 205B) expresses a parallel description: Moshe would not answer because he saw all the "great Rabbis" – the heads of tribes and families - looking to him, so immediately he removed himself from the case. However, the Zohar has a slightly different emphasis. Moshe's humility does not stem from a person who does not want to reveal his superiority publicly. Rather, Moshe understood the major Halakhic innovation in this situation, and he thought that no one would believe this Halakhic conclusion unless it was explicitly stated by God. The topic of inheritance is a crucial one that has a tremendous impact on the establishment of families in Israel. Moshe understood that the conceptual transformation necessary to execute justice in this case carries with it a radical change with regard to the laws of inheritance and tribal portions. A change of that magnitude could be understood as anti-establishment reform.
Moshe's initial response of justifying the question by turning to God is already surprising, but God's response that their claim is correct is nothing short of remarkable. Understanding the significance of God's answer, the sages emphasized the significance of this event and the purity of character in the claim of the women.
Various Midrashim describe the historical background of this story. "In that generation, the women safeguarded what the men transgressed." The men of that problematic generation took their jewelry and worshipped the golden calf, while the women protested. The men were involved in the sin of slandering the Land of Israel, while the women were requesting a portion of the land. That is also why the story of Midyan is juxtaposed to our Parasha. The sages are alluding not only to the women's love of the land but to fact that the Jewish women were safeguarded against infidelity at a time that licentiousness was common in the outside world.
The Talmud Bavli (Baba Batra 119B) brings a Tannaic source: "The daughters of Tzelofhad were intelligent, orators and righteous. They were intelligent for they spoke up in a timely manner." The Gemara explains that they waited for the perfect moment to make their claim. While Moshe was dealing with the laws of Yibbum (levirate marriage), they asked the following: Their mother was exempt from a levirate marriage because she has daughters, thus their father's inheritance did not return to his family. Why, then, should they not inherit him in place of the sons? They were convincing orators because they used Talmudic arguments and stated that they would never have made a claim had their father had a son. They were righteous because they only married those who were appropriate for them. The Gemara describes how they did not marry before the age of forty because they were waiting for an appropriate husband. In today's world we might consider them to be picky, but the sages viewed this favorably, comparing them to Moshe who separated himself from his wife.
The significance of the claim of the daughters of Tzelofhad, is the revelation of a new Halakha in the world. A small group of five sisters succeeded in teaching a new piece in the puzzle of Torah to the Jewish Nation. This Torah that they taught is a moral one, one that stems from love and one that is sensitive to the underpinnings of the Torah. By raising the issue as part of the laws of Yibbum, as part of a discussion of the various options for inheriting a dead father, they expressed that their desire to determine the truth was greater than their desire for a portion of inheritance. The daughters of Tzelofhad understood that the laws of Yibbum contain within them a possibility for the daughters to inherit. If there had been a son, they would not have submitted their claim. The patient listening of those women is the patience of women throughout the generations till our time. Waiting till the generation in which the request "Give us a portion in the God of Israel" will be an honest, sincere, clear and obvious request to everyone. The Torah itself is the portion that those women requested.
"Four are called a portion...Torah..." (Pesikta Zutrata – Lekah Tov – Shemot 15)
As in the case of the daughters of Tzelofhad, in our generation many timely questions have risen. Questions of the morality of equality, societal questions that relate to the establishment of the State of Israel in the land of our fathers in a generation of crisis, a generation that is confused and hard to control, a generation that needs a new revelation of what Moshe was able to perceive on his own, but knew that only God himself could teach us. It is possible that delaying marriage to a late age as the price to pay for this revolution is alluded to as well and is an expression of this revolution in which waiting for an appropriate husband becomes more difficult.
The Apter Rebbe, well known for his love of the Jewish nation, expresses his excitement through a homily of the names of the women:
Each one had a special name because of a good quality that she had.
מחלה – From the term forgiveness or from the term dance circle that the righteous will dance in the future (Taanit 31A).
The first and second together – מחלה נעה – the illness of the children of Israel moved away due to the sweetening of the laws.
חגלה – From the term of happiness and rejoicing.
מלכה – The revelation of the Holy King.
תרצה – Alluding to the Jewish nation being wanted and desired by God. (Ohavei Yisrael, Parashat Pinhas)
The combination of all of these qualities points to what those women demanded: the ability to be relevant to the times, to be happy in the giving of the Torah and the revelation of God's kingdom by dispersing the fog, to reveal the truth and the influence of a great mercy.