>From skeiter@pacbell.net
Date: Mon, 24 Jul 2000 14:17:57 -0700
To: PARSHA@ETZION.ORG.IL
Subject: Parshat Pinhas

I have just read the shiur entitled, "Were the Daughters of Tzelofchad
Early Jewish Feminists?" by Rav Elchanan Samet.  The central thesis of
this shiur is that the daughter's of Tzelofchad were not seeking to
vindicate their own rights as women, but, rather, were seeking to
perpetuate the name of their father as a man within a patriarchal
society.  I have no qualms regarding this thesis.  However, I do find it
ironic that the names truly perpetuated through Jewish history
ultimately are Tamar, the individual daughters of Tzelofchad (whom the
Torah sees fit to name as individuals), and Ruth.  Less attention or
focus in the popular imagination is devoted to Tamar's deceased husbands
(Yehuda's sons), the families of the men whom Tzelofchad's daughters
ultimately marry, and Ruth's deceased husband.  While Tzelofchad's name
receives prominent mention, it is only by virtue of the actions of his
daughters.  Had he had sons, he would probably have received little or
no mention in the Torah.  So ultimately, whose name is perpetuated?
-Sheila Keiter