Inheritance revisited

Reverend Joseph Matzner

Unaffiliated

The laws of inheritance were taught to Moshe in response to the bnos (daughters of) Tzelofchad request concerning their share in their father’s inheritance in the Holy Land, which means that the halachot, rules and regulations of inheritance we apply today, are those derived from the method used to partition the land. 

Everything has a Divine source and inheritance is no exception.

If the above is true, then it goes without saying that it would be out of the question to gamble or fritter our inheritance away on useless extravagance. Our inheritance should be treated with deep respect and appreciation.

It is, for example, forbidden to divert or disinherit a child as this causes anger in heaven. Inheritance has to find its way to the children.

Inheritance can also travel backwards. In the absence of heirs, the yerusha (inheritance) returns to the previous generations, all the way back sometimes even to Adam Harishon the first proprietor.

We can now return to our parsha. The Bnos Tzelofchad were given full permission to marry whomsoever they pleased, but they decided to marry only into their own tribe. In doing so, they revealed that they understood that the prime objective of inheritance is the perpetuation of name and legacy. 

The Torah also perpetuates the journeys of the Children of Israel, all their journeys including ours today. The travels of the Jewish people in the desert was a triumph over the desert. The travels of the Jewish people ever since, will also prove to have been a triumph over all empty ideologies of the world. 

Thus, the sefer Bamidbar ends with a joyous recapitulation of all Jewish journeys, for they were all enormously precious.  Our response is a resounding chazak c