Rabbi Yaakov NeuburgerLiving the Longing for Redemption

It was an immensely successful appeal! Not only were the daughters of Tzlofchod awarded all the land that they had requested, and not only did they merit to have the halachik presentation revisited and clarified, but their name would forever be associated with being passionate lovers of Israel. Moreover, Rashi quotes that our rabbis praise them as emblematic of an entire generation of women, whose avid love of Israel did not buckle under the pressure created by the sin of the spies.

Nevertheless, one does not have to be an ardent cynic to view the women's request as entirely self-serving and materialistically wise, well planned and well planted. True, they submit their plea out of concern for the enduring legacy of their father, but even that does not seem to spell fervent Zionism. Why, then, is the request of these women viewed so benevolently and why is it held up on a pedestal for all time?

Rav Moshe Shternbuch, one of the leading rabbonim of Yerushalayim, explains (in his sefer Ta'am Voda'as) that Rashi and the rabbis of the medrash heard a sense of urgency in the voices of these women. Clearly, there would still be time in the desert and there would be Israeli courts assigned to distribution and allocation of the land. But the daughters of Tzlofchod wanted to discuss it now, immediately after Moshe floated the land distribution system. It is this excitement, which was born of a sense of immanence, which reveals their love for the land. To these women, settling the land was real and well within grasp because they lived their lives connected to the land and defined by their faith in living redeemed within its borders.

Perhaps Rav Shternbuch read the parsha with some disappointment. Moshe had just described the detailed procedure of entry and inheritance. There could have been many a question. Where was the excitement of the 40 years coming to an end? Where was the anticipation of Hashem revealing Himself through miracles, the likes of which we would know only in the Beis Hamikdash? How many Jews stayed up all night as Jews would do centuries later when their boats brought them within sight of Israel? Yet all we read about is the five daughters of Tzlofchod who felt so connected, to whom entry was so real, that there was no time but now to approach their leadership and then ultimately take their question all the way to the top.

Their love for Israel would become the measure of our connection to Israel and to redemption. As the saintly Chafetz Chaim wrote just over a century ago that the better we can answer the question, "tzipisoh l'y'shua - have you pined for redemption?", i.e. the greater our yearning is for the redemption, the sooner the redemption will come.