Gaea's

Parshat Pinchas relates a story (27:1-12) about the daughters of Tzlafchad, descendants of Yosef (Joseph). These daughters wanted and loved the Land of Israel so much that they wanted a piece of it. As Rav Moshe Feinstein asks, why do they have to have a claim in the land, just because they love it? Wouldn’t entering or living in the land be fulfilling enough?

Rav Moshe thus concludes that if a person truly loves something, they’d want it to be theirs, and no one else’s. This is why the daughters wanted to actually own a piece of the land, rather than simply living in it. This logic applies to marriages, as well as the Torah’s preference that every Jew writes their own Torah (or a portion of it). In our terms, it’s not enough to borrow and read Jewish books.

We need to love the Torah we read SO much that we feel the need to own it! As this week’s Parsha urges, we should not only seek, read and enjoy words of Torah, but we should OWN those books, and live those words!

Related posts:

1. Dvar for Matot-Masei (Numbers 30:2-36:13)
2. Dvar for Shlach (Numbers 13:1-15:41)
3. Dvar for Vaetchanan (Deuteronomy 3:23 – 7:11)
4. Dvar for Yitro (Exodus 18:1-20:23)
5. Dvar for Korach (Numbers 16:1-18:30)
6. Dvar for Naso (Numbers 4:21-7:89)
7. Dvar for Ki Tavo (Deuteronomy 26:1-29:8)
8. Dvar for Yitro (Exodus 18:1-20:23)
9. Dvar for Vayikra (Leviticus 1:1-5:26)
10. Dvar for Netzavim-Vayelech (Deuteronomy 29:9-31:30)
11. Dvar for Beshalach (Exodus 13:17-17:16)
12. Dvar for Bamidbar (Numbers 1:1-4:20)
13. Dvar for Shlach (Numbers 13:1-15:41)
14. Dvar for Vayechi (Genesis 47:28-50:26)
15. Dvar for Vayakhel/Pekudei (Exodus 35:1-40:38)
16. Dvar for Vaeira (Exodus 6:2-9:34)
17. Dvar for Beha'alotcha (Numbers 8:1-12:17)
18. Dvar for Chukat-Balak (Numbers 19:1-25:9)
19. Dvar for Behar-Bechukotai (Leviticus 25:1-27:34)
20. Dvar for Chukat (Numbers 19:1-22:1)