The Strength of Sisters

In this week's Torah reading, G‑d gives the commandments regarding the division of the Land of Israel among the tribes, clans, and families of the Jewish people. After hearing these commandments, the five daughters of a man named Tzelofchad , who had not had any sons, argued that they, too, deserved a portion of the Land, even though land had been only apportioned explicitly to sons. (Num. 27:1-11)

Know that Tzelofchad [personified] the source of the [fives] states of gevura. This is alluded to by the fact that the letters of his name spell the words for "the shadow of fear [in Hebrew, 'tzel pachad']".

Fear is the emotion associated with the attribute of gevura.

His five daughters personified the five states of gevura.

As we have seen previously, there are five states of gevura in bina and daat, which then become the gevura-components of the five principal sefirot of the emotions, chesed to hod.

Specifically, they personify the five states of gevura that [remain within the yesod of Zeir Anpin, and] do not enter Malchut. Instead, other states of gevura take their place and enter Malchut, as is known.

The first set of states of gevura that descend from Imma to Zeir Anpin remain within it until they are "sweetened" by the states of chesed within Zeir Anpin. They are then transferred to Malchut/Nukva.

Therefore, Moses was unsure whether or not they deserved a portion in the Land, i.e. in Malchut.

The earth, and specifically the Land of Israel, personifies Malchut. These five daughters personified the five states of gevura, but there are iterations of the five states of gevura that do not reach Malchut, so Moses was not sure whether they personified the iterations that reach Malchut or not.

G‑d told him that since they do shine into Malchut, they deserve a portion of the Land.

Even the iterations of the five states of gevura that do not themselves enter Malchut shine some of their light into Malchut, and therefore, no matter what iteration of the five states of gevura the five daughters of Tzelofchad personified, they deserved a portion in the Land.

Of these five states of gevura, three of them are sweetened by the states of chesed [within Zeir Anpin] and two are not, as is known.

The three that are sweetened were personified by the daughters Choglah, Milcah, and Tirtzah.

This is because Choglah means "she has a holiday [in Hebrew, 'chag lah']". She celebrates because she is sweetened.

Milcah's name indicates her essence.

Milcah can be vocalized "malka", meaning "queen", clearly associated with malchut, "sovereignty".

Tirtzah means "will" and "lovingkindness.".

Tirtzah means "she will want", indicating goodwill and desirability, which is possible only if the gevura has been sweetened by chesed.

The two that were not sweetened were Machla and No'a.

"Machla" can be interpreted to mean "she will be wiped out", similar to "And he wiped out [in Hebrew, 'vayimach'] all life…." (Gen. 7:23)

No'a is similar to [the words meaning "swaying" in] the verse: "The earth is swaying like a drunkard; [it is rocking to and fro like a hut. Its iniquity shall weigh it down, and it shall fall, to rise no more]." (Isaiah 24:20)

These two names are thus associated with states of gevura that have not been sweetened with chesed.

Translated and adapted by Moshe-Yaakov Wisnefsky from Shaar HaPesukim and Likutei Torah, parashat Pinchas; subsequently published in "Apples From the Orchard."

Reprinted with permission from Chabad of California. Copyright 2004 by Chabad of California, Inc. All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this work or portions thereof, in any form, without permission, in writing, from Chabad of California, Inc.