By By Rabbi-Cantor Chreri Weiss
A recent double Torah portion—Matot-Masei—is bookended by exposing the rights women had (or did not have) in the Torah to use their voices for self-determination. It opens by addressing the laws that govern vows and oaths taken by men:
“If a householder makes a vow to God or takes an oath imposing an obligation on himself, he shall not break his pledge; he must carry out all that has crossed his lips.” —Numbers 30:3
One line. That’s it.
Laws of vows and oaths pertaining to women, however, take up the next fourteen lines of the parsha! Here are the highlights:
- If an unmarried woman takes a vow or oath, if she is living under her father’s control, he has the right to annul it.
- If she is married, a woman’s husband has the right to annul her vow or oath. If he marries her after she has taken a vow or oath, he can still annul it.
“Every vow and every sworn obligation of self-denial may be upheld by her husband or annulled by her husband.” (Numbers 30:14)
Only widows and divorced women have the right to use their voices without obstruction to serve God as they see fit. All other women who take a vow or oath run the risk of having their choices annulled by men, effectively silencing their voices.
While in biblical times women’s lives and decisions were mostly controlled by men, consider our own country’s not-so-distant history: The 19th amendment granting women the right to vote was introduced into Congress in 1878 but was not actually ratified until 1920. The right to own property was only accorded to women first in New York state in 1848 via the Married Women’s Property Law and subsequently in the other states. Before passage of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act in 1974, women were denied the right to apply for a mortgage loan or credit card without a male co-signer. And don’t even get me started on the fact that in the US, women were only granted the right to be ordained as rabbis and cantors in the 1980s and 1990s!
Perhaps as a reminder that not all women’s voices were silenced in the Torah, the double portion ends with a follow-up to the previously-detailed biblical story of the five daughters of Zelophehad: Mahlah, Noa, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah. These brave women had defied the status-quo, insisting to the all-male leadership (including Moses) that they should be entitled to inherit their father’s share of land after his passing, as he had left no male heirs. Fortunately, God agreed:
“The plea of Zelophehad’s daughters is just: you should give them a hereditary holding among their father’s kinsmen; transfer their father’s share to them. Further, speak to the Israelite people as follows: ‘If a householder dies without leaving a son, you shall transfer his property to his daughter.” —Numbers 27:7-8
At the end of Matot-Masei, the matter is revisited with the added stipulation that in order to keep the division of tribal lands intact, the five women may marry any man they choose provided he is part of their own tribe. Nevertheless, we are reminded of the courage these five biblical women demonstrated by using their voices to right a wrong. May we all stand up for what is just, defend our rights, and advocate for the rights of others who are wronged or marginalized. The future of our free and just society depends on it.
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