[Avodah] Pinchas "All Men and Women are Created Equal in the Eyes of the Almighty"

[Cantor Wolberg]

For those who say the Torah discriminates against women:

[26:65] "....not a man among them was left except Caleb and Joshua..."
In Midrash, "B'midbar Rabbah" 21:10, the decree stating that (except  
for Joshua and Caleb) all Israelites over the age of twenty who had  
left Egypt should die in the desert, extended only to the men. The  
women were spared, for they had preserved the spirit of law and  
morality.
[27:1] "And there drew near the daughters of Tzelafchad...And these  
are the names of his daughters: Machlah, Noah, Chaglah, Milkah and  
Tirtzah."  When the daughters of Tzelafchad heard that the land was  
being divided by tribes and that daughters were not included, they  
gathered together to take counsel, and they said: "Not as the mercies  
of flesh and blood are those of the Holy One Blessed be He. The  
mercies of flesh and blood are greater for males than for females, but  
the mercies of the Holy One Blessed be He are (equivalent) for all, as  
it is written (Psalms 145:9): And His mercies are over all His  
works" (Sifrei). So basically what this is teaching us is that  
prejudice and discrimination against women come from man -- not God.

ri



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