<html><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div><font><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 16px;">For those who say the Torah discriminates against women:</span></font></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 16px;"><br></span></font></div><div><font><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 16px;">[26:65] "....not a man among them was left except Caleb and Joshua..."</span></font></font></div><div><font><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 16px;">In Midrash, </span></font><em><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 16px;">"B'midbar Rabbah" </span></font></em><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 16px;">21:10, <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium; ">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 <span class="Apple-style-span" style="text-decoration: underline; ">only</span> to the men.<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 16px; "> The women were spared, for they had preserved the spirit of law and morality.</span></span></span></font></font></div><div><font><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 16px;">[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 (</span></font><em><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 16px;">Psalms</span></font></em><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 16px;"> 145:9): And His mercies are over </span></font><u><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 16px;">all</span></font></u><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 16px;"> His works" (</span></font><em><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 16px;">Sifrei</span></font></em><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 16px;">).</span></font></font><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 16px;"> So basically what this is teaching us is that prejudice and discrimination against women come from man -- not God.</span></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 16px;"><font></font> </span></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium; ">ri</span></span></font></div><div><div><p class="MsoNormal"><br></p><p class="MsoNormal"><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px;"><br></span></font></p></div></div></body></html>