Pinchas

Pinchas – Marcelo Bendahan

After graduating in Photography and Media in 1992 in Madrid, Marcelo began his career in London, working in photography. He has published several large formatted books of photography. His last book, Jerusalem Always, appeared in January 2010 and is a very original portrait of modern life in this city. He was born in Spain, is 39 years old and lives currently in Amsterdam.

Five determined daughters of Tzelafchad who had no sons, come to Moshe and justly protest that they are just as deserving as the men to receive their father's inheritance in the Land of Israel. The daughter's presentation is resolute, emotional and historic. Moshe is impressed and swayed by their determination to match their will with the will of God.

The result is that these five women become the only women named in the new census, winning not just the right to an inheritance in the land of Israel, but to the official recorded tribal and familial lineage.

We learn from the Talmudic masters that every soul has a "portion in the land" - a piece of G-d's world that he or she has been charged to sanctify. Thus a person's mission in life can be seen as consisting of two primary objectives: a) the refinement and elevation of his own soul, and b) the refinement and elevation of his "portion" of the material world, by developing the material resources which have been placed under his control or influence as a "home for G-d" - a place that serves and houses the Divine truth. The latter objective is the essence of the mitzva to "conquer the Land of Canaan" and transform it into a "Holy Land".

The nature of the material is that it is resistant and hostile to holiness. "Conquest of the land" requires that a person go to battle with the material world, and subjugate its materialistic nature and impose on it a higher purpose and function. But not everyone is a warrior.

Therein lies the deeper significance of the laws of inheritance as commanded by G-d in response to the petition by the daughters of Tzelafchad. Before the daughters of Tzelafchad came along, common wisdom ascertained that if a person lacks a "son" - an aggressive and combative nature - he or she may deduce from this that he has no role to play in the "conquest of the land". Such a person may therefore devote all his energies to the refinement of his inner self, and leave the task of sanctifying an unholy world to those with "sons".

The daughters of Tzelafchad knew otherwise. Conquering and settling the land, they insisted, is not an exclusively masculine endeavor. And G-d agreed. "If a man has no son," He instructed, "you shall pass his inheritance on to his daughter." His "portion in the land" can be possessed and developed by the passive, compassionate, non-confrontational side of his soul.

This is the law of life revealed by the daughters of Tzelafchad: Not all conquests are achieved by overpowering one's adversary. At times, receptiveness and empathy are equally effective in overcoming the hostility of the "enemy" and transforming its very nature. The absence of a "male heir" in the soul may in fact indicate the presence of a feminine self no less capable of claiming the soul's portion in the world and transforming it into a "home for G-d".