13 July 2026
Saved By Shmitah וצויתי את ברכתי
13 Hamas terrorists never expected that their plans to attack and kill Jews would be exposed & ruined by the mitzvah of Shmitah. Watch to find out how Hashem’s promise to bless those who keep the mitzvah unfolded near the Gaza border just seven years ago.
Brought to you by Keren Hashviis
30 Mar 2021
To partner with a farmer visit:
https: www.kerenhashviis.org
Shalom Pollack
There is a new, wonderful organization.
The "Hilltop Maccabees "support our young heroes on the biblical hilltops.
We have the honor of bringing visitors to dozens of outposts and meeting the sweetest, most idealistic youth - also the most maligned individuals in the world.
Since Oct. 7, we are witnessing, yet again, a blood libel against the Jewish Nation. This time, perhaps due to social media and financial support, it is enveloping larger audiences than before.
Farcical accusations of genocide and apartheid are getting a willing reception.
Embarrassingly and shamefully, many influencers and elites in Israel are doing exactly the mirror image of the blood libel to a small group of Jewish idealists, hilltop youth. whom they consider a greater threat than the Arab enemy of October 7.
In short, they are thwarting the possibility of a "Palestinian terror state in Eretz Yisroel. For the world and the Israeli Left, there is no greater danger.
The "elites" in Israel are doing to our own idealistic, proud young Jews what the world is doing to us as a country. Perhaps in this they find psychological shelter from the global antisemitic tsunami. "It's not me they hate, it's those dirty 'Ostjuden' ( hilltop youth). It is they who ruin it for us normal, progressive Western Jews.
Muslims, Christians, everyone can join us good Jews in hating the truly despicable ones, the violent settlers, the bad Jews.
We can all hate together.
Unity of man rallying around the most just cause at last!
"Hilltop Maccabees" hopes to protect our best Jews not only from the claws of international antisemitism and sanctions but from the shameless scapegoating of selfless heroes by a self - loathing group of goyim wannabes.
We are on the right side, despite what the world thinks, and we will help write a glorious page of our history with God's help.
shalompollack613@gmail.com
Matot - Masei: HaRav Moshe Sternbuch Shlit"a
Matot - Masei
TORAH NOT UP FOR NEGOTIATIONS
“Take revenge for the B’nei Yisroel against the Midianites; afterwards you will be gathered to your people. So, Moshe spoke to the people” (31:2-3). Rashi: Although he heard that his death depended on the matter, he did it joyfully, without delay.
[...]
When the secular authorities expressed their desire to support yeshivos in Eretz Yisroel in order to gain a foothold and have a say in the running of those yeshivos, some Roshei Yeshivos agreed to this proposal, since the financial status of the yeshivos was dire at the time. However, the Brisker Rav was adamantly opposed, stating that the Torah was not the property of staff in the yeshivos, and one was obligated to oppose their consent. The Torah is not our property; it is not subject to negotiations in which we sell parts of it for the sake of profit elsewhere.
COUNTERBALANCING TUMOH WITH TORAH
Why was Moshe’s death connected to the war against Midian? Rav Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld explained this on the basis of the principle that “Hashem has made this corresponding to that” (Koheles 7:14). Whenever the forces of tumah increase in the world, Hashem makes sure to counterbalance them with corresponding forces of kedushah, so that the side of kedushah should be as strong as the side of tumah.
The only reason the world was capable of tolerating Bilaam’s power of tumah was because of the corresponding power of kedushah of Moshe Rabbeinu. Therefore, as long as Bilaam was still alive it would not be possible for Moshe Rabbeinu to pass away, because he was needed to counterbalance Bilaam.
In our times too, the forces of tumah and heresy are more intense than they have been at any time since we became a nation. On the other hand, Hashem in His great mercy has orchestrated events in such a manner that we have an unprecedented explosion of Torah with yeshivos and kollelim in every town. The Jewish nation can thereby continue to exist with the increased kedushah counterbalancing the forces of tumah. Our duty is to endeavor to increase the side of kedushah in response to the tumah so prevalent everywhere
SHMIRAS HABRIS IN OUR GENERATION
[...]
A bachur once came to see Rav Sternbuch complaining that he did not enjoy learning and asking for advice about how he could acquire a taste for learning. Rav Sternbuch took the boy’s hands and stroked them several times. “I can see that you are a good boy”, he told him.
The boy then complained that he had already been thrown out of several yeshivos, he did not enjoy learning, and the yeshiva he was in now also wanted to expel him. Rav Sternbuch told him that if he did not enjoy Gemara he should start learning Kitzur Shulchan Aruch. “Come to me in a little while and tell me what you are learning, and what progress you have made”.
At that stage the boy burst out crying and said, “I need a bracha to be saved from the Internet”. Rav Sternbuch comforted the boy and told him that once he would acquire a taste for learning Torah, he would no longer be faced with the trial of being drawn towards the Internet. He told him to start learning Kitzur Shulchan Aruch, and his situation would gradually improve. He also referred him to educational advisers who would help him by offering practical measures for dealing with his addiction.
Nowadays, the forces of tumah are prevalent not just in the street, but just about everywhere. In our times, especially, we have to guard [shomer] the bris. Anyone who ensures that his eyes do not see forbidden sights becomes elevated immeasurably, in addition to which Rav Shimon Shkop notes that it is a great method for remembering one’s Torah. In the merit of guarding our eyes they will be holy and pure enough to witness the restoration of the divine presence to Tzion when our “eyes will behold Your return in mercy to Tzion”.
FLATTERING THE WICKED
And you shall not corrupt the land in which you live … (35:33).
Some Rishonim rule that someone who flatters a wicked person transgresses the prohibition of “corrupting the land”. Since the pasuk refers to the land “in which you live”, i.e. to Eretz Yisroel, it would appear that someone who flatters wicked people in Eretz Yisroel commits an especially serious sin, because, in addition to the actual sin of flattery, he is also an accomplice to the desecration of the sanctity of Eretz Yisroel committed by the wicked people whom he flatters. By flattering them, he himself is considered, in addition to having flattered the wicked, also to have polluted Eretz Yisroel.
In this context, Rav Sternbuch always denounces in the strongest terms the phenomenon of senior irreligious politicians being invited to weddings of religious politicians, where they are welcomed and embraced, and then sometimes feted and sung to by local religious residents. As the Chofetz Chaim pointed out, if we are unable to prevent the actions of the wicked, the very least we can do is not to fawn to them.
CHILLUL SHABBOS AND THE THREE WEEKS
During his hesped on the occasion of Rav Elchonon Wasserman’s Yahrzeit several years ago, Rav Sternbuch - who knew Rav Elchonon personally - mentioned that the late Sadigurer Rebbe, Rav Avrohom Yitzchok Friedman, told Rav Sternbuch that he met Rav Elchonon Wasserman at the Knessiah Gedolah in Marienbad, and told him that he was about to move to Eretz Yisroel and was going to settle in Tel Aviv.
Rav Elchonon became alarmed, and responded that he would never be able to live in Tel Aviv, because if he would witness the chillul Shabbos taking place there, he would not be able to cope with the pain of seeing Shabbos being desecrated in the sanctuary of the King. How is it possible, he concluded, to be in the King’s palace and remain quiet about chillul Shabbos?
Rav Sternbuch noted that nowadays we have unfortunately reached the stage in Eretz Yisroel where chillul Shabbos has become so prevalent, be it in the form of public transportation, government-sponsored activities or shops that are open, that the situation can be described as an uprooting of Shabbos r”l.
In truth, the destruction of Shabbos is a more severe matter even than the destruction of the Beis Hamikdash: keeping Shabbos overrides the construction of the Beis Hamikdash (Yevamos 6a), and if Shabbos is more important than the construction of the Beis Hamikdash, it stands to reason that the opposite is also true, namely that its destruction is a more severe matter than the destruction of the Beis Hamikdash.
This is because Shabbos is the covenant connecting the Jewish nation to Hashem, and by uprooting it, we sever our connection to Hashem. We do not have prophets to arouse the nation, nor do we have personalities such as Rav Elchonon to vociferously bewail the public desecration of Shabbos, but we are nevertheless duty-bound to raise a tremendous voice of protest for the sake of Shabbos
🚨GOG & MAGOG Is Happening NOW - Everything Is About To Change
There seems to be 'no end' to these 'analyses' and 'projections' about our Geulah! and we are still in the middle of the movie!
In this interview, Rabbi Lawrence Hajioff explains why he believes Iran is fighting a messianic war against Israel, rooted in Twelver Shia Islam and the belief that the arrival of the Mahdi will usher in the end times. He also discusses how Zohran Mamdani, who has identified with Twelver Shia Islam, became mayor of the city with the largest Jewish population outside of Israel, and why he believes that ideology deserves careful attention.
Rabbi Hajioff then examines the prophecy of Gog and Magog in Ezekiel 38–39, explaining why he believes Persia (modern-day Iran) plays a central role in these end-time events. Finally, he explains why he believes the Jewish people should begin taking practical steps toward rebuilding the Third Temple and, in his view, help hasten the coming of Moshiach.
Homebound Interesting Interview
Goel Jasper from the Return Again Podcast came down to have an interview with me about why I decided to move to Ertez Yisroel, and about my thoughts on the matter of making Aliyah.
If your interested in a not so politically correct conversation on this amazing subject then check out this interview.
Check out Goels Podcast called Return Again
https://open.spotify.com/show/4aUjlXA...
Jewish Life In America - How Comfortable Should We Feel?
When the life of someone famous is ending, the army of Clal Yisrael is called upon to say Tehillim.
When the end of an historical Jewish era is coming to a close, an historical synopsis takes place, highlighting and praising in word and in visuals.
12 July 2026
The Holy Hikers: HIKING THE HOLYLAND
On Substack: The Geography of the Soul
This one's more personal. We spent much of last summer traveling in America — we saw national
parks, redwoods, Pacific sunsets, and family from New Orleans to Connecticut. And somewhere in the middle of all that beauty, everything started to feel oddly muted, like life was happening behind a filter.
It wasn't until we came home and I walked a dusty, thorny trail through the Judean hills that the world snapped back into focus. I wrote about what that filter is, and why this land — which doesn't always photograph as beautifully — feels so much more alive.
Read it on Substack: The Geography of the Soul
(This one was also featured by the Times of Israel this week.)
The Three Weeks, David & BatSheva give Birth to Moshiach on Shabbos, Victory in Straits of Hormuz
How does The Three Weeks, between the Straits relate to the Redemption from Egypt, and a US Victory over Iran in the Strait of Hormuz? Will the Summer of Moshiach begin? Did King David & Queen BatSheva give birth to Moshiach on Shabbos, a week before the Shabbos of Tisha B'Av? We will learn Sanhedrin 107 and 2 Samuel 12 to look for answers.
11 July 2026
Yosef haTzaddik – Hilula on Tammuz 27th.
https://dailyzohar.com/tzadikim/52-Yosef-HaTzaddik-Joseph-The-Righteous
Yosef was of the 12 sons of Yaakov Avinu, and became a chariot (merkavah) for the sefirah of Yesod.
Yosef was the son of Yaakov Avinu (Jacob the Patriarch) and Rachel Imeinu.
Some people celebrate the Hilula on Tammuz 27th.
Yaakov took the birthright away from Reuben and gave it to Yosef. It was suitable for the birthright to come from Rachel. (Bava Batra 86:6, 123a).
Ruach HaKodesh (Divine Inspiration) rested on Yosef from his youth until his dying day, guiding him in all matters of wisdom (Pirkei d'Rabbi Eliezer 39).
When Yosef went out to rule over Egypt, the daughters of kings would peek out of the lattices and pelt him with jewelry and rings so that he would look at them - but he did not look (Bereishit Rabbah 98:18). Every day he saw daughters of kings - sometimes adorned, sometimes perfumed, sometimes unclothed - but he did not allow himself to be tempted (Yalkut Shimoni, Vayeshev 145).
After being sold by his brothers, he ended up in Egypt. He worked at the house of Potiphar. Potiphar's wife tried everyday to seduce him, but he refused again and again to surrender to her.
The Zohar (Zohar I, p. 194b) states: "Rabbi Shimon says, prior to the occurrence of that test to Yosef, [he] was not called a tzaddik. Because he kept from damaging the covenant of the foundation (Yesod) he was called a tzaddik." Thus, Yosef's encounter with Potiphar's wife was a turning point in Yosef's life.
A Tzaddik is the foundation of the world (Yesod Olam). Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzato (in the book of rules, Sefer HaKlalim) explains that the quality of Yesod, foundation, is that it funnels the abundance from the other qualities (Sfirot). The Lord is overflowing with mercy (Chesed) and wisdom (Binah). This abundance is directed through the foundation (Yesod) to its final destination, our physical mundane level.
Foundations also have another quality they are well anchored. Because they transfer energy between two forces, they are connected to both. The tzaddik is connected both to the spiritual world and the materialistic world acting as a channel by which the spiritual abundance can be received in the materialistic world. As such, the just (Tzadik) has deep roots and is not easily blown away. Joseph was a tzaddik, because Joseph funneled the Lord's bountifulness. Had it not been for Joseph's nomination as viceroy Egypt would have wasted the seven bountiful years.
Yosef's Soul
When Yosef was released from jail he received an incarnation of the soul of Chanoch ben Yered (who became the angel Matatron), a high soul from the level of Neshama of Atzilut of Zihara ila'ah. This level of soul was included in Adam, but was not impured by his sin. This high level of soul gave Yosef the beauty of Adam. At that same night the angel Gavriel appeared to Yosef and taught him 70 languages (Sha'ar HaGilgulim, hakdama 31).
Yosef's soul returned as one of the Asara Harugei Malchut (Ten Martyrs), (an incident which took place after the destruction of The Second Temple), Rabbi Yishmael Kohen Gadol was the reincarnation of Yosef.
According to the Ari (R' Yitzchak Luria).
Yosef himself caused the brothers to sell him, and all that happened to him as a result (Sha'ar HaGilgulim, hakdama 31). Between publicizing his dreams of rulership, and speaking lashon haraabout his brothers, Yosef brought upon himself all of his misfortune.
"The city of Shechem, is the secret of Yosef, who corresponds to the sefirah Yesod? This is why Shechem was given to Yosef [and his descendants) for his attribute is Yesod."
(Chesed L'Avraham, Ma'ayan 3, Nahar 13, by Rabbi Avraham Azulai). Yosef was buried in the city of Shechem
Look from the inside out
Panoramic view of the outside.
Panoramic view of the inside.
May the merit of Yosef HaTzaddik protect us all, Amen.
Yosef ben Yaakov Avinu zt"l……. הרב יוסף בן יעקב זצ"ל
Yahrzeits for Sunday
27th of Tammuz
כ"ז תמוז התשפ"ו
Yosef ben Yaakov Ovinu zt"l
|
Rebbetzen Tziporah
Every Stop Matters
Dear friends,
Making a vow is a serious thing. In essence, it is declaring that your word is connected to the Source of all reality. With that in mind, imagine how ridiculous this scene would be:
Suri (a made-up name just for the letter): "Tziporah, I hate being at a simchah when I don't know anyone else who is there. I know you are going to the Nadler's bar mitzvah. Swear that you will be there by 9." She guilts me into swearing, but before we each go our separate ways, she gives me a drink that causes me to forget anything that happened within the last 24 hours. Is a forgotten vow still a vow?
This question can be applied seriously to the most important commitment you will ever make. Before you were born, an angel taught you the entire Torah. When it is time for you to enter the world, you have to make a vow. "Be a tzadik, and do not be a rasha," we swore. "Even if the entire world tells you that you are a tzadik, in your own eyes, regard yourself as a rasha." The angel then hits you on your mouth, and neither the Torah you learned nor the vow is consciously remembered. What is remembered is a quiet inner voice that says, "You're not there yet." You want to be righteous, but you are not yet there. This voice can be one of the greatest forces in your life.
Or the most destructive.
Without Hashem, that voice becomes relentless self-criticism. With Hashem, the same voice hears Him saying, "I created you for more" – who you are today isn't the end.
Parshas Matos tells you about vows. Parshas Masei tells you about journeys. Close to a whole parshah lists the 42 journeys we made in the desert. The Baal Shem Tov would say that these 42 journeys are the story of every life. Every one of us has a place that is barren – a wilderness. We make stops along the way. Some of them are beautiful and fulfilling, and others are not. Every stop matters. You keep moving.
Living with Torah isn't about arriving. It's about the journey and its stops. It's recognizing that you are always in process, always becoming.
Do you ever "get there"? You do, in the ultimate sense. Steve Jobs (not one of the Tribe) put it well. He said, "You can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backward." The detours are part of the route. The delays are part of the preparation. Failures are often turning points. When you think you have arrived, you may be at the place you have to use as your point of departure, taking you further than you ever imagined possible.
Hashem is with them every step along the way. They moved forward when the Clouds of Glory moved, telling them that this is His will. The various spellings of the letters within Hashem's four-letter Name (Yud, Hei, Vav, Hei) are often used as Kabbalistic formulas to tell you what aspect of Himself He is allowing you to perceive at a given time. For instance, the letter vav can be spelled vav-vav or vav-alef-vav. Thus, each of the alternative spellings gives you a different total in gematria. The Forty-Two-Letter Name is used to hint at the way Hashem "transitions," so to speak, and "moves between worlds."
Some of you may have noticed that one of the deepest moments of "movement" is moving between your ordinary life and the life you live on Shabbos. Some of you may not – it happens consciously or not, but it happens. The short prayer right before Lecha Dodi has seven lines with six words per line, hinting at Hashem's allowing us to move toward Him at these moments of transition.
A much less esoteric forty-two is one that you are familiar with but most likely never gave much thought to (don't worry, neither did I – I saw this in a sefer). There are 42 words in the first paragraph of Shema, the one that tells you how to love Hashem. This is where each stop on your personal journey can take you.
You can love Hashem with your heart, with all of your longings, even when they are misdirected. You can turn them around. With your soul (and it may take some effort to notice its presence in your minute-to-minute rush against the clock), with your resources... when you lie down and hardly feel alive, and when you have the spiritual adrenaline flowing so that you are more awake than awake.
One of the greats who wrote about this with depth and passion was Rebbe Nachman. He would tell you how to make it all work.
"The world is a very narrow bridge.
The main thing, the rule, is not to scare yourself."
(The correct translation is not "not to be afraid at all," but rather "not to scare yourself at all.")
I will be at his tomb tomorrow.
I'll let you know about the journey next week, BEH.
Love,
Tziporah
10 July 2026
Noam HaShabbos
Do You Have Shabbos For Shabbos? | Rabbi Naftali Reich.
Shabbos Light Shines Brighter | Rabbi Yoni Levin
Preparation Is The Key To Yom Hashvii | Rabbi Mordechai Groner
Matot-Matsei: Machlah, Tirtzah, Choglah, Milkah, and Noa
“Tzelofchad’s daughters—Machlah, Tirtzah, Choglah, Milkah, and Noa"
(Numbers 36:11)
Tammuz 25, 5786/July 10, 2026
WIth the parasha mechuberet - double Torah portion - of Matot-Masei we conclude the book of Numbers. It has been a turbulent, tumultuous and, at times, troubling forty years in the wilderness. And the drama doesn't stop, even as we approach Israel's final days east of the Jordan river. HaShem commanded Moshe to lead Israel into a war of vengeance against the Midianites who had seduced Israel into brazen acts of idolatry, and a brutal war it was. Israel, by G-d's command, slaughtered every last man and woman save for virgin girls, and along with them, the Torah specifically mentions, the heathen prophet Bilaam, whose last minute advice to Balak, king of Moav, is what led israel into the abyss of idolatry.
The conclusion of the war is followed by a meticulous accounting of all the booty seized by Israel, and then, unexpectedly, the heads of the tribes of Reuven and Gad approach Moshe with a request, one very difficult for Moshe to accept. They sought to end their journey east of the Jordan, in the fertile lands Israel has just conquered from the Midianites. Moshe is irate that Reuven and Gad should make such a request: hadn't they learned a thing from the sin of the spies? But when the heads of the two tribes vow to join their fellow tribes in conquering the land of Canaan and acquiring their G-d given land inheritances before returning to the land of Ya'zer and Gilead, Moshe accedes to their request.
We might assume that this is the last bit of unfinished business before entering into Canaan, but one last contingent of Israelites, these from the tribe of Menashe approach Moshe with a petition. They are concerned that the five daughters of Tzelophchad, having acquired their father's land inheritance, might marry outside of the tribe and therefore enable the tribal land of Menashe to be annexed to a fellow tribe. Moshe hears their concern and states that the five daughters of Tzelophchad, Machlah, Tirtzah, Choglah, Milkah, and Noa, must marry within their tribe.
And so they do. After forty years of travel through the wilderness, stopping at forty two locations along the way, (as listed by Moshe at the beginning of parashat Masei), and after endless, and at times, pointless complaining, lashon hara, a catastrophic collapse of national will and faith in HaShem, rebellion, being swallowed up by the earth, heated confrontations, serpents and promiscuity and idolatry and insolent demands, the Torah's account of Israel's forty years in the wilderness ends, surprisingly, on a positive and positively happy note:
"Tzelofchad’s daughters did as HaShem had commanded Moshe. Tzelofchad’s daughters — Machlah, Tirtzah, Choglah, Milkah, and Noa — married their cousins. They married into the families of the sons of Menashe, son of Yosef, and their inheritance remained with the tribe of their father’s family." (Numbers 36:10-12) One last verse follows this happy news, bringing our journey to an end:
"These are the commandments and the ordinances that HaShem commanded the children of Israel through Moshe in the plains of Moav, by the Jordan River, opposite Jericho." (ibid 36:13)
Far from being a simple fairy tale ending, there is much more here than meets the eye. First of all, the five daughters of Tzelofchad are mentioned by name on three different occasions in the book of Numbers. And they are mentioned one more time in the book of Joshua (chapter 17). Why does the Torah honor them so? There are other figures who appear in the book of numbers whose names are not mentioned once, let alone three times. The men who came to Moshe wanting to partake in the Passover offering despite being ritually unclean are not named.
We don't know the names of the seventy elders, nor those who were granted a one time spirit of prophecy, with the exception of Eldad and Medad. And only very rarely are women in the Torah mentioned by name at all! Miriam, the prophet and sister of Moshe and Aharon, who guarded over her baby brother Moshe and saw to his survival is mentioned by name in the Torah a total of nine times only. And five of those mentions were in connection to her speaking ill of Moshe and her subsequent punishment.
Yet, each of the five daughters of Tzelophchad, Machlah, Tirtzah, Choglah, Milkah, and Noa, who appeared out of nowhere, late in our story, are mentioned by name three times! Even the post biblical literature, the Talmud, Midrash and the Zohar discuss the virtues of the five sisters at great length. What was so special about Machlah, Tirtzah, Choglah, Milkah, and Noa?
We know that the sisters displayed great courage approaching Moshe and petitioning him before the entire assembly of Israel, the seventy elders and the Kohen Gadol included. But they also exhibited great wisdom. Their reasoning was spot on. The logic of their argument was unassailable. So much so that when Moshe turned to HaShem for an answer, HaShem responded: "Zelophehad's daughters speak justly." (ibid 27:7) One can sense HaShem's delight in His succinct approval. The sisters received a direct reply from HaShem! He then amends His own laws concerning inheritance in order to accommodate the sisters' request. And scripture doesn't stop here. In the book of Joshua we read of the actual fulfillment of HaShem's ruling:
"But Tzelofchad, the son of Hepher, the son of Gilead, the son of Machir, the son of Menashe, had no sons, but daughters; and these are the names of his daughter: Machlah, and Noa, Choglah, Milkah, and Tirtzah. And they came near before Eleazar the kohen, and before Yehoshua the son of Nun, and before the princes, saying, 'HaShem commanded Moshe to give us an inheritance among our brothers.' According to the commandment of HaShem, he gave them an inheritance among the brothers of their father. And there fell ten portions to Menashe, besides the land of Gilead and Bashan, which is on the other side of the Jordan. Because the daughters of Menashe had an inheritance among his sons; and the rest of Menashe's sons had the land of Gilead." (Joshua 17:3-6)
The Torah sees to it that we witness the fulfillment of HaShem's reply to the five sisters. Why all the fuss? The sisters' petition wasn't just any old request. They were determined to have a share in the land of Israel. Unlike the leaders of Reuven and Gad, who saw opportunity outside of the promised land and longed for it, Machlah, Tirtzah, Choglah, Milkah, and Noa wanted a portion in the land G-d has promised their father when he left Egypt with all his contemporaries.
Tzelophchad, like all his brethren, would not see his inheritance because the males of his generation rejected G-d's promise. But his daughters, like all the other women who left Egypt, were not a part of the sin of the spies.
Nor had they partaken in the sin of the golden calf. In fact, going back to Pharaoh's attempt to annihilate the Hebrew slaves, we witnessed the women, the midwives, Puah and Shifrah, and the efforts of Yocheved, Moshe's mother, and Miriam, Moshe's sister, and the righteous women who donated their copper mirrors for the building of the Tabernacle laver, all of whom played a major role in Israel's redemption, and, if not for their love and trust in HaShem, Israel's story would have ended back in Egypt before it even started. Machlah, Tirtzah, Choglah, Milkah, and Noa are the proud carriers of the same fire and faith that inspired the women who preceded them. They fought for their share of the land of Israel and will forever be praised.
Midrash tells us that the five sisters excelled in wisdom, and points out that their names are listed one time as "Machlah, Noa, Choglah, Milkah, and Tirtzah," (Numbers 27:1) and another time, in a different order, as "Machlah, Tirtzah, Choglah, Milkah, and Noa," to teach us that they were equal both in wisdom and in righteousness.
So it is only fitting that the book of Numbers should conclude on the happy note of their marriage: "Tzelofchad’s daughters did as HaShem had commanded Moshe. Tzelofchad’s daughters — Machlah, Tirtzah, Choglah, Milkah, and Noa — married their cousins." "As HaShem had commanded."
They were not only righteous in demanding their fair share of HaShem's gift of the land, they were also righteous in fulfilling HaShem's commandment to marry within their tribe. Again, tradition tells us that the sisters did not rush into marriage. Despite the limitations on whom they might marry, they each waited patiently for just the right man.
And despite their advanced ages beneath the chuppah, they all, due to their righteousness, were blessed with many children. Machlah, Tirtzah, Choglah, Milkah, and Noa — may their names and their righteous deeds forever be a blessing!
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