Torah Tuesday: Parshat Pinchas and Taking Action

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This week's parasha discusses the daughters of Tzelafchad whose father passes away with no male heir. They petition Moshe that they be granted the portion of the land belonging to their father. Moshe appeals to G‑d who accepts their claim and incorporates it into the Torah's laws of inheritance. Considering the time period this is pretty revolutionary for women's rights. 

This parasha was a perfect transition into discussing the fact that the daughters of Tzelafchad didn't just complain about their problem, rather they took action. They marched over to the leader of their  people to have their appeal heard.

We used this story to discuss the importance of taking action when we see problems both at home and in the world in general. 

There has been alot of complaining around here. Some from me, the overly pregnant and sweaty mama and some from my kids who have become pretty kvetchy recently. So we talked about how important it is to do something when we are unhappy, either talking it out or taking an action to help us out of our jams.

Since both my kids will be starting camp in the next few days, we also talked about bullying and inappropriate touching and the importance of taking action by saying "Stop!" and then going to their leader, i.e. counselor/Morah to help them just like the daughters of Tzelafchad went to their leader.