36 (LY: vii) The leaders of the clans of the family of the descendants of Gil‘ad, the son of Machir, the son of M’nasheh, of the families of the descendants of Yosef, approached and addressed Moshe and the leaders, the heads of the clans of the people of Isra’el. ² They said, “Adonai ordered my lord to give by lot the land to be inherited by the people of Isra’el, and my lord was ordered by Adonai to give the inheritance of our kinsman Tz’lof’chad to his daughters. ³ But if they get married to anyone belonging to another of the tribes of the people of Isra’el, then their inheritance will be taken away from the inheritance of our ancestors and be added to the inheritance of the tribe they will then belong to; thus it will be taken away from the sum total of our inheritance. ⁴ And when the yovel of the people of Isra’el comes, their inheritance will be added to the land possessed by the tribe they will then belong to and be subtracted from the inheritance belonging to the tribe of our ancestors.”

⁵ Moshe gave this order to the people of Isra’el, in keeping with the word of Adonai : “The tribe of the descendants of Yosef is right in what it says. ⁶ Here is what Adonai has ordered concerning the daughters of Tz’lof’chad: ‘Let them be married to whomever they think best, but they must marry only into a family from their father’s tribe. ⁷ In this way no inheritance of the people of Isra’el will move from one tribe to another; for each of the people of Isra’el is to hold on to the land for inheritance belonging to his father’s tribe. ⁸ Every daughter who possesses an inheritance in any tribe of the people of Isra’el is to become the wife of someone from the family of her father’s tribe, so that every one of the people of Isra’el will stay in possession of his ancestors’ inheritance. ⁹ Thus no inheritance will move from one tribe to another, for each of the tribes of the people of Isra’el will hold on to its own inheritance.”

(Maftir) ¹⁰ The daughters of Tz’lof’chad did as Adonai had ordered Moshe. ¹¹ Machlah, Tirtzah, Hoglah, Milkah and No‘ah all got married to sons of their father’s brothers. ¹² They were married into the families of the descendants of M’nasheh the son of Yosef, and their inheritance remained in the tribe of their father’s family.

¹³ These are the mitzvot and rulings which Adonai gave through Moshe to the people of Isra’el in the plains of Mo’av by the Yarden, across from Yericho.

Haftarah Masa‘ei: Yirmeyahu (Jeremiah) 2:4–28; 3:4 (A); 2:4–28; 4:1–2 (S)

B’rit Hadashah suggested reading for Parashah Mattot: Ya‘akov (James) 4:1–12

Hazak, hazak, v’nit’chazek!

Be strong, be strong, and let us be strengthened!