Parashat Pinchas opens with five women standing before Moshe.

The Torah, however, seems interested in a story that began long before they arrived—a dream that refused to die.

As the daughters of Tzelafchad step forward, the Torah carefully traces their ancestry: Machla, Noa, Chogla, Milka, and Tirtza, daughters of Tzelafchad, son of Chefer, son of Gilad, son of Machir, son of Menasheh, son of Yosef.

The genealogy seems unusually long. The Torah could simply have called them the daughters of Tzelafchad. Instead, it deliberately leads us back through the family line until it arrives at a single name:

What does a viceroy of Egypt have to do with five women standing in the wilderness centuries after his death?

The answer lies in the final request Yosef ever made.

As Yosef lay dying in Egypt, surrounded by power, wealth, and honour, he spoke not about his achievements, but about a future redemption he would never live to see.

וְהַעֲלִתֶם אֶת־עַצְמֹתַי מִזֶּה “And you shall bring my bones up from here.”........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)