Changing the Rules

In business we create guidelines, best practices and more similar types of rhetoric designed to assist people in their roles and responsibilities.

What happens when we are wrong? We define a best practice and someone raises the idea that you are wrong, what do you do? Most normal people would adjust your practice and move along after giving the item some thought.

In this weeks parsha we learn this from the discussion between the daughters of Zelophehad and Moshe and Hashem. The law had been stated that inheritance passed through the male side of the family. In this case there were only daughters after their father died, thus creating an imbalance among the tribes.So in 27:6-11 we see the answer:

The Lord spoke to Moses, saying:		ו. וַיֹּאמֶר יְהֹוָה אֶל משֶׁה לֵּאמֹר:
7. Zelophehad's daughters speak justly. You shall certainly give them a portion of inheritance along with their father's brothers, and you shall transfer their father's inheritance to them.		ז. כֵּן בְּנוֹת צְלָפְחָד דֹּבְרֹת נָתֹן תִּתֵּן לָהֶם אֲחֻזַּת נַחֲלָה בְּתוֹךְ אֲחֵי אֲבִיהֶם וְהַעֲבַרְתָּ אֶת נַחֲלַת אֲבִיהֶן לָהֶן:
8. Speak to the children of Israel saying: If a man dies and has no son, you shall transfer his inheritance to his daughter.		ח. וְאֶל בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל תְּדַבֵּר לֵאמֹר אִישׁ כִּי יָמוּת וּבֵן אֵין לוֹ וְהַעֲבַרְתֶּם אֶת נַחֲלָתוֹ לְבִתּוֹ:
9. If he has no daughter, you shall give over his inheritance to his brothers.		ט. וְאִם אֵין לוֹ בַּת וּנְתַתֶּם אֶת נַחֲלָתוֹ לְאֶחָיו:
10. If he has no brothers, you shall give over his inheritance to his father's brothers.		י. וְאִם אֵין לוֹ אַחִים וּנְתַתֶּם אֶת נַחֲלָתוֹ לַאֲחֵי אָבִיו:
11. If his father has no brothers, you shall give over his inheritance to the kinsman closest to him in his family, who shall inherit it. This shall remain a decreed statute, as the Lord commanded Moses.		יא. וְאִם אֵין אַחִים לְאָבִיו וּנְתַתֶּם אֶת נַחֲלָתוֹ לִשְׁאֵרוֹ הַקָּרֹב אֵלָיו מִמִּשְׁפַּחְתּוֹ וְיָרַשׁ אֹתָהּ וְהָיְתָה לִבְנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל לְחֻקַּת מִשְׁפָּט כַּאֲשֶׁר צִוָּה יְהֹוָה אֶת משֶׁה:

Stand up and believe in what is important to you and when rules or laws are defined that exclude someone or something, try to find a way to make it inclusive.

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Parsha Pichas in the book of Bamidbar, Numbers 25:10-30:1
It is said that the Torah or Bible could be interpreted in over 70 ways. More likely these days 100's of ways. In light of this idea, I am writing some posts that bring a business sense to what we can learn on a weekly basis. Enjoy, Shabbat Shalom