Mattot-Maasei 5780 - Youth Tefillah Blog

This week’s Torah portion is Mattot-Maasei. In this week’s double portion, we learn a very powerful story about five sisters. When the Israelites were about to enter the Promised Land, each family was going to be given their own piece of land! It would become part of their family, passed on from generation to generation.

Where did you family from? Did they always live in the same place?

In the Torah, we’re told that when someone died, their sons would get the family land. In one family, there were no sons, so what was going to happen? That is when we learn about these five sisters. Their names were: Mahlah, Noa, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah and their father’s name was Tzelofchad.

These brave women went to Moses and said, if the land only goes to boys, then our land will be lost to our family forever. We want you to give us the land. Moses went to God and asked what he should do, this had not happened before!

What do you think Moses should do?

God told Moses that the five sisters were absolutely right! They should get their father’s land so it can stay in the family. Even Moses learned new things about the rules that God had given to him. 

In Mattot-Maasei, we learn about these five sisters who stood up for themselves. Because of their bravery, the rules were changed to be more fair and just. We can all learn to be a little bit more like Mahlah, Noa, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah, the daughters of Tzelofchad.

Read more on our Youth Tefillah page.