Parsha’s Pinchas contains the first account of a woman asking to speak to the manager. Not just one woman, but five. 

The daughters: Machlah, No’ah, Choglah, Milkah, and Tirtzah stood before Moshe, El’azar the priest, the tribal leaders and the entire community at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting, “Our father died in the desert. He was not part of the community that convened against God in Korach’s community; rather, he died on account of his own sin. He had no sons. Why should our father’s name be eliminated from his family because he had no son? (Bamidbar 27:1-3)

As the Israelites were preparing to enter the Land of Israel discussions about land divisions and inheritance came up. Knowing that their father, Tzelofchad, had no sons, these five daughters voiced concern that they wouldn’t receive any land because they were women. Moses conferred with Hashem about the question and Hashem not only agreed with them, “The daughters of Tzelofchad are pleading correctly. You shall surely give them a possession of heritable property…” He codified the decision as Torah law, “If a man dies and has no son, you shall transfer his heritable property to his daughters.”  (Bamidbar 27:7-8)

But there are some oddities about this whole incident. One, why did the daughters speak before the entire community about this? It was a Halachic (Torah Law) question, which was usually handled by a judge (established back in parshas Yisro). Why did they have to make such a spectacle? Secondly, when the daughters bring up the issue, they mention that their father died because of sin. But the question is about whether inheritance goes to daughters, it has nothing to do with whether their father committed a sin. Why are they shaming the memory of their father by bringing up his indiscretions? 

According to the Midrash, the daughters first brought the issue to Moses who responded, “I have set up a hierarchy of suitable courts of law, go to them to have your petition considered.”  Then they approached El’azar the Kohen Gadol (high priest) who also kicked the case down to a lower court. The daughters kept presenting their case to the various courts and were either told to go to a lower court or were told the opposite, “We were appointed to judge simple cases. Go to Moses who said difficult cases should be brought to him.” Unable to get a proper hearing, the daughters waited until the next general assembly. (Source the Abarbanel) 

In front of this congress the daughters brought up the question and Moses was stumped. It should have been a straightforward question for Moses, but Hashem concealed Moses’s wisdom and he would have to go up to God for the answer. Why did Hashem conceal Moses’s wisdom? Rashi says (on Devarim 1:17) Hashem was not pleased with how Moses represented himself when he first implemented that judge hierarchy system. “Any matter this is too difficult for you, bring it before me” when he should have said, “In any difficult matter, I will inquire about the law from the Shechina (God’s presence).” 

It’s bizarre that the most humble leader in Jewish history would arrogantly ascribe Hashem’s wisdom to himself. But if we consider the whole story, the daughters first go to Moses and are dismissed only to be shuffled around in the system. Only when they put Moses on the spot is he forced to give it the consideration it deserves, at which point, he falls short. I believe the Torah is illustrating an important point concerning bias. It’s not happenstance this episode centers around women. Even in today’s modern work environment, women who speak up are often ignored, interrupted, or dismissed. On top of that, the daughters bring up their father’s sin when they ask the question, particularly the Korach incident. Unlike other complainers, the followers of Korach attacked Moses personally, accusing him of fabricating the laws and nepotism. They feared Moses would dismiss their case out of bias against their father if he thought he had sided with Korach. Finally, when Moses sent the question to the lower court, it demonstrated that he felt the question itself was beneath him. Gender bias, personal bias, intellectual bias. 

This point isn’t to condemn Moses as a prejudiced and unfair leader. Instead, I think it is to make us all aware that even at the most learned and most enlightened echelon of society, bias is unavoidable. How do we handle that? Is it to proudly own up to our biases and give special treatment? That’s probably an over correction. The matter must still be judged on the merits, as Parsha Mishpatim says, “Do not show favor even to the poor in their dispute,” (Shemos 23:3) and “Do not bend justice even for your needy” (Shemos 23:6).  Moses is forced to deeply consider the issue and in humbling fashion, must admit he doesn’t have the answer. So too for us, we have to consider our biases and recognize when we’re not giving proper attention to matters when it is needed. 

But this isn’t just for racial or gender biases, but biases we have in our relationships and in our households. Do we think of a family member as being alarmist so we ignore their worries? Do we look down on coworkers on a lower level so we minimize their suggestions? Much of the time, the bias is simply that our own perspective is the correct one. So when someone comes along to challenge that, the inclination is to think, “How are they wrong?” opposed to “What am I missing.” Notice that the daughters characterized their father, Tzelofchad, with his sin. Imagine how hard it must have been to acknowledge their father sinned enough to deserve death. Yet, they did accept it and the system that sentenced him to death. But in doing so, their voice resulted in the law being changed and that change being codified in the Torah. In fact, the Torah itself makes a special allusion to this. 

Moshe brought their case before Hashem. (Bamidbar 27:5)

“Their case” in Hebrew is “es mishpatan.” If you look in a Sefer Torah you’ll see that the final letter, the nun, is extra long. Jewish mystical thought holds that only 49 gates of understanding are given to man. The 50th gate is Divine, hence why Shavuot, the day we received the Torah, happens on the 50th day after leaving Egypt. The letter nun is equal to the number 50 in gematria. So for the Torah to emphasize 50 in the daughters’ case indicates that a special and Divine understanding came into the world specifically because of their merit. 

Bias is unavoidable. But if that bias makes us minimize, sideline, or outright ignore new ideas then we will never achieve true wisdom. In Pirkei Avos 4:1: “Ben Zoma said: Who is wise? He who learns from everyone.” If you’re on the receiving end of the bias, sometimes it is necessary to go over a superior’s head to get what you need. In other words, sometimes it’s okay for a woman to ask to speak to the manager. Or anyone else for that matter.