How Is Land Ownership Connected To The Pesach Sheni Offering?

In Parshat Pinchas, we read about the daughters of Tzelaphchad, who sought to inherit their father’s land. God granted their request, and even codified it into law. But there’s something unique about this story — it’s strikingly similar to the story of the Pesach Sheini offering. When a group of ritually impure people approached Moses and requested a way to make an offering, God codified a practice called Pesach Sheni, which acted as a “make-up” offering for the impure. But what does inheriting land and ritually impurity have to do with each other?

Join Rabbi Fohrman and Daniel Loewenstein as they explore the meaning of nationhood and purity. In this podcast, they explore the implications of the connection between Pesach Sheini and the daughters of Zelophehad, and develop ideas such as whether there might be a hidden structure to the Book of Numbers, and what it might mean to think like God.