The story of the daughters of Zelophehad is very interesting and has a couple of layers. Yesterday we mentioned one aspect of this story- the legal issue, meaning the biblical way of conduct with regard to land’s inheritance. Today we will talk about another aspect of this story – the Hebrew meaning of the daughters of Zelophehad’s names and their strong connection to the Land Of Israel.
Zelophehad had FIVE daughters: Mahlah, Noha, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah. If one looks closely at the original Hebrew roots of their names, some thing extremely fascinating is revealed. Let’s have a look:
Mahlah {מחלה} – like the Hebrew verb ‘Le-Cholel’ {לחולל} which means ‘to move’ (and ‘to dance’ in Modern Hebrew).
Noha {נועה} -like the Hebrew verb ‘La-Nua’ {לנוע} – which means ‘to move’ as well.
Hoglah }חוגלה} – like the Hebrew verb ‘La-Chug’ {לחוג} – which means ‘to circle.’
Milcah {מילכה}– like the Hebrew verb ‘La-Lechet’ {ללכת} – which means ‘to walk.’
Tirzah {תרצה} – like the Hebrew verb ‘La-Rutz’ {לרוץ} – which means ‘to run.’
As you probably noticed they ALL have something to do with the concept of ‘moving’ naturally but in Hebrew ALL of these verbs are also
connected to the concept of ‘initiating’ or simply ‘be active’ and that was precisely what the daughters of Zelophehad symbolized.
The land of the daughters of Zelophehad is located in the region of the Jorden valley (in the eastern part of Israel) and today some of the Jewish settlements of this region bear the names of the daughters of Zelophehad: ‘Mehola’ and ‘Tirzah’ (located near the city of ‘Beit She’an’ in the northern part of the Jordan Valley), ‘Bet Hogla’ (located near the city of Jericho in the southern part of the Jordan Valley).