In The Merit of Righteous Women

The value of women according to Judaism is immense. Their place in Jewish history is extraordinary.

The Torah tells us how five sisters grappled and won their point in a discussion with Moses, securing an inheritance for themselves in the land of Israel. Before that, the righteous women guided the fate of our nation, literally seducing their husbands to produce the next generation, when the men had given up already due to the slavery. We simply would not be here if not for them. And G-d honored them at Sinai telling Moses to precede the women to the men when he teaches the lessons, when He said, say to the daughters of Yaakov before sons of Israel. Rachel and Leah determined how many wives Yaakov would have. Rivka and Sarah determined how Yizchok's and Avraham's sons would be favored.

Finally, although there were no male survivors from the year of the Exodus, there were plenty of females because the women loved the land and were not afraid to enter the land even after the spies scared all the men. "These are the ones counted by Moshe and Elazar HaKohen…. And of these, there was no man of those counted by Moshe and Aharon in the Sinai Desert (but there were women)." Numbers 26:63-64, from this week's Torah portion, Pinchas, Numbers 25:10-30:1