The Nature of Land Inheritance and Birkat Hamazon Obligations

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This shiur examines a fundamental question from Gemara (גמרא) Brachos 20b regarding women's obligation in Birkat Hamazon - whether it is biblical (d'oraisa) or rabbinic (d'rabbanan). Rashi (רש"י) suggests that women may only be obligated rabbinically because they did not receive a portion in the Land of Israel, as the blessing requires thanking God 'for the good land that He gave you.' Tosafot challenges this by noting that Kohanim and Levites also received no territorial inheritance, yet their obligation seems biblical. The lecture develops a revolutionary understanding of land inheritance in Israel. Rather than viewing the tribal portions as exclusive ownership, Rav Zweig explains that every tribe maintained collective ownership of all of Eretz Yisrael, while receiving private ownership of specific portions. This concept is demonstrated through the lottery (goral) system - the seemingly random selection process actually teaches that any tribe could have received any portion, because all tribes have a connection to the entire land. The Ran's principle that the king cannot expel Jews from Israel because 'all Israel are partners in it' supports this thesis. Each tribe's sovereignty extends over all of Israel, manifested when leaders from different tribes rule the entire nation. Rashi's commentary on Moses seeing 'the land of Ephraim' and 'the land of Judah' refers not to geographic regions but to periods when those tribes' character influenced all of Israel. Regarding the Levites, they possessed collective ownership like other tribes but lacked private territorial inheritance. This explains their biblical obligation in Birkat Hamazon. Women, however, participated neither in collective ownership (as they weren't counted among the tribes) nor private inheritance, potentially explaining their different status. The daughters of Zelophchad uniquely sought private ownership, distinguishing them from other women who were content with collective participation through their tribal affiliation.