Revisiting Tzlafchad: Is it a sin not to sire boys?

This idea was born out of a learning session I had with my daughter, Aliza. She gets a lot of credit for the direction into which this thought developed.

The tale of the daughters of Tzlafchad is shrouded in mystery surrounding the death of their father. Five years ago, I raised Zohar’s suggestion that Tzlafchad was the lone victim of the snakes in Bamidbar 21, but a rereading of the account lends to a new interpretation that his so-called “sin” may not have been a sin at all.

“Our father died in the desert. He was not among the members of Korach’s party who protested against G-d, but he died [in/of] his own sin without leaving any sons.” (27:3) If their father’s death was relatively innocent, why compare it to Korach’s rebels? Were they really saying that he died because of a sin? How would they know that the sin was the reason for his death?

Tzlafchad’s daughters ask Moshe for their father’s portion in the land because they feel his desert-death should not prevent his family inheriting a portion of land.

Abravanel said the daughters compared their father to Korach to make it clear to Moshe that Tzlafchad never challenged him personally, which might help Moshe be more receptive to their request.

Their saying “he died in his sin” (b’chet’o met) makes impossible any suggestion of his having died at the hands of man (such as the woodcutter in Bamidbar 15:32-36, or in any battle in Bamidbar 14). Maybe that expression introduces us to what his “sin” was, namely that he did not have any sons.