March 1997

A story for the International Women’s Day Holiday 

Noa, is also the name of a song (a lovely song by Naomi Shemer, sung by Arik Lavi in the seventies) but first and foremost, it’s the name of a brave and special woman.

Noa was one of the daughters of Zelophehad (Book of Numbers chapter 27). When their father died, and left no sons, his inheritance was to be divided among the general public. These daughters did not accept this fact as a done deal and decided to act and cancel the unfair decree.

The story takes place while the Israelites were walking in the desert. The journey was difficult, in terrible heat and desert dust. A suffocation was felt in their throats and water from the morning dew was distributed sparingly. It seems that when everyone suffers equally, thoughts wander far and wide, and the question arises: Why are there less equals and more equals?

The address was Moses. A leader known for his wisdom, but also such a mentsh who was always ready to solve problems. He turned to God with a question, and God answered him without delay. “What Zelophehad’s daughters are saying is right. You must certainly give them property as an inheritance among their father’s relatives and give their father’s inheritance to them.” Thus, the daughters received equality of their rights but in other families in which there were males, the inheritance still passed only to the sons. Since then, it can be said that Noa and her sisters were the first to fight for women’s rights and even win by points.

Unfortunately, deep ignorance and perhaps a little hatred of the Jews has caused this fact to be completely forgotten and women’s organizations around the world do not give credit where credit is due.  “How can we remember what happened five thousand years ago.” 

But I remembered it and mentioned it in public.

 And for that I have a story.

As part of my business, I applied to a township in New Jersey for Subdivision approval (the actions required to divide land into registered plots) for a piece of land owned by the company where I worked. The process of obtaining approvals from the township planning board usually takes many months and sometimes years.

The township of Mount Olive, in northern New Jersey, was known for its tough approach to residential development and tried hard to reject such plans. The addition of homes, leads to an increase in educational and other expenses that are usually greater than the additional taxes resulting from the addition of households.

Because my time was pressing and I knew the problems, I had to think of solutions, ones that this committee had never seen before. I hoped that the plan I would find would allow me to take advantage of the element of surprise and break down the walls of resistance. 

I found the solution right in my home. My youngest daughter’s name is Noa. 

I called the residential neighborhood “Noa Court”.

I prepared development plans and made sure that the plans were reviewed by the Town Engineer. I also made sure that his requests to amend the plans were fulfilled immediately and that the plans were resubmitted until they were fully approved by him. All this even before we presented the plans to the committee.

I explained my plan to our lawyer who represented us at the hearing. This respected scholar immediately rejected my plan. In my experience, over time, I have learned that lawyers who represent businessmen think they understand business. And they don’t! That is why they remain lawyers and if they go into business, they usually fail.

In order to reduce the angle of exposure, I told him to let me speak and explain only when the committee asks the origin of the name Noa , which is spelled differently from what they know. I hoped inside, that the committee would march confidently into the ambush I had prepared.

And so, on a cold, rainy evening, we showed up at townhall to discuss our plan, full of apprehension, but feeling that I might have the trump card in my pocket. (An unfamiliar card that I wasn’t sure would get the message across. After all, I couldn’t convince my lawyer. Maybe this story will fall on deaf ears?)

I felt like Moses on the shores of the Red Sea, who wasn’t sure if Aharon handed him the holly cane or just a twig found along the way.

When it was our turn, our engineer presented the plans and announced that the Town Engineer had approved them without any comment. 

The Town’s Planning Board was headed by a woman and there were two others by her side, among the other men. 

The first question she asked was to interpret the name Noa.

Here I will explain. Americans know the name Noah. This is how Noah’s name is written in the Bible, which is translated into English. The one with the ark, giraffes, elephants and the hill. And also with the dove with an olive leaf. To my surprise, I also saw that Noah’s forgotten name, the one in the desert in the same translation, appears as Noah (but let’s not mess with little details).

Despite my lawyer’s objections even before the hearing, I stood up to show everyone that I was willing to answer. After I was sworn in to tell the truth and nothing but the truth, I told everyone in the hall the story of Noa and her sisters, daughters of Zelophehad during the journey in the desert and their victory in their battle for the right to inheritance during the partition when they arrived in the Land of Israel. I also pointed out the fact that these girls were, in fact, the first in written history to fight for women’s rights.

There was silence in the hall and we could only hear the raindrops knocking on the roof. The silence was broken by the thunderous voice of the head of the Board. “I recommend immediate preliminary approval of the plans!”

In an instant, I realized that I had to take advantage of the moments of astonishment and I said since there were no engineering problem with the plans and no correction was required, I was asking for Final Approval so I would not have to come before the Committee again.

Outside, a lightning strike. Its dazzling light penetrated through the windows and flickered across the faces of those sitting in the hall.  My attorney sat stunned in his chair, mouth wide open and it was evident that his soul was coming out of his nose.  And, so did the entire committee. 

Thunder thundered louder and louder.  The head of the Board, who apparently understood the magnitude of the hour, immediately recommended final approval of the plans.

The blessed rain continued to fall.

Thus, with the help of brave women, I managed to get permits to build a small residential neighborhood in one meeting, in one evening.  A precedent that is unparalleled. 

The neighborhood was built.  At the entrance there is a street sign with the name of my beloved daughter and all the fighters for equal women’s rights.  Maybe the houses in the neighborhood are a small wave of testimony to the subdivision-right’s fighter who climbed with a stick in hand, from a small town in the coastal plain to the top of the Mount of Olives.

Special thanks to Colleen Dritschel for helping me with the translation.