In our parsha this week we have the story of the rebellion
of Miryam and Aaron. They spoke out against Moses and his Cushite wife. Why was
Miryam the only one afflicted with tzaraat when they both spoke out? Our rabbis
say it is because she was the chief instigator, Aaron only tagged along at her
prompting. It was like a thief who steals food from a garden and then hands it
to someone standing outside of the garden. Only the thief is pursued.
What were they speaking out against? The standard
understanding is that the Cushite woman was from Cush, south of Egypt. But
another interpretation states that “Cushite” can mean simply a beautiful woman.
One midrash says that Miryam spoke out against Moses (along with Aaron) because
he was abstaining from relations with his beautiful (Cushite) wife, Zipporah.
Her concern was that by doing so Moses was keeping her from bearing more
children.
This is similar to another midrash about the birth of Moses.
According to this text, since Pharaoh had commanded that the Hebrew baby boys
be killed Moses’ father divorced his wife so as to not have any more children. Miryam, a young girl at the time, reproached
her father. She said, “Father, Pharaoh has eliminated half of the children, but
you have killed all of the children.” For female babies could still be born but
they could not because he left his wife. He heeds his daughter’s rebuke,
returns to his wife, and thus Moses was born.
Miryam is thus depicted by the rabbis as being concerned
with life, the life of her people.
It is fitting, therefore, that the Talmud tells us that Miryam
was the source of life giving water in the parched desert of the wilderness. It
says that Israel merited the Pillar of Cloud due to the righteousness of Aaron,
the Manna due to the righteousness of Moses, and the Water from the Rock due to
the righteousness of Miryam. Aaron’s
merit warranted the Pillar of Cloud because the Torah tells us that immediately
after his death the king of Arad attacked Israel; the logic being that he did
so because he saw that God’s protection (the cloud) had been withdrawn. Moses’
merit warranted the Manna, because the Torah tells us that they ate it until
they reached the Promised Land, which they did immediately after Moses’ death. Miryam’s
merit warranted the Water because the Torah tells us that immediately after her
death they had no water.
In fact, a midrash tells us that the rock that Moses struck
after the crossing of the Red Sea was the same rock as the one he was supposed
to speak to but instead struck near the end of their wanderings in the desert.
This Rock was referred to as Miryam’s Well, and it rolled along with Israel
throughout the forty years in the desert and supplied water whenever commanded.
Miryam was a prophet, a leader of our people, and a giver of life.
There was another Miryam, born centuries later. While not a
prophet or a leader, she was a giver of life. She gave us, through her merit,
the Source of Life, Yeshua ha-Mashiach. She gave us living water for Yeshua,
himself, was The Living Water. When he was speaking with the Samaritan woman at
the well, he said to her “If you know who was asking you would ask him and he
would give you living water and you would never thirst again.” Later, while
visiting the Temple during Sukkot, he declares plainly, “I am the Living Water,
let anyone who is thirsty and come and drink!” Rav Shaul (Paul) explicitly
connects Yeshua to Miryam’s Well in 1 Corinthians 10 when he says that the rock
that accompanied Israel in the desert was the pre-incarnate Yeshua! It is his
midrash on the midrash!
We can be like the two Miryams. We can be sources of life
giving water. Living Water. In the same passage where Yeshua talks with the
Samaritan woman he says “The water that I will give them [who ask for it] will
become a spring of living water welling up to eternal life.” And at the Temple
during Sukkot he says “Whoever believes in me will have fonts of living water
gushing forth from within them.” You see, it’s not just about us receiving the
living water, but us then becoming a source of the living water to those around
us!
But what does “believe” mean? We are trained to think of
this word as meaning intellectual assent. But its more correct meaning comes
from the Hebrew word, emunah, which means faithfulness or a faithful abiding.
We become wells of living water not through intellectual assent but by faithfully
abiding in Yeshua and Torah! We can be like the two Miryams by living a life of
regular and consistently drinking from the springs of living water and thus
become life-giving springs of living water to those around us! And we do this
not just for our benefit, but for the benefit of those who live around us! We
drink of the sake of others!
We sang this song this morning, a song based on Psalm 36. It
says, “How priceless is your unfailing love, O God! People take refuge in the
shadow of your wings. They feast on the abundance of your house; you give them
drink from your river of delights. For with you is the fountain of life; in
your light we see light.”
We drink from God’s “river of delights” (such a beautiful
image!) and thus become fountains of life from the The Fountain of Life!
May we be like the two Miryams.
May we be fonts of living water; refreshing and life-giving
to those around us.
May we live a life of emunah, faithfully and consistently
drinking from The Well, so that we may tap into Him who is the Source of Life!
Shabbat Shalom.
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