The children of Israel

brought us out into this desert, to starve this entire congregation to death." (Shemot 16:3)

It may be that at first they

had thought that after a few days they would come to the cities round about

them. Now that a month had gone by and they found no city of habitation, they

said, "We will all die in the great wilderness into which we have

come." This then is the meaning of the verse, And the whole

murmured against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness, the murmuring being

because of the wilderness. And so likewise the people said, For you have

brought us out into this desert, to starve this entire congregation to death.

Thus they mentioned "the wilderness" and "the

congregation," therein stating that a large congregation such as this will

undoubtedly die of hunger in this great wilderness. The Holy One, blessed be

He, hearkened unto them, and He now began to prepare a table for them in the

wilderness until they came to an inhabited land.

(RaMBaN

Shemot 16:2, based on Chavel translation)

when we sat by pots of meat – R. Yehoshua says: The Israelites desired food.

R. Eliezer HaModa'i says: the

Israelites had been slaves to kings in Egypt. They would go out to the

market and take bread and meat and fish and everything and no one would

complain. They would go out to the fields and take grapes and figs and pomegranates

and everything and no one would complain.

R. Yossi says: Know that they

only had them in the end [of the exile in Egypt]. That is why it says, and

the kishu'im [squash] – for they were difficult [kasheh] for them

to digest.

 For you have brought us out into

this desert – They [the

Israelites] told them [Moses and Aaron]: You brought us out into this desert

 to starve this entire

congregation to death – R.

Yehoshua ben Karha says: No death is harsher than death by starvation, for it

is said: Those who fell by the sword were better [off] than those who died

of starvation, etc. (Lamentations 4:9). R.

Eliezer HaModa'i says: In famine, famine comes upon us, famine after famine,

pestilence after pestilence, darkness after darkness.

(Mekhilta

DeRabbi Yishmael Beshalah – Massekhet DeVayissa 1)

Miriam – Mistress of

Water

Mordechai Beck

Without

Miriam there would have been no Jewish people. Had she not taken fate in her

hands and saved her baby brother Moses, the national narrative of the

Israelites would have been completely different – even assuming it could have

survived the travails of Egypt.

Despite

this accolade, the first born daughter of Amram and Yocheved – both from the

house of Levi – warrants just a handful of appearances in the Biblical text – as

the dutiful daughter and sister who organizes Moses' childhood, as the leader

of the freed Israelite women who dance and sing at the miraculous occasion of

the crossing the Sea of Reeds, and much later on, in the Book of Numbers, as

the critic of her brother Moses. Her final appearance is at her death. With

such scant sources it can be reasonably claimed that Miriam is indeed a

marginal figure.

Just

how marginal can be garnered from the fact that when she first appears she does

so under an assumed Egyptian name – Shifra or Puah. Even here the sages can't

decide if either of these 'Hebrew midwives' was Miriam; it is possible, they

surmise, that the two ladies were Jocheved and her daughter-in-law Elisheva (Sota 12). During the crucial incident where she

plays a leading role in saving her baby brother Moses, she is indifferently

referred to as "his sister" (Exodus 2:4 et passim). Moreover in the first list of families and

tribes her name is not even mentioned alongside her two brothers (Ex 6:20). The first time she is mentioned by name is

after the crossing of the Sea

of Reeds where she is

introduced as "Miriam the prophetess, sister of Aaron" ( but

pointedly not of Moses) who leads the Israelite womenfolk in song and dance

after the miracle of the crossing.(Ex 15:20-21). Brother and sister appear again, in the same chronological order,

where they criticize Moses for marrying the black woman (the Queen of Cush,

Zipporah the Midianite? It doesn't seem to matter, suggests the text, they're

only women) as a result of which God intervenes and smites Miriam with a

seven-day leprosy; Moses prays for her recovery in the shortest prayer on

record "Please God, heal her" (Numbers 12:1-16). Her final official appearance is the record of her demise (Numbers 20: 1-2) in Kadesh, an event followed ominously by

the observation that there was no water for the people.

According

to tradition she also appears under other pseudonyms including Efrat (1 Chronicles 2:19), Achrachel (ibid 4:8), Cha'ala and Na'ma (Ibd 4:5) as well as Yeriot

and Azuvah (Chronicles). This plethora of names only makes her

identity more complex, not to say obscure.

Neither

does this obscurity end with her name. Her marriage status is never made clear

in the Torah text. This has led some scholars to suggest that she remained

single, pointing out that no family tree is ever attached to her name (whichever

one is chosen) and may be this is the reason for the hinted names in the Book

of Chronicles where they turn up inside long but hardly comprehensible

chronologies.

Why

she should deserve such a fate is difficult to understand. She was not only

instrumental in saving the Jewish people from instant obliteration; she emerges

as a major force within the people throughout her life. Not only is she the

leader and teacher of the women (Targum Micha 6:4), she is the oldest of the three siblings whose cooperation is a model

for the redeemed people.

Two

possibilities at least open before us to explain this contrast between Miriam's

obvious importance and the minuscule amount of text devoted to her.

One

possibility is suggested by assorted academic scholars who view Miriam as a

symbolic figure – a throw back to Egyptian priestesses or even female deities,

one of whose major characteristics was music and dance. According to this

version, she is a threat to the increasingly male dominated religious scenery

and must be suppressed. Moses, too, is part of this new trend waving his rod

over the element she most represents – water – splitting open the Sea of Reeds

and thereafter striking the rock in order to force water out of it. Needless to

say the psycho-analysts have a field day with this rod. The fact moreover that

Moses is commanded by God to strike the Sea as well as the rock, demonstrates

His own Divine approval of this male domination.

That

Miriam is thus the prototype of the rebellious female is reinforced by the

sages who speak of her as challenging her father Amram for submitting himself

to the murderous decree of Pharaoh. He only wished to kill the male children of

the Israelites, whereas Amram was encouraging all the Israelite men to divorce

their wives. He sets an example by publicly divorcing his wife, thus

encouraging the people to commit demographic suicide. While praising her

boldness, the sages simultaneously suggest that Miriam is moving beyond

herself, and that she is bound to suffer as a result. This is one of the

reasons that she is unmarried – she frightens off the eligible bachelors,

though Rashi (following the Midrash) says because she looked sickly, Rabbi Adin

Shteinsaltz comes out and says more plainly – she's no beauty (Sotah 12a). It is only by an act of true altruism –

for the sake of Heaven – that Caleb married her. This is wonderful and weird in

that the Midrash relates that he marries the daughter of Pharaoh – another

rebel against her father! Luckily for her marrying Caleb has a powerful impact

on Miriam – transforming her into a beauty who excites only jealousy among her

contemporaries. The frog becomes a princess.

When

punishment comes, it is almost expected. She (with Aaron in tow) criticizes

Moses for his treatment of his wife. This slight is dealt with by a shameful

and public outbreak of leprosy ( in an earlier midrash this is what the

daughter of Pharaoh – her Egyptian counterpart – is suffering from before she sees

and/or touches baby Moses).Whatever sympathy she may have received from the

womenfolk has seemingly vanished, since no one stands up for her. Even though

her death is recorded there is no record of mourning.

The

opposite view is also possible, though this is admittedly more from within the

tradition. In this reading Miriam is the symbolic source of water and therefore

of life itself. The letters of her name even suggest this ( mayim in Hebrew

constitutes three of the four consonantal letters of her name) She is

considered a prophet, foretelling the rise to prominence of the yet-to-be-born

Moses . She helps nurture and raise him as well as other abandoned children (S.

Rabbah). All this is undertaken beneath the oppressive regime of Pharaoh's Egypt.

It may well be because of this regime that her identity is 'hidden'. She

travels dangerously among her brethren, carrying aliases so as to disguise her

true identity as well as her altruistic purpose. For a Miriam a name is not

nearly as important as a good deed. This is her goal, not to acquire a name,

but to sustain a people with acts of goodness, laced with music and dance – the

symbols of the truly liberated woman – then and now.

Not

only does Miriam symbolize water and life, she is its personification. Maybe

this helps explain her apparent hiddenness. Like all of the basic elements of

our existence it is so all-pervasive as to be "invisible," like the

air we breathe. So with the water that we take for granted until it is absent –

only then do we comprehend how dependent we are on its life-giving qualities. Thus

with Miriam – when she dies the next verse states that the people lacked for

water. It is only with her demise that the significance of the "well of

Miriam" is appreciated in full. So it seems with great people who live

hidden lives, humbly working away in the background and it is only with their

passing that they are truly appreciated.

Mordechai Beck is a Jerusalem based writer and artist

A Lowly Soul

Accepts Enslavement, a Lofty Soul Fights for Freedom

It is a cause for wonder that a huge camp

of 600,000 men could fear its pursuers. Why did they not stand and fight for

their lives and for the lives of their children? The answer is that the

Egyptians were masters to Israel.

The generation that had just left Egypt had learned to suffer the

Egyptian yoke from its youth and its soul was debased. How could they now

battle their masters? Israel

was weak and untrained in war. See how Amalek came against them with a small

number of people, yet, had it not been for Moses' prayer, they would have

beaten Israel.

It was God alone who did great things. He directed schemes, bringing it about

that all of the males who left Egypt

died, since they did not have the strength to fight the Canaanites until there

arose a new generation in the desert, which had not experienced exile. They had a lofty soul, as I explained regarding Moses' speech in

parashat Shemot.

(Ibn Ezra on Shemot

14:13)

Then

Moses Sang – Then, Between

Past, Present, and Future

Rabbi

Meir said: Where do we find a source for resurrection in the Torah? It is

written: Then Moses and the Children of Israel sang this song to God –

it does not say shar ["sang"], but yashir ["will

sing"]; this is the source for resurrection in the Torah.

(Sanhedrin 92b)

[The

words which] the righteous use to censure, they later use to mend. Know that

when Moses complained, with "Az" ("then") he

complained, as is written u-me-az ("since") – Since

(Shemot 5:23). Moses, I transgressed with az – with

az I will mend and will praise with song. Therefore it says

Az yashir Moshe – Then Moses sang.

(Midrash Tanhuma, Beshalah, 24)

The

and Social Convention [Nimmusim].

Study

of Torah policy reveals that the punishments meted out for violation of "nonrational"

commandments [mitvot shema'iyot] – such as idolatry – are karet

[extermination as a Divine punishment], stoning and other forms of death,

and lashes. Such is not the case with offenses involving social civility and

character – such as contention, defamation, gossip, robbery; these are never

punished by flogging because they are [in the category] of lav ha'nitan le'tashlumim

[a Biblical prohibition, which is resolved by monetary reparation] or lav

she'ein bo ma'asah [a Biblical transgression which does not involve a

physical act]. This applies only when an individual transgresses. When a

community is corrupt, the opposite holds true – so we learn in the Yerushalmi,

Peah: In David's generation, all were tzaddikim, righteous people, but

because there were informers among them, there were casualties in battle. In

Ahab's generation there were many idolaters, but because there were no

informers, they would go down to do battle and win, for regarding a community

corrupt with idolatry and sexual immorality, it is written, Who dwells with

them in the midst of their impurities. But [regarding a community marked

by] social transgressions, low character, slander and controversy, it is

written, Exalt yourself over the heavens – as if to say, "Remove Your

presence from them."

They

went further and said that in the times of the First Temple, Jews engaged in idolatry

and sexual immorality; [while] in the Second Temple they engaged in Torah and commandments,

but [it was destroyed] because of baseless hatred. There they asked, "Who

are the greater [the Jews of the First

Temple or of the Second]"

"Look at the Temple;

it returned to the [Jews of the] First, [but not to the Jews of the Second]."

Thus we see that a community corrupted by anti-social behavior is worse than a

community corrupted by [violation of] commandments. Therefore Rabbi Yohanan

said (Sanhedrin 108a): "Come and see how great is the power of violent

wrongdoing [hamas]. The generation of the Deluge transgressed all the

commandments, but they were not sentenced to annihilation until they began to

rob, as is written (Bereishit

6:13): An end of all flesh is come

before me, for the earth is filled with violent wrongdoing." [When

judged for] sexual offenses they were [still] considered to be a community, and

He had mercy on them. But that cannot be so with social offenses. Sabbath

desecration has become widespread – due to our sins – but [punishment] will be

postponed because they are a community. Even with regard to idolatry the Sifri

teaches and the soul will be cut off – but the community is not

cut off. But since the ethical norms have been breached, and people go with

swords and arrows to plunder and steal, and their characters are corrupt like

beasts of prey, God will take revenge without delay.

(Meshekh Hokhma, Shemot 14:29)

"Measurement"

Threats

Why did it [the Torah] wait until now to

explain the measure of the omer when it would have been appropriate to

mention it earlier in connection with God's command, or with the command's

fulfillment? It should have said the omer per head is a tenth of an eifah

or and they measured according to the omer, which is a tenth of an eifah.

The thing is that the whole passage deals with the manna, and only after it

finished telling the story of the manna did it finally need to explain what the

measure was. Or, it might be in order to juxtapose the measure with the events

of Refidim: It is the way of the world that bountiful tranquility and

beneficent treatment makes a person sloppy in his worship and causes him to

grow weak in Torah. This does not happen if he gets only what is necessary and

in moderation; that will strengthen him. The Torah comes to tell us that

although Israel

received only what was necessary and in moderation – each person receiving a

tenth of an eifah of manna – they still became weak in Torah at Refidim,

and so, Amalek came. Such is the connection between the two contiguous

passages.

(Rabbeinu Behayeiy on

Shemot 16:36)

Planting Trees

Connects Humans with Eternity

And when you come to the land and you shall

plant

(Vayikra 19:23): The Holy One Blessed be He said to Israel: even though you find it

full of all good things, do not say, "We shall rest and not plant."

Rather, be careful to plant, for it says and you shall plant all

fruit-bearing trees. Just as you entered [the Land of Israel]

and found trees that others had planted, you too should plant for your

children's sakes. A man should not say, "I am old, how many years do I

have left to live, why am I wearying myself for others? Tomorrow I shall

die." Solomon said He put the world [ha'olam] in their mind (Kohellet

3:11).

It is written without the letter vav, [so that it can be read] hei'alem

caused death to vanish from the human mind, a person would not build or plant,

for he would say, "Tomorrow I die; why do I weary myself for others?"

That is why the Holy One blessed be He hides the day of their death from the

minds of humans, so that they will build. If he merits it, [that which a man

builds] will be his. If he does not merit it, it shall be for others.

(Midrash Tanhuma

Kedoshim 8)

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