Rabbinic Ramblings

We wrote and shared a D'var Torah (commentary on the weekly Torah portion) every week during rabbinic school. I will share other thoughts and comments as we go along, but I would like to begin my blog by sharing a few of these Divrei Torah with you.

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D’var Torah 6/18/18

שבת שלום

Our parasha for today is חֻקַּ֣ת, which is Numbers 19:1 – 22:1. This is still another rich collection of stories. It starts out by giving us the rather obscure rules about burning a red cow into ash and mixing with water to have a formula for purifying those who have become ritually impure. Miriam dies. The people complain about water, and Moses strikes a rock to provide it for them instead of speaking to it as God had commanded. So Moses and Aaron are told that they will not enter the Promised Land. Aaron dies, the people mourn for 30 days, and his son is made High Priest in his stead. The people are making their way to the Promised Land, bypassing some peoples, fighting with others, and finally end up right across the Jordan River from Jericho.

What intrigued me about this parasha is a midrash that doesn’t even appear in the Torah. It is the story of Miriam’s well. This story’s roots in the Torah can be found in Numbers 20:2-3:

וַתָּ֤מָת שָׁם֙ מִרְיָ֔ם וַתִּקָּבֵ֖ר שָֽׁם

וְלֹא־הָ֥יָה מַ֖יִם לָֽעֵדָ֑ה

[And Miriam died there and was buried there, and there was no water for the community.]

One of the rules of interpretation of the Torah is juxtaposition – if lines are next to each other, they must be related. So the rabbis decided from this little nugget in our portion that the Children of Israel previously HAD had water and lost it only upon the death of Miriam. From this, it was not an unusual stretch for Rashi and subsequent scholars to come up with a lovely tale: the well later known as Miriam’s Well was one of a number of things created at twilight on the sixth day, just before the first Shabbat when God rested. It sustained Ishmael and Hagar in the wilderness, served as the meeting place for Abraham’s servant and Rebekah, and continued to appear at various times of need among our patriarchs. The well appeared among the Children of Israel after they left Egypt because of Miriam’s merit, and that is why it was named for her. What were her merits? The Zohar reminds us that she saved her baby brother in a basket in the Nile River and then watched over him there until he was found by the princess. She also praised God with great exuberance after the people had safely crossed the Sea of Reeds. The Book of Legends tells us that this well rolled up mountains and down into valleys with them. When they were camped, it sat on a raised spot just opposite the Tent of Meeting and water flowed in all directions, toward the encampment of each of the Tribes. Their ability to rely on this well enabled them to wander in the desert for 40 years – because they always had a ready source of water. Until Miriam died.

There is an ancient custom that the waters of Miriam’s well flow through all wells and natural springs every Saturday night, and if you drink from this kind of source just after Shabbat ends, you will immediately be healed of all of your afflictions (from Rabbi Isserlis’ gloss to the Shulchan Aruch).

There are other tales about the continuing existence of Miriam’s Well. It is said to live under the surface of the Kinneret, just off of Tiberias, or perhaps in the Mediterranean, visible from Mount Carmel. The Well has been associated with the Torah itself, which is supposed to be a source of life and knowledge to quench those who thirst for that. Today, there is a growing custom to put a Miriam’s cup of water on the seder table, just as we put a cup of wine for Elijah. May the waters of the Torah and of Miriam refresh us and open our eyes to living in peace and harmony with all of our fellow human beings.

כן ׳ה׳ רצון