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CHUKAT/BALAK

12th Tammuz 5769 ~ 4th July 2009

Shabbat begins in London at 21.06 and ends at 22.24

By Nahum Gordon

April 2009. Haredi newspapers airbrush two ministers out of the photograph of the new Israeli cabinet, because they believe that women shouldn’t have a public life or even vote. For them, the lack of any public mourning at Miriam’s death (Bamidbar 20:1) proves that women should shun public office for the sake of tzniut (modesty). But this is the 21st century. So, let’s honour Miriam’s life and achievements today.

Immediately we encounter problems. Miriam is such a famous figure in our folklore, but she’s only mentioned by name in three chapters of the Torah. The sister of Moses who approaches Pharoah’s daughter by the river bank is never identified (Shemot 2). How do we know it’s Miriam? We don’t! Well, surely she’s mentioned in the tribal genealogy (Shemot 6)? Sorry to disappoint you. Moses and Aaron are there, as are their parents, Amram and Yocheved. But wasn’t Miriam part of the family triumvirate that led the Israelites across the Sinai wilderness? The Torah never says that. The most obvious candidate to fill that third slot is surely Joshua. So does the Torah tell us anything about Miriam? Well, she’s described as a prophetess (Shemot 15:20), but this is never explained. Furthermore, in the same verse she’s described as “the sister of Aaron”, not as the sister of Aaron and Moses. Is this an oversight? Are we meant to conclude that she had a close relationship with Aaron, but not with Moses? This suspicion is reinforced on the next occasion we encounter her in Bamidbar 12, where brother and sister criticise Moses for marrying a Cushite woman. But look more closely. Miriam is mentioned first. Did she start the gossip and innocent Aaron just listen? Is that why she’s punished with something like psoriasis and Aaron remains unscathed? Maybe, but it is Aaron who has to beg Moses to ask God to heal her (that must have hurt) and it’s Miriam for whom all the people wait, for her to recover, before they move off on the next stage of their journey. Did they wait because God ordered it? Out of respect for Moses and Aaron because she was their sister? Or even out of respect for her? We don’t know, but wait they did. 

And so to her death or rather its aftermath. Immediately, the people rail against her brothers for the lack of water. This probably inspired the legend of her well which apparently accompanied the Israelites but disappeared when she died. Eleven verses after her departure, her brothers are denied passage into Canaan. Did they forget to bless God before hitting the rock for water because they were still traumatised by their sister’s death? Blood is indeed thicker than water. 

Miriam may not have received public recognition at her funeral, but many Jewish communities have welcomed women in public roles, be they religious or secular, and no disaster has befallen them. From Miriam, Deborah and Esther to Golda Meir, women have been worthy leaders and command our respect. 

Nahum Gordon is a member of KNMS

Torah Sparks

But the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not trust Me enough to affirm My sanctity in the sight of the Israelite people, therefore you shall not lead this congregation into the land that I have given them.” (Bamidbar 20:12).

  • A table, meat, and a knife before us but no mouth to eat with – the commandment of God is clearly outlined, the deed that was performed is not concealed from us, and the subsequent wrath of God astonishes us, but no satisfactory explanation emerges. (Akedat Yitzhak [Rabbi Isaac Arama, 1420-1494, Spain])

  • For if you had spoken to the rock and I had brought forth (water), I would have been sanctified in the eyes of the congregation, and they would have said: If this rock which does not speak and does not hear and does not require sustenance fulfills the word of the Omnipresent, then how much more so (should we). (Rashi [Rabbi Shlomo Yitzhaki, 1040-1105, France])

  • His whole sin lay in erring on the side of anger and deviating from the mean of patience when he used the expression, “listen, you rebels.” The Holy One censured him for this, that a man of his stature should give vent to anger in front of the whole community of Israel, when anger was not called for. .. . When they [the Israelites] saw him thus in anger, they must certainly have concluded that he was not displaying personal animus or pique but, on the contrary, had not God been angry with them at their demand for water, Moses would not have been provoked. (Shemonah Perakim, [Rabbi Moses ben Maimon, 1135-1209, Spain and Egypt])

  • Moses made the fatal mistake of saying “shall we get water for you,” instead of saying, “shall God get water for you,” as in all the other miracles where the authority of God is always explicitly stressed. The people might have been misled into thinking that Moses and Aaron had extracted the water for them by their own skill. Therefore they failed to affirm My sanctity in the sight of the Israelite people. (Ramban [Rabbi Moses ben Nachman, 1194-1270, Spain])

  • And others say it was because they did not sing a song like “Spring up, O well, sing to it” [which they sang at the well of Be’er in verse 21:17]. (Rabbi Abraham Ibn Ezra, 1092-1167, Spain) 

Sparks for Discussion

As Akedat Yitzhak says, “the subsequent wrath of God astonishes us!” Rashi, Rambam, and Ramban provide the three most common explanations for God’s decree – Moses struck the rock rather than speak to it; Moses spoke angrily to the people, who were simply asking for the water they needed to sustain themselves and their animals; Moses spoke as if he and not God were the one performing the miracle. If you had to choose, which of these do you think is the best explanation for God’s anger? Does the punishment fit the crime?

Ibn Ezra brings a different explanation – it was not what Moses and Aaron did but what they did not do – they didn’t celebrate the miracle that provided water for some two million human beings and tens of thousands of animals in the manner in which they had once celebrated the crossing of the sea. Apparently, they had begun to take God’s miracles for granted. Do you think this is a better reason for God’s anger? Is there a lesson for us in this?

From: United Synagogue for Conservative Judaism. More can be found on their website http://www.uscj.org

To view the archive of past 'Reflections' click here


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