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Reflections
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CHUKAT/BALAK
12th Tammuz 5769 ~ 4th July
2009
Shabbat begins in London
at 21.06 and ends at 22.24
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
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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