Miriam

(1) A certain man of the house of Levi went and married a Levite woman. (2) The woman conceived and bore a son; and when she saw how beautiful he was, she hid him for three months. (3) When she could hide him no longer, she got a wicker basket for him and caulked it with bitumen and pitch. She put the child into it and placed it among the reeds by the bank of the Nile. (4) And his sister stationed herself at a distance, to learn what would befall him. (5) The daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe in the Nile, while her maidens walked along the Nile. She spied the basket among the reeds and sent her slave girl to fetch it. (6) When she opened it, she saw that it was a child, a boy crying. She took pity on it and said, “This must be a Hebrew child.” (7) Then his sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and get you a Hebrew nurse to suckle the child for you?” (8) And Pharaoh’s daughter answered, “Yes.” So the girl went and called the child’s mother. (9) And Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this child and nurse it for me, and I will pay your wages.” So the woman took the child and nursed it.

The mishna continues: And the same is so with regard to the reward of good deeds; a person is rewarded measure for measure. Miriam waited for the baby Moses for one hour at the shore of the Nile, as it is stated: “And his sister stood afar off, to know what would be done to him” (Exodus 2:4). Therefore the Jewish people delayed their travels in the desert for seven days to wait for her when she was smitten with leprosy, as it is stated: “And Miriam was confined outside of the camp seven days; and the people journeyed not until Miriam was brought in again” (Numbers 12:15).

(5) "She rises while it is still night" - this is Batya, the daughter of Pharaoh. She was a gentile and became a Jewess and they mentioned her name among the proper [women], since she took care of Moshe. Therefore she merited and entered the Garden of Eden in her lifetime. "She sets her mind on a field and acquires it; [she plants a vineyard from the produce of her hand]" - this is Yocheved, that from her came Moshe who is equivalent to all of Israel, which is called a vineyard, as it states (Isaiah 5:7), "For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the House of Israel." "She girds her loins with strength" - this is Miriam, as before Moshe was born, she said, "In the future, my mother will give birth to the savior of Israel." Once he was born and the yoke upon them became heavier, her father got up and bopped her on the head. He said to her, "Where is your prophecy?" And he got up and spit in front of her face. And nonetheless, she exerted herself about her prophecy, as it is written (Exodus 2:4), "And his sister stood from a distance."

(20) Then Miriam the prophetess, Aaron’s sister, took a timbrel in her hand, and all the women went out after her in dance with timbrels.

(1) ותקח מרים הנביאה, “Miriam the prophetess took, etc.” According to the plain meaning of the text the reason the Torah added the words “sister of Aaron,” — something we were well aware of — was to ensure that the three siblings Moses, Aaron, and Miriam should all have their names associated with this song. Another reason is connected with good form. It is customary that when the name of a person is introduced we relate it to his or her oldest brother as we find in Genesis 36,22: “the sister of Lotan was Timnah.” It is also possible that Aaron was mentioned in order for her to obtain permission to use the percussion instrument drum, seeing a drum is an instrument connected with the planet (zodiac sign) Jupiter. Each of the planets had a musical instrument which was specifically associated with that planet, the drum being that associated with Jupiter. We have a verse in Job 29,14 צדק לבשתי וילבשני, “I clothed myself in righteousness and it robed me.” This verse is understood to refer to Aaron’s priestly garments. The word צדק then appears both as meaning “Jupiter” and as meaning “Aaron.” Miriam had to obtain Aaron’s permission to use the drum. You are aware that Psalm 150 contains 10 “hallelujahs” of G’d but only nine musical instruments corresponding to nine celestial bodies — horn, harp, lyre, timbrel, dance (מחול), lute, pipe, cymbals, loud-clashing cymbals. [More on this subject on Exodus 32,19.] The words אהרון את התוף are a clear allusion that there was a conceptual linkage between Aaron and the instrument called תוף.

(3) We need to understand why the prophetic spirit was entrusted to a woman rather than to a man. Actually, there is hardly anything surprising in this; after all woman is as much part of the species as is man. Did not the Torah refer to both of them as אדם in Genesis 5,2? Our sages (Megillah 14) claim that Sarah was not inferior to Miriam in her prophetic qualities seeing the Torah refers to her as יסכה (Genesis 11,29) which means means that she saw things with her Holy Spirit. Shemot Rabbah 1,1 claims that the word in Genesis 21,12 where G’d told Avraham to listen to all that Sarah would tell him prove that as a prophet Avraham was junior to Sarah. This is the view of the Midrash. The fact is that the Torah itself does not mention prophecy in connection with a woman until Miriam. The reason that this is the time the matter of Miriam’s prophecy was revealed is either to teach us that she possessed this gift prior to Moses’ birth or because the Torah wanted to wait with telling us this until the Shechinah itself had been exiled. The Torah wanted to allude to the statement we have already quoted that the quality of the prophetic visions granted even to women at the bottom of the social register at the time of the crossing of the sea surpassed that of the visions granted to the great prophet Ezekiel. Hence the Torah saw fit to record that not only Miriam but all her colleagues broke out in song and dance praising the Lord. The Midrash (Mechilta Shirah 3) means that Miriam and her colleagues broke out in that song spontaneously; they did not paraphrase the words Moses had composed but composed their own.

(1) ... Another explanation of אחות אהרן, the sister of Aaron: because he jeopardised his life for her by entreating on her behalf and so possibly incurring God’s displeasure when she was stricken with leprosy, she is called by his name (Mekhilta d'Rabbi Yishmael 15:20:1; cf. Rashi Genesis 34:25).

(3) בתפים ובמחלת WITH TIMBRELS AND WITH DANCES — The righteous women in that generation were confident that God would perform miracles for them and they accordingly had brought timbrels with them from Egypt (Mekhilta d'Rabbi Yishmael 15:20:2).

The women followed Miriam, to teach that they too merited in the Sechinah, as when they say "This is my God and I will exalt him," the word "this" indicates sight to teach they saw the minders that had helped them give birth and this filled them with happiness.

Miriam is referred to as Aharon's sister because she was equal to him in prophecy, and not Moshe.

At this moment at the sea, the women were at the same level as the men in obtaining prophecy, so it was as if they were saying what the men were, but in the future (as prophecized in Jeremiah) the Female shall encircle the male.

A woman's voice being nakedness wasn't relevant here since the Shechina was present.

(1) The Israelites arrived in a body at the wilderness of Zin on the first new moon, and the people stayed at Kadesh. Miriam died there and was buried there.

Moshe went to Pharaoh, Aharon prophesied for the nation, and Miriam prophesied for the women. The Torah was given on the hands of Moshe and Aharon, meaning by their lips and mouths. They taught the laws to the men and Miriam taught the laws to the women.

(1) Now the well came through the merit of Miriam, who uttered a song by the waters of the Reed Sea... And the well came through the merit of Miriam, since it is stated (in Numb. 20:1-2): BUT MIRIAM DIED THERE AND WAS BURIED THERE. NOW THE CONGREGATION HAD NO WATER. And how was [the well] constructed? Like a kind of rock. It rolled along and came with them on the journeys. When the standards for each tribe came to rest and the Tabernacle arose, the rock would come and settle down in the court of the Tent of Meeting. Then the princes would stand beside it and say (in the words of Numb. 21:17): RISE UP, O WELL; and the well would rise up.

Moshe was sent for the men, Miriam for the women, and Aharon to serve God as a Cohen.

(3) Another explanation of the word shittim. The shin stands for shalom (“peace”), the tet for tov (“good”), the yod for yeshuah (“salvation”), and the mem for mehilah (“pardon”). They held the tablets on which the ten words (commandments) are written; five were inscribed on one tablet, and five on the other. Five cubits was the length thereof, and five cubits the breadth thereof (Exod. 38:1). They contained the tablets, for it is written concerning the Ten Commandments, five were on one tablet and five on the other. And the height thereof shall be three cubits (ibid. 27:1). This corresponds to the three redeemers, as is said: I sent before thee Moses, Aaron, and Miriam (Mic. 6:4).

For one woman I went down to Egypt to save, when Sarah was taken by Pharaoh--but for 60,000 women and 60,000 women--I won't come down to save? No, first you (Moshe, Aharon, and Miriam) go down and tell my sons that I will save the,

(6) Evil gossip is a greater sin than “mere” murder, idolatry or indulging one’s carnal instincts indiscriminately. Proof that it is worse than murder is deduced from Genesis 4,13 where Kayin describes his sin as too severe to endure its burden. It is more serious than indulging one’s carnal instincts with partners forbidden to one as we know from Joseph (Genesis 39,9) who explained the severity of that sin to the wife of Potiphar. It is more serious than idolatry seeing that when Moses described this sin committed by the Jewish people to G’d when they worshipped the golden calf he said: “indeed the people committed a very great sin.” When describing the sin of לשון הרע on the other hand, (Psalms 12,4) David invokes G’d pleading: “may the Lord cut off all flattering lips, every tongue that speaks גדולות, “arrogance.” The commentators understand the plural of the word גדולות in that psalm as describing the sin of abusing the power of the tongue as a “double” sin, i.e. more severe than a single sin such as worshipping idols, for instance. This is why Solomon said that life and death are at the disposal of one’s tongue.
Look at what happened to Miriam who was struck with the disease of tzoraat (Numbers 12,1) because she spoke against Moses. What did she do that was so terrible? She spoke to her own brother (Aaron) privately, not within the hearing of Moses nor of anyone else. She was well-intentioned meaning to reunite Moses with his wife whom he had divorced. The Torah describes G’d’s reaction as fierce, and had Moses not interceded on her behalf she would not have been cured. To this day we recite the lines of Deut. 24,9 in which the Torah demands that we remember what Miriam was guilty of and how G’d punished her. You may apply a little logic to see how serious is the ordinary sin of spreading evil gossip when you reflect on what happened to well-intentioned Miriam who had spoken privately to her brother. How will G’d react to people who deliberately besmirch someone’s reputation by the tales they spread about him? Consider what the Torah wrote immediately prior to the reminder to remember what G’d did to Miriam (Deut. 24,8) The Torah writes: “beware of the tzoraat affliction, be very careful and act according to everything the priests and Levites teach you.” Even Aaron, who was the High Priest, (and had not said a word) was struck with that affliction seeing that the Torah said that G’d was angry “at them,”‘ i.e. not merely at Miriam. Aaron was healed immediately, seeing his was the lesser sin as he had not said anything, had only listened without admonishing Miriam. We know that Aaron must have been cured immediately as the Torah only writes of Miriam having been quarantined outside the camp for seven days delaying the Israelites’ journey during that period (Numbers 12,15).
You will also find that the original serpent, the first creature ever to engage in slander against its Creator, was struck with tzoraat as the Torah reports G’d saying to the serpent “because you have done this, etc., you are cursed” (Genesis 3,14). The curse consisted of the serpent being afflicted with tzoraat. Our sages derive this from the expression צרעת ממארת היא in Leviticus 13,52. On these words Rav Hunna quoted a comment by Rabbi Joshua ben Levi who said that the scales on the skin of the snake are a form the tzoraat took when it afflicted the serpent (compare Bereshit Rabbah 20,4). This was not the full extent of the serpent’s punishment. We have a tradition that in the world to come (after the resurrection), people who suffered from diverse deformities while on earth the previous time will be resurrected as completely healthy and with unblemished bodies. The snake will be the only exception to this rule. Seeing that Isaiah wrote (Isaiah 35,6): ”then the lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the dumb shall shout aloud,” the prophet prophesies resurrection of the beasts mentioning that domesticated beasts and lions will graze together; however the snake will still have to eat dust as it will never be cured from its affliction (compare Isaiah 11,6). The reason is that the serpent through its use of the tongue dragged man into the dust, (caused his mortality, Tanchuma Metzora 2).

Ten things were created on the eve of Sabbath at twilight, [i.e., on the eve of the Sabbath of the creation, before its completion]: the mouth of the earth [to swallow up Korach and his congregation], the mouth of the well [of Miriam, which accompanied Israel in the desert in all of its journeyings. (Some say that it opened its mouth and sang (Numbers 21:17): "Arise, O, Well, sing to her!"]...

Whence is the name "Water Gate" ? It is so called because through it they take the flask of water used for the libation at the Feast. R. Eliezer b. Jacob says of it: " The waters are dripping," intimating that water oozing out and rising, as if from this flask, will in future days come forth from under the threshhold of the Temple...

....So the well, which was with Israel in the wilderness, was like a rock of the size of a k'bara, and was oozing out and rising as from the mouth of this flask, travelling with them up the mountains and going down with them to the valleys. Wherever Israel encamped it encamped opposite them before the door of the Tabernacle. The princes of Israel with their staves surrounded it, and said over it this song, Spring up, O well, sing ye unto it. Then the waters bubbled forth, and rose on high like a pillar ; and every one drew out the staff of his tribe and family, as it is said, "The well which the princes digged, Which the nobles of the people delved, With the sceptre and with their staves."

"And from Mattanah to Nahaliel ; and from Nahaliel to Bamoth ; and from Bamoth to the valley, etc." - going round every camp of the Lord, and watering all Jeshimon ; and it made mighty streams, as it is said, "And streams overflowed." And they were sitting in skiffs, going from place to place, as it is written, "They ran in the dry places like a river."

If Israel went up on the right, it would come down on the right; if on the left, it would come down on the left. The waters which emptied themselves from it became a great river, pouring themselves into the Mediterranean, and bringing thence all the precious things of the world, as it is said, "These forty years the Lord thy God hath been with thee ; thou hast lacked nothing."

translated by Albert William Greenup 1925

The verse relates the midwives’ reward: “And it came to pass, because the midwives feared God, that He made them houses” (Exodus 1:21). Rav and Shmuel disagree as to the precise interpretation of these houses: One says that God made the houses of the priesthood and the Levites descend from the midwives, and one says that God made the houses of royalty descend from them. The one who says that it is referring to the houses of the priesthood and the Levites is referring to Aaron and Moses, who were sons of Jochebed. And the one who says that it is referring to houses of royalty is referring to David, who also comes from Miriam, as it is written: “And Azubah,” the wife of Caleb, “died, and Caleb took to him Ephrath, who bore him Hur” (I Chronicles 2:19) and, as will be explained further, Ephrath is Miriam. And it is written: “David was the son of that Ephrathite of Bethlehem in Judah” (I Samuel 17:12). Therefore, he was a descendant of Miriam.

(7) "And they came near the daughters of Zelophehad." (Numbers 27:1) - During this generation women were fencing in that on which men were breaking down fences. Thus you find Aaron told them, "Break off the gold rings" (Exodus 32:2), and the women did not want to and they protested against their husbands, as it says, "and all the nation broke off the golden rings which were in their ears" (Exodus 32:3), and women did not participate in the incident of the calf. And so too, in the incident of the spies, [the women] did not participate "and when [the spies] returned, they caused all the congregation to murmur against [Moses]" (Numbers 14:36), and they decreed a decree, as they said, "we can not go up" (Numbers 13:31), but the women were not in agreement with them, just as is written above regarding the matter: "because God had said of them: 'they will surely die in the wilderness' and there was not left of them a man" (Numbers 26:65) - "a man" and not a woman, for they did not want to enter to the Land, but the women became close by seeking a portion in the Land. And thus this episode was written next to [the death of Miriam], from which the men broke down fences and women erected fences.