The Death of Miriam: What Grief Takes ... and Can Give

(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. (2) The community was without water, and they joined against Moses and Aaron. (3) The people quarreled with Moses, saying, “If only we had perished when our brothers perished at the instance of יהוה ! (4) Why have you brought יהוה’s congregation into this wilderness for us and our beasts to die there? (5) Why did you make us leave Egypt to bring us to this wretched place, a place with no grain or figs or vines or pomegranates? There is not even water to drink!” (6) Moses and Aaron came away from the congregation to the entrance of the Tent of Meeting, and fell on their faces. The Presence of יהוה appeared to them,

The well was given to the Jewish people in the merit of Miriam; the pillar of cloud was in the merit of Aaron; and the manna in the merit of Moses. When Miriam died the well disappeared, as it is stated: “And Miriam died there” (Numbers 20:1), and it says thereafter in the next verse: “And there was no water for the congregation” (Numbers 20:2). But the well returned in the merit of both Moses and Aaron.

The Sages taught: There were six people over whom the Angel of Death had no sway in their demise, and they are: Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, Moses, Aaron, and Miriam. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, as it is written with regard to them, respectively: “With everything,” “from everything,” “everything”; since they were blessed with everything they were certainly spared the anguish of the Angel of Death. Moses, Aaron, and Miriam, as it is written with regard to them that they died “by the mouth of the Eternal” (Numbers 33:38; Deuteronomy 34:5), which indicates that they died with a kiss, and not at the hand of the Angel of Death.

The Gemara asks: But with regard to Miriam it is not written: “By the mouth of the Eternal.” Rabbi Elazar says: Miriam also died with a kiss, as this is learned through a verbal analogy between the word “there” mentioned in regard to Miriam: “And Miriam died there” (Numbers 20:1), and the word “there” mentioned in regard to Moses: “And Moses died there” (Deuteronomy 34:5). And for what reason is “by the mouth of the Eternal” not stated with regard to her? It is unseemly to mention death by a kiss with regard to a woman.

(29) the whole community knew that Aaron had breathed his last. All the house of Israel bewailed Aaron thirty days.

(5) So Moses the servant of יהוה died there, in the land of Moab, at the command of יהוה.

(7) and יהוה spoke to Moses, saying, (8) “You and your brother Aaron take the rod and assemble the community, and before their very eyes order the rock to yield its water. Thus you shall produce water for them from the rock and provide drink for the congregation and their beasts.” (9) Moses took the rod from before יהוה, as he had been commanded. (10) Moses and Aaron assembled the congregation in front of the rock; and he said to them, “Listen, you rebels (hamorim), shall we get water for you out of this rock?” (11) And Moses raised his hand and struck the rock twice with his rod. Out came copious water, and the community and their beasts drank. (12) But יהוה 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.” (13) Those are the Waters of Meribah —meaning that the Israelites quarrelled with יהוה —whose sanctity was affirmed through them.

(4) ותמת שם מרים, Miriam died there, etc. Why did the Torah have to write the word שם, "there?" Our sages in Moed Katan 28 say that the people buried Miriam near the place where she died. This interpretation is based on the words ותקבר שם "she was buried there.f Seeing the Torah mentioned the death of this righteous woman it also was concerned with the honour due to the body of such a righteous woman stating she was interred on the spot. We learned in Berachot 18 that the righteous are called "alive" even after they have died a physical death. When the Torah said שם, it wanted to remind us that Miriam was "dead" only "there," i.e. on earth, whereas she lived on in another region, the region reserved for the souls of the righteous. G'd views the righteous as if they were pearls reposing in a jewel box. Whenever it pleases Him He takes out one of these pearls and enjoys looking at it only to replace it at His leasure or to place it in another of His various jewel boxes. A different scholar on the same folio in Moed Katan uses the word שם in our verse as a גזרה שוה, a form of exegesis based on similar words being used in different contexts as proof that Miriam too experienced death in the form of a Divine kiss, i.e. painlessly. All of these explanations are equally valid.