se the Torah itself seems to characterize it this way. First of all, note the letter Vav; V'loh haya mayim la'eidah – AND there was no water for the people. That Vav seems to connect the events that go forward – the lack of water for the people, with the events that just took place, but what does Miriam's death have to do with the fact that there's no water here? Could Miriam's death in some way be the precipitating factor in the fact that there is no water here?
As it turns out, that's precisely how the Midrash understands things. To see how this is so, keep in mind that if you survey the entire travels of the people of Israel through the wilderness for 40 years, you will find three water crises.
God Provides Water from a Rock... in ExodusThe very first water crisis in the desert takes place just after Israel successfully comes out of Egypt and crosses the Sea of Reeds. Right then we have the words; Vayelchu sheloshet yamim bamidbar v'loh matzu mayim – they go for three days in the desert and they can't find water. Now ultimately this water crisis gets solved when God pointed out to Moses a stick, a piece of wood that Moses threw in a bitter oasis and miraculously it made it sweet.
Now the next water crisis we find, things appear to be even more desperate, Moses complains to God; Od me'at u'skaluni – just a little bit more and the people are going to stone me, they're so desperate for water. And if you pay attention, the way this water crisis gets solved is actually by hitting a rock. God tells Moses to hit a rock and the rock would give its water, and that's exactly what happens.
Now the interesting thing about water crisis number 1 and water crisis number 2 is that they both occur exactly when you would expect them to occur. Water crisis number 1 happens three days after the splitting of the sea. Well how long can you go without water? About three days. So that's about when the canteens would run out and the people would have been really, really thirsty and in fact there's a water crisis, right where you would expect there to be one. A few days later whatever water they saved in their canteens from water crisis number 1's resolution now is gone and there's water crisis number 2, right where you would expect it to happen.
But now fast-forward to water crisis number 3 in this week's Parsha, it's now 40 years later. The people are on the cusp of coming into the land. Where did they have water for the last 40 years? The Midrash, quoted by Rashi in this week's Parsha, says that until now they didn't have a problem with water, they had Miriam's well. Evidently the rock that was hit in water crisis number 2 it never stopped giving water, it was their portable source of water. When did it stop giving water? When Miriam dies, right before water crisis number 3.
Moses Strikes the Rock... a Second TimeBy the way you see hints of this when God tells Moses to take his staff; V'dibartem el ha'selah – and speak to THE rock. Now, if you think about it, this sounds faintly ridiculous. If I'm Moses and God tells me speak to THE rock, I'm looking around, I say, God, it's a desert here, there's lots of rocks, exactly which rock would you like me to speak to? A rock fine, THE rock? But of course maybe there is THE rock, the one that's been providing water until now. Speak to the rock and it will provide water. In the past you hit it, now I'm asking you to speak to it.
What exactly the difference is between speaking to the rock and hitting the rock, is something I talked about last year, you can look at last year's Chukat video. But for now I want to focus on Miriam's role in all of this, why was there a Well of Miriam? What does Miriam have to do with wells? What does Miriam have to do with water?
The Significance of Miriam and Her WellThe mystery deepens when we take a minute to pause and look at just how deeply Miriam is connected to these three water crises. As we've just seen, she dies in the verse before water crisis number 3. But look at water crisis number 1, in the verse just before that, that's when Miriam sings her song at the s