 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 sea. Just before water crisis number 1 Miriam sings her song, just before water crisis number 3 Miriam dies, and in water crisis number 2 the rock that Moses hits becomes Miriam's well.
But actually Miriam's connection here runs even deeper. Take Miriam's name; Mem, Reish, Yud, Mem. Remove all vowelization, so you just have Mem, Reish, Yud, Mem. Ask yourselves, how many different Hebrew words can you spell now? It turns out that there are three:
- If you vowelize Mem, Reish, Yud, Mem one way it can mean Marim – bitter.
- If you vowelize it another way it can mean; Meirim – to lift up.
- If you vowelize it yet another way it can mean Morim – rebels.
Now think about these words, where did they show up? Water crisis number 1, how come they couldn't drink the water? Ki marim heim – the waters were bitter. There's Marim – Mem, Reish, Yud, Mem. Water crisis number 3, right before Moses hits the rock he lifts up his hand; Vayarem – that comes from Meirim – to lift up. Finally, when he speaks to the people in concert with hitting the rock: Shimu nah hamorim, he says listen you rebels – Mem, Reish, Yud, Mem once again.
Every, single possible permutation of Miriam's name shows up in the water crises, in which the first one Miriam sings, the last one she dies, in the middle one her rock becomes this well. Miriam is everywhere in these water crises stories, why?
Miriam's Connection to WaterI would suggest to you that to really understand Miriam's connection to these three water crises you have to look at Miriam's broader connection to water itself and that takes us all the way back to the beginning. We meet Miriam at water. Egyptians were casting Jewish infants into the Nile. In desperation the mother of baby Moses places him in this pitiful little box and puts him by some reeds near the shore, and when that happened it was Miriam who stood and watched and ultimately intervened with the daughter of Pharaoh. At the Nile his sister saved him.
But what I want to suggest to you is, it wasn't just at the Nile that she saved him, M