Remembering Miriam
INTRODUCTION TO PARASHAT HASHAVUA
PARASHAT
KI TETZEE
Remembering Miriam
By Rabbi
Jonathan Mishkin
This
week's parasha concludes with a dramatic command to remember an attack against
the young Israelite nation by a people called the Amalekites:
Remember
what Amalek did to you on your journey, on the way when you left Egypt - how,
undeterred by fear of God, he surprised you on the way, when you were famished
and weary, and cut down all the stragglers in your rear. Therefore, when Hashem
your God grants you safety from all your enemies around you, in the land that
Hashem your God is giving you as a hereditary portion, you blot out the memory
of Amalek from under heaven. Do not
forget! (Deuteronomy 25:17-19)
The incident itself, which is recorded in Exodus 17:8:15 at the end of
Parashat Beshalach, ends in an Israelite victory, but the unprovoked nature of
the Amalek hostilities so scarred the freed slaves that the event has been
seared into the national memory as one of unforgivable hostility. The passage we
have read is the source of three mitzvot: to forever remember Amalek's attack;
to eventually destroy the Amalek nation; to never forget the episode. The first and third of these
commandments are fulfilled communally every year on the Shabbat preceding Purim,
known as Parashat Zakhor for the first Hebrew word in the paragraph, when our
passage is read aloud as part of the Torah reading. It is linked to the Purim holiday
because Haman, the villain of that story, is traditionally believed to have
belonged to the Biblical nation of Amalek.
Tucked
away in the chapter preceding ours is another command of remembrance: "Remember
what Hashem your God did to Miriam on the journey after you left Egypt" (24:9). This statement refers back to a
seemingly minor family squabble which constitutes the whole of Numbers 12:
"Miriam
and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Cushite woman he had married for he
married a Cushite woman. They said, 'Has the Lord spoken only through Moses?'"
As a result, Miriam is struck with
tzara'at, a skin affliction usually translated as leprosy.
"And
Miriam was shut out of camp seven says; and the people did not march on until
Miriam was readmitted. After that
the people set out from Hazeroth and encamped in the wilderness of Paran."
What
seems to be missing from this story is a description of the nature of Miriam's
sin. The consensus among the
commentators is that she spoke gossip against her brother. Tale-bearing is, from
the Torah's perspective, a nasty habit. What exactly did she say? Rashi explains that Miriam told Aaron
that Moses had separated himself from his wife.
As a punishment for her indiscretion of LASHON HA'RA, Miriam is stricken
with TZARA'AT, some form of leprosy.
Consequently, TZARA'AT is considered by the Sages to be the standard punishment
for gossip. Indeed, if we look back
at the review of this story in our parasha, we see that the verse preceding the
command to remember Miriam's sin discusses the phenomenon of TZARA'AT: "In cases of a skin infliction be
most careful to do exactly as the levitical priests instruct you. Take care to do as I have commanded
them" (24:8). The next sentence, commanding remembrance of Miriam's story,
almost serves as a tip on how to avoid the unpleasantness of TZARA'AT - watch
what you say!
When we
compare the two commandments of remembrance which appear in our parasha we find
the match-up to be unbalanced. No
Parashat Miriam reading exists where the entire community gathers to hear about
the evils of idle gossip. In fact,
the commentators do not even agree on whether 24:9 constitutes a Biblical mitzva or not. The Ramban argues that this is one of
the mitzvot that the Rambam mistakenly left out of his list of the 613
commandments (omission #7). This
disparency makes some sense - is there really any sort of parallel between
attacking a defenseless and inexperienced people, and catching up on the latest
family news? On the other hand the
Torah felt that Miriam's sin was severe enough to warrant a warning not to
repeat her mistake. There are plenty
of cases of people misbehaving in the Torah which are not followed by cautionary
statements. Why doesn't the Torah say "remember how Joseph spoke against his
brothers"? Why not admonish "not to
speak ill of the Land of Israel like the spies did?" What was so heinous about Miriam's
chatter?
To
understand the link between Amalek and Miriam, we must complete the list with
other Biblical statements which include commandments to remember. The Torah has roughly eight instances
containing such terminology. Here
they are, in order of appearance:
1. Exodus 20:8 - "Remember the sabbath
day and keep it holy."
2. Numbers 15:39 - The mitzva of TZITZIT
serves to remind the Jew of all the commandments of God.
3. Deuteronomy 4:9-10 - Remember the
events at Mount Sinai.
4. Deuteronomy 8:2 - Remember that God
sustained the nation in the desert.
(This idea is repeated with/some variation in Deuteronomy 8:18.)
5. Deuteronomy 9:7 - Remember the sin of
the golden calf.
6. Deuteronomy 16:3 - Remember the
salvation from Egypt.
7. Deuteronomy 24:9 - Remember what God
did to Miriam.
8. Deuteronomy 25:17-19 - Remember the
attack of Amalek.
This is a
weighty collection of topics representing many of the fundamental principles of
Judaism: the Exodus signifies God's unique relationship with the Jews;
revelation is the foundation of the Torah; tzitzit is a reminder for all the
Torah's commandments; the desert manna speaks of providence; the warning against
idolatry teaches the unity of God; Shabbat observance declares belief in
creation and sets the Jew apart in the world.
These are all national themes intrinsic to the purpose of Judaism and it
makes sense for the Torah to emphasize them.
To explain the inclusion of Amalek, we might say that unfortunately
Jewish nationhood has always involved the fight for physical survival. But, alas, Miriam seems to be the odd
one out. Whatever is she doing on
this list? Perhaps, one might
suggest, she represents the realm of mitzvot known as MITZVOT BEIN ADAM
LE'CHAVERO - obligations between Man and Man.
If that is so, surely the
mitzva commanding the preservation of human life, one of the Torah's highest
ideals, should be repeated here instead: "Remember what Cain did to Abel, how he
struck him down dead." Instead, the
Torah warns us not to gossip.
There is
another dimension to the Miriam story which, when properly addressed, will
explain the reasons for God's anger with Miriam, and the necessity for reminding
us about the incident in Parashat Ki Tetze.
The Torah deals at length, in Parshiyot Tazria and Metzora, with
infections afflicting the body, clothes, and homes. Commentators debate whether
the Biblical disease constitutes a natural, medical condition, or a supernatural
and miraculous sign of God's displeasure.
Whatever the true nature of tzara'at, the Torah is quite clear that
treatment of the phenomenon requires the investigation of a priest, the kohen. Called to the scene of suspected
tzara'at, a kohen does not heal the victim but diagnoses, examining the symptoms
to determine if quarantine is necessary.
What follows is an elaborate system of ritual cleansing of the leper
which is not a physical therapy but a spiritual purification, with every stage
governed by the kohen.
Let us
return to the verse which precedes the Miriam warning in our parasha:
"In cases
of a skin infliction be most careful to do exactly as the levitical priests
instruct you. Take care to do as I
have commanded them" (Deuteronomy 24:8).
The Torah here cautions a victim of
tzara'at to do exactly as instructed by the kohen who assists in overcoming the
ordeal. Perhaps we can make a connection between the recovery process and a
possible cause for the tzara'at. It
is my suggestion that rejection of authority is sometimes severe enough to
warrant divine intervention and that part of the healing process is
re-acceptance of authority. The
Hebrew phrase instructing total obedience to the kohen in this matter, KE'CHOL
ASHER YORUKHA (do exactly as you are taught), recalls an earlier verse in
Deuteronomy 17:11. There the Torah
tells the people to obey the rulings of the kohanim, levi'im and judges who are
the nation's teachers. The passage
is understood as the source which grants religious authority to every
generation's rabbinic scholars. The
Rabbis are not only held to be Jewry's most learned people, they are considered
the representations of God, the bearers of the Oral Tradition and the ones
trained to interpret the Written Law.
In verse 11 we find the same phrase which demands we heed all that our
leaders teach - "ASHER YORUKHA."
When
Miriam spoke against Moses, it was not merely her brother she was maligning but
the first and greatest teacher in Jewish history.
By speaking about Moses' wife or comparing herself to him in some way,
Miriam was showing disrespect to an agent of God. For a brief moment she doubted
his total authority. There are two
other cases in the Bible where tzara'at might also be explained in terms of
questioning authority. In Exodus
(Ch. 4) Moses himself resists God's command that he accept the leadership of the
nation. As a sign that God is with
him, Moses' hand is struck with tzara'at.
If the Israelites in Egypt question Moses' mission, he is to show them
this sign. The right of God to
appoint leadership is demonstrated in His power to instantly afflict and heal. In II Kings Chapter 5, Naaman, a
commander in the army of Aram, is inflicted with leprosy but scoffs at the
instructions given by the prophet Elisha to cure him. Once he recants and obeys the simple
directions of the prophet, he is immediately cured.
One might
argue that were the Torah intent in reminding us that the position of God's
anointed ones is not to be challenged, a far better example than Miriam can be
found in the story of Korach. Korach's insurrection (Numbers 16), does indeed
aim to completely topple the rule of Moses and Aaron. There is however, a great difference
between the slight of Miriam and the outrage of Korach in terms of the challenge
to authority they represent. No
self-respecting system of government can tolerate outright rebellion which
attempts to overthrow a political leader.
The Torah recognizes that kings must be obeyed and respected and probably
would not deny that privilege to the leader of another culture. On the other
hand, the Torah believes that only the Jewish system of law affords religious
leadership with a unique power and right to express the will of God. It is this UNIQUE function of
religious authority that the Torah is stressing when it recalls Miriam's sin -
Do not belittle your teachers.
Combined with the other remembrances on our list of eight, obeying the halakhic
teachings of the Rabbis fits nicely as a fundamental belief for the Jewish
nation.