Revelation comes in many forms—sometimes it’s a climactic moment on a mountaintop, but more often it’s a slow unfolding, a process of discovery. One way Jews have made room for such discoveries has been writing midrash: making connections between biblical passages or filling in gaps in the biblical narrative. (Some moderns playfully call midrash “biblical fan fiction.”)
This is a more traditional text study created by Lisa Batya Feld, looking at the midrashic legends that have evolved over the centuries about Miriam’s Well, which sustained the Israelites through their 40 years of wandering in the desert. What do these stories tell us about how midrash enables our tradition to grow and evolve over time? What images do they offer for modeling communal, non-hierarchical leadership? You can find the source sheet here: https://www.sefaria.org/sheets/309736?lang=bi
Commentary and Discussion Prompts:
Our source for the story of Miriam’s well is just two sentences in the Book of Numbers: Miriam dies, and there is no water. The writers of midrash took this to mean she had been providing water all along, and with her death, that water went away. By the time of the Mishna, a list of miraculous items in Pirkei Avot assumes its readers understand that Miriam’s well is special. A few centuries later, by the time of the Talmud, a passage in BT Shabbat claims Miriam’s well has many extraordinary, even bizarre characteristics! What details in this passage strike you as surprising?
The Talmud and later texts unpack some of this imagery and explain the textual basis for each element. Why does Miriam merit this miraculous well? What happens to the well when she dies? The commentators note that Moses strikes the rock immediately after Miriam’s death to produce water, and make the connection that the rock had been the source of the water. Do you see any significance to the rock/well changing its name and its nature in different contexts?
Going back to the original image from the Talmud of a sieve-shaped rock in the sea, which of these details do you see reflected in the other sources? What significance do you think each of these pieces has?
Finally, a selection of modern feminist texts, beginning with a quote by Mary Beard on how individual women and marginalized folks trying to achieve high office, fitting themselves into traditional power structures, may not be the best way to effect meaningful change. Miriam is the only one of the three siblings who leaves no clear successor: Moses passes his mantle of leadership to Joshua, Aaron invests his son Elazar as High Priest. Did Miriam’s power die with her? Or has she left the field open for any number of successors? How might a moving well with multiple mouths serve as a metaphor for non-hierarchal leadership?
Lisa Batya Feld is a writer and a Hebrew College rabbinical student (2023) in Boston, Massachusetts. She is currently at work on a midrashic novel about Miriam, Aaron, and Moses as siblings.