One of the greatest gifts Miriam gave the people was belief in redemption and remaining connected despite adversity

Miriam’s well was one of ten creations that came into being at twilight on Erev Shabbos.

The Maharal explains the significance of the timing: whatever was made at twilight — that time when day and night mingled, at the merging of Shabbos and weekday, sacred and profane — had unique characteristics. These creations contain elements of the natural world as well as aspects of Shabbos, the supernatural. The wondrous well that traveled through the desert, providing Am Yisrael with sparkling water in the arid dunes, was no exception.

The Yalkut Shimoni tells us that this well provided so much water that a boat was needed to traverse the watery expanse if one woman wanted to visit her friend in another shevet. Today, the well is believed to be in the Kinneret. Indeed, there’s a tradition that people draw water from there on Motzaei Shabbos in the hope of accessing this water and thereby facilitate healing. Miriam’s well will reappear in the future as the water that emanates from under the threshold of the Beis Hamikdash. From there, the streams will water the land, causing even non-fruit-bearing trees to give forth fruit; the water will also bring healing.

This miraculous well merged the physical and spiritual. We know the well was given to Klal Yisrael in the merit of Miriam. But what is the inner connection between the well’s characteristics and those of Miriam the prophetess?

Significance of Water

To discover the intrinsic connection between Miriam’s well and the middos and life’s work of Miriam Haneviah, let’s examine some of the features of water and see how they correspond to Miriam’s life.

Water is compared to Torah, as both are essential for life; both sustain and maintain a person. In sefer Michah, three leaders of the people are noted: “I sent before you Moshe, Aharon, and Miriam” (Michah 6:4). The Targum Yonatan explains the inclusion of Miriam in this set of leaders. When the women gathered near the Mishkan to hear words of Torah, to learn and grow spiritually, it was not only Moshe Rabbeinu who conveyed wisdom, but also Miriam. It was not Sara Schenirer who spearheaded education for women, but Miriam the prophetess, thousands of years earlier. Miriam gave the women of her era the life-giving gift of Torah knowledge. Miriam serves as a role model to all those who bequeath the mesorah to the next generation. It is fitting that Miriam’s gift to the nation is the life-giving well, a physical manifestation of the spiritual gift she imparted to the people.

Water is also symbolic of chesed, for it is the force that sustains all life. The Netziv notes that the well was finely attuned to each person’s generous spirit: just as mahn fell near a person’s home based on his righteousness, a tributary of water would form near a person of generous spirit. In the Torah, we first encounter Miriam in her role as a midwife, committed not only to bringing Jewish babies into the world, but to keeping them alive.

Within her own family, we see Miriam watching over infant Moshe when he is set afloat on the Nile (protecting life), and then ensuring he is nursed by a Jewish woman (sustaining life). In both these cases, we see Miriam not only committed to life itself, but also to the sacred charge of nurturing that life. And herein lies the distinction between chesed and emes.

Emes, truth, compels us to perform certain actions — but it is chesed that is expressed when we go above and beyond. Imagine a friend asks you to give her and her sick child a ride to the hospital. Agreeing to fill their very real need is an act of emes. But what if you go armed with lunch and snacks. Say you find parking, pay for it, and accompany your friend into the hospital to keep her company while she waits for doctors and tests. These are acts that go above and beyond the call of duty. These are acts of chesed. Chesed, that quintessentially Jewish trait, was personified in Miriam: the woman who not only brought life into the world, but risked so much to sustain that life.

Rav Munk (on Bereishis 24:11) notes that wells and streams of water seem to be the ancient world’s precursor to the Hilton lounge — prime shidduch territory. But there was more to it than the convenience of a drinking spot. Water is a symbol of Jewish purity. Proximity to a well or stream was thus an appropriate backdrop for taking the first step in founding a Jewish family. Miriam’s prophecy — and her raison d’être — was the perpetuation of the Jewish family. It was her prophecy and reasoning that reunited her own parents — and everyone else who followed Amram’s lead.

The Midrash records the argument she put forth: Pharaoh issued a decree only on boys, but her father was preventing both boys and girls from being born. She also understood that Pharaoh’s decree may or may not be upheld; as leader of his generation, however, her father would certainly be followed. Considering how Miriam fought for the Jewish family sheds light on another puzzling incident in Miriam’s life. How could Miriam — who had reached the rarified spiritual levels of prophecy — have spoken lashon hara? And about her beloved younger brother, leader of the nation, no less?

The subject of Miriam’s lashon hara was Moshe’s separation from his wife. Miriam worried about the impact Moshe’s behavior would have on the rest of the nation. In particular, it went against the driving force of her spiritual world: perpetuation of the Jewish Nation. No wonder that, as leader of the women, she encouraged them to take mirrors to the fields to perpetuate the next generation, mirrors that were ultimately used to form the Kiyor, the Water Basin.

Hidden Salvation

The Maharal notes that the well of Miriam signifies the people’s yearning to come closer to Hashem. Drawing water from the well symbolizes the people being “drawn” to something higher. One of the greatest gifts Miriam gave the people was belief in redemption and remaining connected despite adversity.

Indeed, as the Kli Yakar notes, the fact that the midwives did not reason that it’s better to kill the infants, rather than have them grow up in suffering, is because they believed the redemption was imminent. Miriam’s prophecy was that her mother would give birth to the redeemer. At the very time people were desisting from having children, she foresaw the birth of the redeemer, and the ultimate salvation of the people. Likewise, it is Miriam who led the women with timbrels and dance at the crossing of the sea. The women believed that great miracles were going to take place, and they took along these instruments to show proper gratitude.

Just as the well water is hidden from view, often salvation is hidden from us. It’s interesting to note that the commentators explain that the well of Miriam was the well Hagar saw when Yishmael was dying of thirst. The well was there all along, yet to merit seeing it, Hagar had to learn to vanquish despair. This well nourishes us with the belief that salvation, though hidden, will eventually arrive.

Miriam, the midwife, the teacher, the model of kindness, the sustainer of faith, is the multifaceted role model of the Jewish woman. She creates the healing powers, physically and spiritually, which are reflected in the water of the well. She provides us with the bedrock belief in the importance of the continuity, both physically and spiritually, of the Jewish family. Perhaps most importantly, she represents a model of never giving up hope, of the ability to stare into the darkness and know that light will one day appear.

(Originally featured in Family First, Issue 433)