Rabbi Mordecai Kornfeld's
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Sponsored in honor of the Bat Mitzvah of Miriam Steiner, Friday 20 Elul, 5755; Sept. 15, 1985

MIRIAM - GUARDIAN OF THE FAITH

Miriam's beginnings were punctuated with pain and misery. The Talmud (Gemara Sota 12a) points out that Miriam was a very weak and sickly child throughout her youth. Besides that, the year she was born marked, according to the Midrash, the start of the Egyptian oppression of our forefathers (Midrash Shir Ha'Shirim Rabba 2:11, Seder Olam Rabba Ch.3). We are further told that when she was but five years old, Pharaoh, the cruel Egyptian tyrant, appointed Miriam and her mother to the task of overseeing the execution of the Jewish male infants (Shmot Rabba 1:13, Tosafot Bechorot s.v. Ve'Aharon). When that failed to accomplish his goal, Pharaoh passed his famous decree that every male-child born to the Jews was to be drowned in the Nile river (Shmot 1:22). And soon later, Miriam's own mother bore a male-child! (Rashi, ibid.)

In fact, Miriam's very name , which starts with the root "Mem Resh" -- "Mar," meaning bitter, bears a connotation of misery (Seder Olam Rabba ibid.)

Yet, out of these humble beginnings came Miriam, the sister of Moses and Aaron, who together with her illustrious brothers made up the triumvirate that led the Jews out of Egypt and through the wilderness towards Eretz Yisro'el! (Ta'anit 9a.) What gave her the strength to accomplish this turnabout of her "bitter" fate?

II

Our Sages reveal to us a very telling story about Miriam's character. As the Gemara tells it:

Amram, father of Miriam, was the spiritual leader of the Jews at the time. When the evil Pharaoh decreed that every male child must be thrown into the Nile river, Amram said, "Why should we continue to build families, if this tyrant will just come and destroy them?" He went and divorced his wife. All the other Jewish men, seeing Amram's reaction, followed suit. Each man divorced his wife! At that point, Miriam protested to her father. "Father," she said, your decree is more cruel than Pharaoh's! Pharaoh only tried to prevent the Jews from raising male children, while you have prevented them from raising *any* children!" (Gemara Sota 12a)

To Amram, as great a believer as he was, the situation in Egypt seemed hopeless. When he demonstrated his despair publicly by divorcing his wife, the entire nation suffered a tremendous drop in morale. This would have remained the sorry state of the Jews -- if not for Miriam.

As Gemara continues, Amram was shaken up by his daughter's strong words. He suddenly realized that his reaction was totally unsuitable. He had given up the fight. He had forgotten, for the moment, that no king in the world could threaten our King, the King of Kings. He immediately regretted his inappropriate response, remarried his wife, and prepared to face Pharaoh's latest evil decree with renewed faith in Hashem. Amram's change in heart boosted the morale of the entire Jewish nation, and the others too returned to their wives. A short while later, Amram's wife bore him the child that would be Hashem's emissary to take the Jews out of Egypt -- Moses.

Miriam's unwavering trust in Hashem's promise served as a lesson to all of Israel. The liberator was born because Miriam refused to give up hope!

We find a similar display of Miriam's character in another episode involving the birth of Moses. As the Talmud tells us:

Miriam had a prophetic vision while she still had only one brother, Aaron. She predicted, "My mother will have a child that will liberate the Jews!" When Moshe was born... and set afloat, as a young infant, in the Nile river, Miriam's father patted her on the head and asked her, "My daughter, what has become of your wonderful prophecy?" But, as the Torah tells us, when Miriam's mother placed the box containing Moses in the reeds of the Nile river, "Miriam waited in the distance, to see what would happen to him" (Shmot 2:4) -- she waited to see how her prophecy would be fulfilled.
(Gemara Sota 13a)

When Miriam's mother set the frail Moses afloat in the Nile, it was the young Miriam who remained behind to see how Hashem would save him. Moshe's mother didn't stay to watch. Perhaps she was torn by the emotions of a mother who can't bear to watch as her child dies. But Miriam had no such worries. She simply knew that Hashem would save Moshe, and wanted to witness the miracle herself!

It was due to Miriam's extreme display of faith that she merited to see the end of the bitter Egyptian oppression that commenced with her birth. She lived to see the complete fulfillment of her prophecy of exodus, and to lead the Jewish women in a dance of thanks to Hashem upon the liberation (Shmot 15:20).

III

Not only did Miriam experience the joy of seeing the Jewish people freed from bondage, she also experienced a total change in her own physical nature. The Talmud tells us that Miriam is referred to in Chronicles (I 2:18) as "Yeri'ot," because in her youth "her complexion was as pale as a linen curtain." Later, however, she was referred to as "Tzohar," because "her complexion became as bright as the midday sun!" (Chronicles I 4:7.) From a bitter "Miriam," she was transformed into a ruddy "Tzohar!" This latter was the Miriam that led the Jews towards the Holy Land.

Perhaps the root of her name, "Mem Resh" -- Mar, was not meant to hint to a "bitter" life after all. "Mar" has another meaning. It means to exchange or to reverse (Tosafot Bava Metzia 25b s.v. Ke'avney).Miriam had the ability to reverse the harshest circumstances, and turn them into a source of inspiration and hope, through her unwavering trust in her Creator.

May Hashem grant me the strength of my namesake, to encourage my fellow Jews never to give up, but rather to trust in the words of His messengers, the prophets, that Hashem's presence will return to Zion. May we merit to see, as a result, the fulfillment of the promise that Hashem made to our matriarch Rachel: "V'yesh Tikva L'Achri'tech Ne'um Hashem, V'sha'vu Va'nim Ligvulam" -- There is hope, for your exiled children will yet return to their land (Jeremiah 31:16)!

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