This week’s parsha contains the infamous story of Moshe hitting the rock. It is infamous because it becomes a punishable offense that is the catalyst for Moshe not being permitted to enter the Promised Land. There are, to be honest, a great number of questions on this incident – enough to cover multiple divrei Torahs.
Moshe hits the rock to try to restore the well of Miriam that stopped flowing upon her death. The connection of Miriam and the well is deciphered from this specific sequence of events, from the fact that the Torah states that she died and was buried and the people had no water. The connection itself is never stated directly in the Torah, but the Midrash correlates the three great miracles – the water, the manna, and the pillar of cloud – to the three leaders, Miriam, Moshe, and Aaron (in order of miracles).
Why water to Miriam? It has been noted by the sages that the water was connected to Miriam for two reasons. The first was in connection to her following her baby brother as his basket floated down the Nile. Her natural nurturing instincts, going to such great lengths, are reflected in the production of water in the Wilderness.
The second connection is her great recognition of the miracle of the kriyas Yam Suf when she burst into song and led the women to sing their own unique shira. Miriam understood the power of words to capture an essence of Hashem’s glory. Understanding that Miriam’s well flowed as a direct result of her lifting up her voice, of her using her words, casts an interesting light upon the actions in Bamidbar 20. Moshe is told to speak to the rock and hits it instead. He is told to use Miriam’s power, the power of her voice – which we know, that for all the speaking Moshe does in the Torah, he did not see himself as a man of words – and perhaps this was to tap into the feminine power of words.
Are words a feminine power? The sages say, “Ten measures of speech descended to the world and women took nine measures of speech” (Talmud Kiddushin 49b). Hashem used words to create the world. Women have both a large measure of the power of words and the power of creation. None of this is a coincidence, nor is it a coincidence that water is the most essential element for life.
What is the connection of words and water? Like water, words are always powerful. They can nourish, and they can destroy. There are times when the words need to flow quickly, and time when they need to trickle gently.
It is interesting to recall that the Torah is referred to as Mayim Chayim, living waters. There are infinite discussions about the role of women in the Torah world, about the nature of Judaism and whether it subjugates women. These are modern terms. When we delve into the Torah, we find answers of our own. We do not hear of Miriam’s connection to the essential water source until both she and the well are gone, and then only in a manner of inference. Because women, like sources of irrigation, are often the unseen wellsprings of our communities. But when the water is not there, it is something for which our people cry out, because we recognize the inherent power of the voice of women that was given sound by the uplifting shira Miriam sang after the people crossed the Yam Suf.
The Torah is the blueprint of the world. There are layers upon layers of meaning in the world that the are physical manifestations of the divine complexity of the Torah. The interplay of water, words, and women is just one that can help guide us in living our richest spiritual lives.
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