Drawing at an ancient well in Israel (1900)

This week’s parasha, Emor, has a long and detailed description of the Jewish holidays. Central among the holidays are the three pilgrimage festivals: Pesach, Shavuot and Sukkot. All three holidays commemorate events around the time of the Exodus: Pesach, the liberation from Egypt; Shavuot, the divine revelation at Sinai; Sukkot, the “Clouds of Glory” that accompanied Israel in the Wilderness. We find an intriguing parallel between the three holidays and the three main Exodus leaders, the siblings Miriam, Aaron, and Moses. As is well-known, the Sages teach (Ta’anit 9a) that in the merit of Moshe, the Israelites were sustained by Heavenly manna; in the merit of Miriam, they received fresh, life-giving waters wherever they went; in the merit of Aaron, they had the protective Clouds of Glory. The connection between the siblings and the holidays is almost self-evident:

Miriam’s water corresponds neatly to the waters of the Exodus, both the Nile from which she helped to save baby Moshe, and the Splitting of the Sea—after which the Torah makes sure to mention that Miriam led the women in extra song. In fact, the Talmud (Sotah 12a) teaches that Miriam was the one who reunited her parents after they resolved to stop having more children following Pharaoh’s cruel decree and separated. Amram and Yocheved got back together and the result was Moshe. Miriam is the hidden hero, and without her there would be no Pesach at all. The root of her name is the same as maror, and rabbinic chronology dates the start of the Israelite slavery to the same year that she was born. (The Israelites were in Egypt for 210 years total, of which 116 were spent under oppression, and the last 86 under hard slavery. Miriam was 86 years old at the Exodus.) Continue reading →