Before you read the translation, notice that I’ve added a little bit of padding from Talmudic midrash, just to help make sense of what’s going on. It’s a good story, and I hope readers will see something fresh in this translation even before we get to the drash. There are, of course, many faces to the Torah, and many ways to read the same text. And I think there’s a really unexpected way that we could read this story that I haven’t seen in any midrash or commentary. So, I’m going to suggest that on this occasion, when we read the story, we imagine God as a parent-cum-teacher, who is actually very loving, but pretending to be angry and a little bit scary, in order to bring out the best in his children. This is Numbers 12:1-16:
1Now Miriam spoke—and Aaron—against Moses because of the ‘Cushite’ woman [meaning, according to Rashi, a woman of both great beauty and irreproachable character][1]. He [Moses] had taken [her as his wife]: “He took a Cushite woman!” (they said.) [In some midrash, the Rabbis say that Miriam’s criticism of Moses was that, unlike other prophets, he unreasonably and unkindly refrained from normal human and marital relations with his wife in order to reserve himself for his duties as a prophet.]
2[Miriam and Aaron, who were also prophets but didn’t believe they had to keep away from their partners][2] said, “Is it only, solely through Moses that God speaks? Isn’t it also through us that He speaks?” And God heard. 3(Now the man Moses was very humble, more so than any other earthling [human] on the face of the earth.)
4And God suddenly called to Moses, to Aaron, and to Miriam, “You three! Come forward, to the Tent of Meeting!” And so, they came forward … the three of them. 5And God came down in a [standing] pillar of cloud, and stood at the entrance of the Tent; and [He] called out, “Aaron and Miriam!” And they came forward … the two of them; 6and [God] said, “Please – hear My words: If there is among you a prophet of God, I make Myself known to them in a vision, I speak with them in a dream. 7Not so with My servant Moses; in My whole household, he is trusted; 8with him I speak mouth-to-mouth, plainly and not in riddles, and he gets to see [beholds] some form [the likeness] of God [that is, Me]. So why were you not too in awe to speak against My servant, against Moses?” 9God’s anger flared against them, and off He went.
10And as the cloud withdrew from the Tent, look! hineih! there was Miriam stricken with scales like snow! Aaron faced Miriam; look! hineih! she was stricken with scales! 11And Aaron said to Moses, “Please! My lord! I beg you, do not count this sin against us, which we did out of foolishness— and we know we sinned! 12Please! Do not let her be like a stillborn who, when it emerges from its mother’s womb, is eaten up in half its flesh!”
13So Moses cried out to God, saying, “O God, please, heal her, please!”
14But God said to Moses, “If her father spat, yes, spat in her face, would she not bear-her-shame for seven days? Let her be shut up for seven days, outside the camp, and afterwards, she may be gathered back in.”
15So Miriam was shut up, outside the camp for seven days; and the people did not march on until Miriam had been gathered back in. 16Only after that did the people set out from Chatzeirot; and they made camp in the Wilderness of Paran.
My commentary
Miriam fights for justice
Did Miriam do anything wrong? Was she racist, as some commentaries suggest? The midrash I inserted in the translation suggests not. If we look at an earlier part of her life, when Pharaoh decreed all baby boys should be killed, the terrified Israelites divorced and stopped having babies. Midrash says little Miriam was so upset, she managed to persuade her parents not to give Pharaoh that victory, but to get back together again.[3] And, of course, they then had Moses. So Miriam has a track record of civil disobedience, in keeping couples together. Her concern is that Moses is letting down his wife Tzipporah, and quite unnecessarily harming the relationship; after all, Miriam and Aaron are non-celibate prophets. Miriam, to her credit, follows her conscience, seeking justice for Moses’ wife, and speaking her truth to Moses’ power.
God pushes back
However, God pushes back, and singles out Moses as the preeminent prophet who should be shown special deference. God speaks directly and clearly with Moses, but only cryptically and ambiguously with Miriam, Aaron and other prophets. That tells me that they must have a much harder job than Moses when it comes to decrypting God’s messages. Perhaps God should actually cut Miriam and Aaron some slack if they don’t always get things right. What’s God doing here? He seems to reframe Miriam’s legitimate protest as an act so rebellious that she must be punished. Really? I think God might be pushing the siblings a little, with the hidden motive of giving them a chance to push back and develop greater ethical independence.
What’s in a story?
This is just a story, of course. Let’s not get sidetracked by debates about the existence of God, or whether God intervenes in history; and outside story-world, illness is not Divine punishment. But stories can still help us reflect on human behaviour, and the choices we have.
Aaron shows kindness
So, God afflicts Miriam with a skin condition, triggering a series of responses. First, Aaron could say, “She said it! It was all her!” But he doesn’t. Instead, he volunteers his confession, and admits complicity in fuelling the tension, saying, “We have sinned.” Echoes of the communal confessions that we recite at High Holy Days. Rather than running away, we step forward to join in collective responsibility for wrongs that have been committed and what needs to be done to put things right. Second, Aaron empathically feels distress at Miriam’s suffering, and moves to help her cause. He asks Moses to show kindness towards their sister, perhaps implying even that God’s reaction is disproportionate. In Genesis, Cain rebelliously asked God, “Am I my brother’s, my sibling’s, keeper?” (Gen. 4:9) The answer in Jewish tradition is, emphatically, “Yes.” Aaron clearly feels this.
Moses stays humble
Third, Moses steps up. We’ve been told that Moses has both a unique and privileged relationship with God, and is “more humble than any other person on earth”. Is God setting him up? I can’t think of a better way to tempt Moses into ego inflation. But Moses doesn’t take the bait – he doesn’t take self-righteous offence at his siblings’ criticism. He stays humble and compassionate, stepping quickly to Miriam’s defence, and praying movingly for her healing. He stands by Miriam, even when God says she has done wrong.
Miriam is silent and isolated
God holds the line – that Miriam must answer for her actions. At the start, she objected to Moses separating himself from his wife. So it’s ironic, and painful, that Miriam now has to separate – from her family and people, and stay outside the camp. At the start, she spoke as an ally for Tzipporah. But after that, she seems to have no voice – sadly, it’s not unusual for female characters in Torah to be relegated to silence.
The community embraces Miriam
But Miriam has found an ally in her brother Aaron, and her brother Moses. And now it’s the turn of the community to step up. While Miriam is in quarantine outside the camp—actually it feels almost like she’s in a state of detention—the community waits for her. They won’t move on until she’s welcomed safely back with them. We have a Talmudic saying: kol Yisrael areivim zeh bazeh – “All Jews are responsible for each other.”[4] Nobody is left behind, and we all help out to make things work, and put things right. And, of course, the Jewish world is only one of the many communities of which each of us is a member called to responsibility. Beha’alotcha, this week’s portion, is a tale of bickering and irresponsibility by the Israelites, but it ends with this story. My guess is that God might secretly be delighted that everyone finally reveals their better nature, and acts to bring about healing – physical and relational.
Be an ally
Joachim Prinz, a rabbi of the Jewish community in Berlin under the Hitler regime, said: “the most important thing I learned under those tragic circumstances was that … (the) most urgent, the most disgraceful, the most shameful, and the most tragic problem is silence.”[5] Elie Wiesel said, “We must always take sides … and … sometimes we must interfere.”[6] Picking sides is not the same as picking people. For example, during the Vietnam War, the Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh refused to ally with either North or South; opposing the war itself, he advocated for peace. All decisions are improved by cultivating inner peace and compassion. And as humans, we are co-responsible for the whole human family.
Today’s story can teach us something about allyship – all three siblings challenge God, and the community eases the harshness of God’s treatment of Miriam. When does allyship require us to do like Miriam, and speak truth to power? When should we do like Aaron, sharing in repairing what we’ve damaged? When should we do like Moses, and be merciful to those who’ve done wrong? What kind of community are we if we don’t offer a healing path back for those who’ve crossed a line?
In the words of the prophet Micah, we have been told what God requires of us. Like Miriam, to act justly. Like Aaron, to love kindness. Like Moses, to walk humbly with our God.[7] What principles do we stand for? Who—in our closest circle, and in the wider world—needs our personal allyship right now?
A Prayer
May we offer ourselves as allies where we can, as soon as we can. May we receive the allies we need. In pursuit of justice, peace, and healing, may we leave no one behind. And may we offer kindness to those parts of ourselves and others that have got things wrong, and will most likely get things wrong again. We ask this l’shem shamayim, for the sake of heaven.
Footnotes
[1] Rashi: “from where did Miriam know that Moses had separated from his wife? Rabbi Natan says: Miriam was at Zipporah’s side when Moses was told: “Eldad and Meidad are prophesying in the camp!” When Zipporah heard this, she said, “Woe to the wives of these men if they are to be occupied with prophecy, for they will separate themselves from their wives just as my husband has separated from me.” From this, Miriam knew, and she told it to Aaron. Now, if Miriam, whose intention was not to denigrate Moses, was punished so severely, all the more is punishment due to one who speaks ill about his fellow.” “The Cushite woman.. This tells us that all could acknowledge her beauty in the same way as all can acknowledge that a Cushite is black.” “Regarding the [Cushite] woman. – i.e., regarding the fact that she had now been divorced.” “For he had married a Cushite woman.. Why does Scripture state this? Only because there may be a woman who possesses pleasing physical beauty but not pleasing conduct, or one of pleasing conduct but without physical beauty – but this woman was pleasing in every respect.” “The Cushite woman.. She was called Cushite as a euphemism on account of her beauty, like a man calls his handsome son a Cushite so that no evil eye have an effect on him.”
[2] Rashi: “Has He not spoken with us too?. – and yet we did not abstain from marital relations.”
[3] Midrash Lekach Tov, Ex. 2:1
[4] Shavuot 39b
[5] March on Washington, 28 Aug 1963 – https://www.sefaria.org/sheets/115591?lang=bi
[6] Elie Wiesel, Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech, 10 December 1986 – https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/1986/wiesel/acceptance-speech/
[7] Micah 6:8