We have escaped bondage and crossed the sea. We enter the arid land before us made hesitant by generations of servitude mixed with our recent struggle and yet heady in our new freedom.
Miriam, the midwife of our liberation has stood ready, waiting to sustain us in the time ahead as we come to grips with our tasks and responsibilities.
Our Sages spoke of Miriam's well, created in the twilight of creation's week. It now lies hidden in the sea of Galilee for Elijah to restore to us. Ishmael received water from it as the well of living and seeing; Rebecca drew from it when she greeted Eliezer; the well first appeared to our people when Moses struck the rock on Miriam's account at the bitter place in Sinai and it travelled with us throughout the desert years. Its waters, we are told, taste of old wine and new wine, of milk and of honey.
This is the well of the Ancestors of the world:
Abraham & Sarah, Isaac & Rebecca, Jacob & Leah and Rachel dug it;
the leaders of olden times have searched for it;
the heads of the people, the lawgivers of Israel, Moses, Aaron and Miriam, have made it run with their staves.
In the desert we received it as a gift and after its receipt it followed us on all our wanderings: to lofty mountains and deep valleys
Not until we came to the boundary of Moab did it disappear because we squandered our freedom by not fulfilling our responsibilities.
Now, as we begin a new season of renewal, may these cleansing, refreshing
waters, reminiscent of Miriam's well, recall for us a time of purity of
purpose and help us focus on the tasks ahead.
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