a Empty whatever wine remains in the wine glasses into the empty bowls then pour some water from the pitcher that has stood on the table into everyone’s wine glass.
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.
We have thirsted for freedom, but now we thirst for water. As with so many people in the world who do not have water, we face bitterness1 and quarreling.2
Water runs deep in the stories of Miriam, whose name means “bitter water” and Moses, whose name means to “draw out” (of water). And so he was, when as an infant… after Miriam, his sister, put him there.
Our ancient texts tell us that Moses and Miriam were able to turn the bitter into sweetness and bring forth water.
Further, we are told that 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 Galilee3 for Elijah to restore to us. Ishmael received water from it as “the well of living and seeing”4; Rebecca drew from it when she greeted Eliezer;5 the well first appeared to our people when Moses struck the rock on Miriam’s account at the place of bitterness in Sinai6—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 caused it to flow with their staves.
In the desert we received it as a gift
and thereafter it followed us on all our wanderings:
to lofty mountains and deep valleys.
Not until we came to the boundary of Moab,
when we entered the Land without Moses and Miriam,
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.
זֶה בּאֵר מִרְיָם, בּאֵר מַיִם חַיִּים. זֵכֶר לִיצִיאַת מִצְרָיִם.
Zeh Be’er Miryam, be’er mayim chayim. Zeicher l’tzi-at Mitzrayim.
This is the Well of Miriam, the well of living waters. A reminder of the Exodus from Egypt.
a All drink the water from Miriam’s well.
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2 Exodus 17:6-7, Numbers 20:11
Last modified on March 31, 2015