Parshat Chukat; Numbers 19:1-22:1 by Rabbi Denise L. Eger

This parasha is filled with transitions of all sorts. It records the death of Miriam sister of Moses and Aaron and leader of the children of Israel in her own right. Miriam was part of the triumvirate of leadership with her brothers. Moses the lawgiver, Aaron the priest and Miriam the prophetess. She perhaps was most in touch with the people and symbolically she quenched the thirst of a nation—perhaps for leader to be connected to the people.

Moses is so distant from the nation that since his encounter with God at Mt Sinai he must wear a veil to protect everyone from the Divine Radiance that emanates from him. Aaron, the Cohen Gadol-the High Priest is also set apart from the people in that he must maintain a scrupulous level of ritual purity to enable him to encounter God in the Mishkan and to offer the sacrifices as prescribed in the Torah. It is Miriam who relates to the people, even dancing with them as they safely crossed the Red Sea, sing and chanting, performing with the women.

Miriam has long been associated with water. It was she who helped to set in motion the rescue of the baby Moses from the waters of the Nile. It was Miriam who led the people in dance after the crossing of the Red Sea. And tradition teaches that Miriam quenched the thirst of the nation because of her secret well that followed the Children of Israel on their journey. The rabbis speak of this because following her death in this week’s portion, the Children of Israel cry out in thirst because of a lack of water. This of course leads to the very famous Biblical story of Moses striking the rock and the water flowing out. Because Moses struck the rock and did not speak to it as he had done previously, in Exodus God punishes Moses by not letting him into the Promised Land.

But Miriam’s name—in Hebrew Mir-yam—Yam of course being the word for sea, or ocean and Mir—from the word for bitter- Mar. Thus this connection between a woman’s leadership and water and in the person of Miriam, sister of the great two—Aaron and Moses was difficult water to navigate and to drink of.

This portion Chukat also records the death of Aaron, known as the pursuer of peace and harmony. And the power of the priesthood is transferred on Mt. Horeb from Aaron to his son Elazar.

But there are more transitions—and that is in the nature of the Children of Israel who this week also become a fighting army, challenging and conquering in the battles with Sihon and Og. The nation is toughening, and learning, and becoming a people as the mantles of leadership begin to be passed on to a new generation.
In every institution leaders must at some point let go and make room for a new generation of leadership. Some go willingly and quietly while others must be dragged from their posts. But the change in leadership keeps an institution healthy and strong as long as we allow leaders the opportunities to fulfill their goals and move the institutions forward.

Certainly Moses and Aaron and Miriam took the Children of Israel from a loose knit group of slaves to a covenanted nation in relationship with the Holy One of Blessing. We pay tribute to them and to their leadership and the ways in which they shaped our people. May we continue to walk in their footsteps, serving God and the Jewish people.

Posted by Lee at July 5, 2005 09:10 AM