Deaths in the family & principles of Jewish Biblical exegesis

stillsmallvoice

The Narn rule!
May 8, 2002
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Hi all!

Hmm...I haven't started a thread here in ages! So...here goes!

This coming Saturday, we (Jews all over the world) will read the weekly Toirah portion (see http://www.jewfaq.org/readings.htm) of Numbers 19:1-22:1.

Numbers 20:1 and 20:22-29 tell us about the deaths of Miriam and Aaron, respectively. Deuteronomy 34:5-8 tells us about the death of their younger brother Moses. Look at the accounts of the siblings' deaths. How do we know that Aaron was more beloved by the people than Moses? Deuteronomy 34:8 tells us that: "And the children of Israel wept for Moses in the plains of Moab 30 days." Numbers 20:29 tells us that: "...ALL the house of Israel wept for Aaron 30 days." (It is a principle of Jewish Biblical exegesis that there is no wasted or redundant ink in the scriptures & that we can learn much from seemingly trivial turns of phrase, subtle differences in the text, nuances in the wording, etc.) That Aaron was more beloved by the people is not surprising:

Aaron's most notable personal quality is that he was a peacemaker. His love of peace is proverbial; Rabbi Hillel said, 'Be disciples of Aaron, loving peace and pursuing peace, loving people and drawing them near the Torah.' According to tradition, when Aaron heard that two people were arguing, he would go to each of them and tell them how much the other regretted his actions, until the two people agreed to face each other as friends"
Source: http://www.jewfaq.org/moshe.htm#Aaron )

But whereas we wept 30 days for Moses & ALL of us wept 30 days for Aaron (in Judaism, mourning rites are observed for spouses, siblings & children for 30 days; for parents, it's a year, see http://www.jewfaq.org/death.htm#Mourning ), the text doesn't say that we wept at all for Miriam. Numbers 20:1 merely reports that she died & does not mention any crying, mourning, etc. at all. Our Sages relate the tradition that God was very angry at this failure on our part and said: "What? This great and holy woman, this prophetess, dies and you don't mourn for her? You don't cry for her? What, you don't think that you need her? I'll show you how much you need her!" In Numbers 20:2, we immediately read, "And there was no water for the congregation...," and we began to bellyache for water. (It is also a principle of Jewish Biblical exegesis that the chain of events in the Torah is never random, incidental or coincidental. If event B follows event A, it is for a reason & to teach us something.) Our Sages teach that it was in Miriam's merit that a (miraculous!) well of water followed us through the desert for almost 40 years & that God took it away when we failed to pay proper respects to Miriam (see http://www.jewfaq.org/moshe.htm#Miriam ) following her death. Thus, "And there was no water for the congregation..."

Be well!

ssv :wave: