[Avodah] Fwd: Beshalach "Miriam, A Woman of Action"

[Richard Wolberg]

> "And Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a tambourine  
> in her hand; and all the women went out after her with tambourines,  
> dancing. And Miriam answered them, 'Sing to the Lord, for He has  
> triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider has He thrown into the  
> sea." (Shmot 15:20,21)
>
> Here Miriam is described as both a prophetess and as the sister of  
> Aharon. Why is she not described as the sister of Moshe? Rashi  
> explains that she achieved prophecy at the point when she was only  
> the sister of Aharon, before Moshe was born. What was the content of  
> her prophecy? That one day Moshe would be the savior. This prophecy  
> led Miriam to action: she encouraged her parents who had separated  
> to reunite.
>
> Amram was afraid lest a son be born; the child would be taken and  
> executed. In such a world, he reasoned, it was better not to have  
> children. Miriam chastised her father and declared that he was worse  
> than the hated Par'oh himself, for Par'oh only threatened the male  
> children, while Amram's plan would prevent all children from being  
> born. Amram accepted his daughter's argument; he and Yocheved  
> remarried, and the couple were serenaded by their older children.  
> Soon enough a son was born and the light of his aura filled the room.
>
> R' Abraham Ben HaRambam says it was because she was Aaron's equal in  
> prophecy, whereas Moses was the "father" of all prophets, (hence he  
> was in a class by himself).
>

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.aishdas.org/pipermail/avodah-aishdas.org/attachments/20080112/3773cc9b/attachment-0001.htm>