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

[Michael Makovi]

> "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).
>

I think it is Rabbi Joseph Telushkin who says that since Miriam and
Aaron grew up together, while Moshe spent his life in Pharaoh's court
and Midian, Miriam would be associated with Aaron (in the popular
mind) far more than with Moshe.

Mikha'el Makovi