Miriam's Well

"And Miriam died there... And there was no water for the congregation" (20:1-2)

A person may ingest the ingredients of life, but these will not vitalize him without the fluids that course through his body. The food swallowed by the stomach, the oxygen drawn in by the lungs, must now be transported through the bodys canals and made to saturate its every cell.

Therein lies the spiritual significance of Miriams role as Israels provider of "water". Miriam first appears in the Torah (see Midrashim and commentaries on Exodus 1:15) as a childrens nurse: one who distills adult food for the consumption of a child; one who trains and educates a growing human being, filtering the stimuli of an adult world for his maturing mind: who processes the raw materials of life to meet the specific needs of her charges age and phase of development.

Miriams well is the vital fluid of Israels spiritual life, the water that inculcates them with the knowledge and identity her brothers provide. The waters of Miriam transport and apply the nutrients of Torah and the abstractions of faith to each individual, on his or her particular level. (The Lubavitcher Rebbe)