{"id":47143,"date":"2019-01-08T21:47:03","date_gmt":"2019-01-08T19:47:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=47143"},"modified":"2022-08-02T12:03:30","modified_gmt":"2022-08-02T09:03:30","slug":"restoring-order-and-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/restoring-order-and-life\/","title":{"rendered":"Restoring Order And Life"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[620,465,582,565,640],"acf":{"old_id":"47143","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":34285,"related_cahpter":"129","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"Even Miriam and Aaron were not immune to sibling rivalry","content":"

Here is the story that sullies Miriam\u2019s reputation, that inextricably links her to the skin condition, tsara\u2019at<\/em>. Focusing on the feminine verb (vatedaber<\/em>), \u201cshe spoke,\u201d and the order of characters in the opening verse (Miriam, then Aaron), the rabbis of the Midrash amplify Miriam\u2019s misdeed as a gossiper, and fix gossip as the prototypical cause of tsara\u2019at<\/em>. To reach an audience far removed from the possibility of diagnosing or responding to tsara\u2019at,<\/em> the Midrash spins a homiletical message: stay away from harmful speech, <\/span>lashon harah. <\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Learn from Miriam\u2019s mistake.<\/span><\/p>\n

But a careful reading exposes the difficulty of this association. For one, Aaron is present at all stages of the story. Like Miriam, he spoke about Moses\u2019 wife, whatever their words might have been. Furthermore, like Miriam — indeed with her: <\/span>They<\/span> said, \u201cHas the LORD spoken only through Moses? Has He not spoken through us as well?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Together, they discussed the injustice of Moses\u2019 special position, despite their common experience as prophets. The precise nature of their complaint is not clear, but the tone is: they are jealous, as siblings are wont to be. Even for this triad of important siblings.<\/span><\/p>\n

God responds to them as would a parent. He summons them all, then castigates Aaron and Miriam. He is quite clear: you three do not share the same status, as your prophecy is not equal.<\/span><\/p>\n

And then suddenly Miriam is struck with tsar\u2019at<\/em>. Is that because she is the sole sinner — of jealousy? Notice, then, how the text describes what happens next.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhen Aaron turned toward Miriam, he saw that she was stricken with tsara\u2019at<\/em>.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

In \u201cturning\u201d toward Miriam, Aaron gazes with empathy – for he shares her fate. Together, they unleashed jealousy, and together, they suffer. Immediately, he begs Moses to pray on her behalf and restore her from her half-dead state. As the priest, of course, his job is to correctly identify and diagnose a metzora<\/em>. And Aaron\u2019s gaze follows with the pronouncement that she has tsara\u2019at.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

But he cannot heal her himself. \u00a0Aaron\u2019s distinctive punishment is to see Miriam as a metzora<\/em> – their shared guilt acted out on her body– and feel powerless to perform his healing task. But he takes responsibility, in his humility, and beseeches Moses to take action.<\/span><\/p>\n

So Moses cried out to the LORD, saying, \u201cO God, pray heal her!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Acting in unison, the triad of siblings restores order and life.<\/span><\/p>\n

image:\u00a0Miriam and Aaron complain against Moses, from “The Bible and Its Story Taught by One Thousand Picture Lessons, vol. 2”, edited by Charles F. Horne and Julius A. 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