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Aaron dies at Hor Hahar and is
succeeded in the High Priesthood by his son Elazar.
Venomous snakes attack the Israelite camp after yet
another eruption of discontent in which the people
"speak against G-d and Moses"; G-d tells Moses to place
a brass serpent upon a high pole, and all who will gaze
heavenward will be healed. The people sing a song in
honor of the miraculous well that provided the water in
the desert.
Moses leads the people in battles against the Emorite
kings Sichon and Og (who seek to prevent Israel's
passage through their territory) and conquers their
lands, which lie east of the Jordan.
FROM THE WORDS OF OUR SAGES ON
THE PARSHAH:
- 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)
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