The Song is rising from the well, while the front page headlines of these chapters in Ba’Midbar shriek of wars and political problems. As Israel nears the Canaan border, skirmishes and conflicts with the locals add tension and cost lives. The Edomites and Amorites refuse to let the Hebrews pass through their lands, and the Cananites wage war though it’s hard to discern why and who started.
And in the midst of all this, serpents attack, a strange copper snake is erected to magically confront the plague, and a song is sung - the mysterious song of the well, hiding a well worn legend.
Chapter 21, fresh from the grief for Miriam and Aaron’s death, as well as Moses’ punishment, lists the travels of the people in the wilderness, and pauses to quote the words of the well-song, though not much is told about the well or why it includes singing. This is where the Midrash - oral legends - steps in to fill the gaps and link this story to the others lost in time, linking the well to the rod, Miriam to Moses, thirst for water as allegory for the thirst for legends, myths and songs - gifts that give meaning to our lives. They arrive at the place called Be’er - Well - and begin singing:
אָ֚ז יָשִׁ֣יר יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל אֶת־הַשִּׁירָ֖ה הַזֹּ֑את עֲלִ֥י בְאֵ֖ר עֱנוּ־לָֽהּ׃
בְּאֵ֞ר חֲפָר֣וּהָ שָׂרִ֗ים כָּר֙וּהָ֙ נְדִיבֵ֣י הָעָ֔ם בִּמְחֹקֵ֖ק בְּמִשְׁעֲנֹתָ֑ם וּמִמִּדְבָּ֖ר מַתָּנָֽה׃
“Then Israel sang this song: Spring up, O well—sing to it— The well dug up by the princes, carved open by the generous leaders, with their rods, this gift from the desert. “ (Ba. 21:17-18)
Legends tell of Miriam, the prophet who starts off saving her baby brother in the river, then rising again to lead the people with the Song of the Sea. Even her name includes the word ‘Sea’ - ‘Yam’. Miriam is the leader who supplies the people with water through the wilderness. Her well, according to tradition, was always in transit, magically quenching the thirst of all, moving along with them from one spot to another. Another legend claims that this well was created on the first Friday of Creation, just before Shabbat, along with other top shelf wonders such as the rod of Moses, the mouth of the earth that consumed Korach a few chapters ago, and the mouth of the donkey that we are about to meet.
Each time Miriam conjured the well and opened it up the water flowed in 12 directions to each of the tribes. This miraculous myth of nourishment is depicted on a stunning mural in Dura Europos, one of the oldest synagogue, located in Syria, dating back to the 3rd century BCE . When Miriam dies, the well dries up and the people thirst. Moses is sent to speak to a rock and hits it instead with his rod. But what happens next is even stranger. The 12 leaders of the tribes gather in a circle, each with his rod in hand, and they begin to chant the song of the well, as they beat the ground with their rods, in rhythm. This ritual enchants the well, and water once again gushes out. Some say the well traveled on with them into the promised land and can still be seen today, glimmering inside the Kinneret, The Sea of Galilee.
So many of our old songs and secrets, herstories and matriarchal myths have been erased and evaporated, forgotten or repressed. But here’s this fragment, a few lines from a hymn, whispered words about the power of a woman who fed the people not with words and wonders but with water from a well loved rock. The gift of the wilderness is a wellspring that keeps inviting each of us to spiral within, hear the song, be nourished and nourish, get wet where it feels exciting to remember so much more happens beyond the headlines of man-made wars.
What is your favorite song to let your inner well-being bubble up?
Want to learn more, discuss your thoughts and feelings about the Book of Wilderness and Below the Bible Belt? Join me on Monday August 22 2022, 1pm ET for a one hour conversation on Zoom. Link here:
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/87084369168
Meeting ID: 870 8436 9168
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#hebrewmyth #929 #torah #bible #hiddenbible #sefaria #929english #labshul #929project #myth #belowthebiblebelt #postpatriarchy
Of course I’m thinking of Debbie Friedman’s “Spring up, Oh Well” right now. 🎶