Miriam’s Well
After Miriam’s passing, we suddenly hear that the Israelites no longer had water to drink. What had they done until then? The juxtaposition of Miriam’s passing with the lack of water reveals that while Miriam was alive, the people enjoyed an abundance of water from a miraculous well that followed them in the wilderness. It came to be known as Miriam’s well.
The water from a well originates from within the earth and then gushes out. The water thus rises from below to above. In Kabbalah, this type of water is known as “feminine waters” (מַ יִין נוּקְבִין ), as the nature of the feminine is to rise from below to above; this in contrast with rain that falls from above to below and in Kabbalah is known as “masculine waters” (מַ יִין דְּכוּרִין). Normally, feminine waters are associated with the sefirah of kingdom (malchut) and masculine waters with the sefirah of beauty (tiferet). To add to the identification of Miriam’s well with kingdom, we note that kingdom is described by the verse, “her feet descent unto death.” Symbolically, this represents the descent of the kingdom of the World of Emanation into the three lower Worlds; every descent from one’s natural place is likened in Kabbalah to “death.” In our context, it was revealed that the well was in merit of Miriam after her death.
