ותמת שם מרים ותקבר שם ולא היה מים לעדה ויקהלו על משה ועל אהרן
“...And Miriam died there, and she was buried there. And there was no water for the assembly, and they gathered together upon Moshe and upon Aharon...” (Bamidbar 20:1-2)
The incident of Mei Meriva [quarreling over water] follows the death of Miriam. The supply of water from the Well, which had been traveling with the Jews and flowing miraculously all these years, ceased to flow. Rashi, quoting the Gemara in Taanis (9a), cites this as proof that during the entire 40 years the Jews spent in the wilderness, the Well was present and flowing for the Jewish people in the merit of Miriam.
The Kli Yakar writes that the Well stopped flowing following Miriam’s passing, as a punishment for the people not properly eulogizing Miriam at the time of her death. Following the death of Aharon and Moshe, Bnei Yisroel cried. Such a statement does not appear following Miriam’s passing. The Torah says that she died and she was buried but there is no mention of any eulogy or mourning. The Kli Yakar states that Miriam died without anyone so much as missing her and it was for this reason that the supply of water was taken away from them. They did not appreciate who Miriam was and the Ribbono Shel Olam therefore said, “I will show you who Miriam was!” The reason for the departure of the Well was in order that they retroactively recognize that only in her merit did they have water in the wilderness for the past 40 years.
It is strange, perhaps, to hypothesize that Bnei Yisroel did not know that the Well existed in Miriam’s merit. But if they did know, then we are left to deal with the problem — why did they NOT demonstrate gratitude and pay her the proper respect at the time of her passing?
We see from here a fundamental lesson of life - people can become accustomed to even the greatest of miracles! The first time they received water from the rock, they were amazed. But when something continues for forty years, day after day, people begin to take it for granted. That is what happened. They took Miriam for granted and they took the miracle for granted.
A time when this hits us the most is normally when we leave a levayah [funeral]. Many people leave a levayah with the emotion, “I did not fully appreciate this person while he was still alive.” This is exactly what happened with Miriam. The Well was in her merit. But she died and it was “another day at the office” for the rest of the nation. Her righteousness and merit had been taken for granted. The Torah is telling us this is not right. When such a person dies, it is incumbent – at least retroactively – to try to understand who she was and to give her the tribute she deserved.
