Hashem said to Moshe and Aharon, “Because you did not believe in Me to sanctify Me in the presence of Bnei Yisroel; therefore, you will not bring this congregation into the land that I have given them.” (Bamidbar 20:11)

Parshas Chukas famously tells the story of how Moses hits the rock which results in him and Aharon being barred from entering the land of Israel. It’s unclear exactly what Moses did that was the problem, (that’s a discussion for another post) but it’s clear this moment was the issue.  It starts when the Israelites confronted Moses once again as they were thirsty immediately after Miriam died and her well stopped giving water. Wait… Miriam had just died? Well (no pun intended), what did she do wrong? What didn’t she merit entering the land of Israel?

It was established that the preceding generation would all die out in the wilderness due to the sin of the spies in Parshas Shelach. But the Midrash tells us that the women and the tribe of the Levites were spared that decree and got to enter. In fact, the Seder Olam says that Miriam was the only woman among the Israelites who died in the wilderness! Her death is even more appalling given that Miriam did so much, it’s hard to imagine the Jewish people surviving without her. As a midwife (called Puah) Miriam was instrumental in circumventing Pharaoh’s decree to murder the newborn Jewish males. She watched over Moses when he was an infant being placed in the Nile. She led the women in singing Az Yashir at the splitting of the sea. And she taught and guided the women as Moses did for the men. With no sin attributed to her, it is sad that her death is swiftly mentioned with but one line…

“The people settled in Kodeish and Miriam died there and was buried there.” (Bamidbar 20:1)

Meanwhile, when Aharon dies later in this Parsha, a whole event plays out (see Chukas 20:22-29) and Moses will have a similar ceremony in the final chapters of the Torah. What do the sages of our tradition say regarding Miriam’s death? Surprisingly little. Here are the few answers I could find and unfortunately I don’t have specific sources, but most of them are mentioned in this dvar Torah by Rabbi Yitzchak Breitowitz. 

1. Hashem wanted the well to stop. 

In the merit of Moses, the miracle of the manna fell from the sky. In the merit of Aharon, the clouds of glory covered the camp, protected them, and cooled them from the harsh climate. Miriam merited a well that traveled with the Israelites, providing over 2 million people and their animals with abundant water. However, for the test of the rock to take place, Hashem needed the water to dry up. For that Miriam would unfortunately have to pass away. But for Moses’s test to truly be on the level it needed to be, he also had to be without the calming presence of his older sister who had protected him from his earliest moments.

2. Clean house, fresh start.

New leadership was needed for the new generation to enter the land of Israel. Even if Miriam didn’t “deserve” to be thrown out with the old, sometimes when there’s a changing of the guard, it’s best to start completely fresh. Miriam was one of the big three, and if Hashem had only replaced Moses and Aharon, Miriam’s seniority may have had influence over the new leadership, stopping them from being free to make bold new decisions. 

3. Final atonement for the generation. 

Preceding Miriam’s death is the mitzvah of the red heifer, the ritual for purifying someone of the strongest level of impurity (tumahs meis.) Rashi comments on the juxtaposition saying, “Why is the portion concerning Miriam’s death adjacent to the portion of the parah adumah (red heifer)? To teach that just as the sacrifices bring atonement, so do the deaths of the righteous bring atonement.” 

Rashi on Bamidbar 19:2 describes the role of the red heifer as, “Let the mother come and clean up the mess made by her child.” Between this week’s Torah portion and the last, 38 years transpire and Miriam’s death is the first thing the Torah records after this prolonged break. Over those years the men of the generation died out. Miriam was like a mother to all Jews, whether they were her children or not and redeemed them just as the Rashi’s characterization of the red heifer fixed the sin of the golden calf. 

4. Lashon Hara is worse than we thought. 

This is my own idea, so take it with a grain of salt. The commentators say that Miriam died without a sin being attributed to her. But that’s not 100% true. At the end of Beha’alosecha, Miriam speaks lashon hara (usually translated as gossip, but literally the evil speech) against Moses. She contracts tzora’as (usually translated as leprosy, but it’s actually a spiritual affliction) and Israelites famously wait for her to recover. That would seem to be the end of the matter. 

But in the following parsha, Shelach, the spies/meraglim famously speak lashon hara which results in the generation’s exile from the land. Many commentators note that the spies missed the warning from Miriam’s actions. But what if her speaking lashon hara was far more problematic? Perhaps because someone in such a high leadership position did such an action, it introduced the problem in a more widespread way. Maybe it was because she spoke lashon hara, the meraglim were more willing to commit it themselves?  

In the verse detailing her death, the Torah says, “Miriam died there and was buried there.” Rashi comments on the repetition of “there” to mean she died, “at the mouth of Hashem.” This could mean she died by a Divine kiss, the most painless and pleasant way to die. But the Piaseczna Rebbe expounds on it from a mystical perspective. “The sephirah (mystical character traits that are symbolized as parts of the body, think Jewish chakras) of Malchus (kingship, mastery, leadership) corresponds to the mouth. All pious women are at the level of Malchus. This is what is meant that Miriam died ‘at the mouth of Hashem.’” In essence, Miriam’s speech had a profound effect, in a way, maybe more so than Moses and Aharon. So for her to utter lashon hara, that alone may have been enough to bar her from entering the land of Israel. And perhaps, what keeps us from entering the land of Israel today (in its true form with the 3rd Temple) is the lashon hara we speak. 

5. Sometimes we don’t get to know the answer.

This week’s parsha is named Chukas. A chok is a categorization of mitzvahs that have no logical or practical reasons. Shatnez (not wearing wool and linen mixed), shaking the lulav and esrog, and of course the red heifer, these are all examples of mitzvahs that don’t make logical sense. But the parsha as a whole is filled with moments that don’t make sense when you look closely at them. The red heifer, Edom’s reaction to Israel wanting passage, why Aharon dies here, everything about Moses and the rock, and the Israelites being healed from a plague of snakes by something that looks very close to idol worship, the copper snake staff. The lack of explanation of Miriam’s death fits right in with this theme. 

As important as it is to contemplate and strive to understand the Torah, especially in a way we can make it meaningful to our lives, ultimately we have to realize we are only seeing a keyhole size view of the whole picture. There will always be things in life that will be beyond our understanding, especially when it comes to the generation that precedes us; our parents, our teachers, our mentors. That chasm of mystery is probably there for a good reason. Leaders themselves are far more fragile and sensitive than they lead on. Perhaps it is this limited view of their more human nature that keeps us in awe and allows us to push ourselves to strive after traits we thought were impossible to achieve within ourselves in modeling them. For whatever reason Miriam didn’t get to enter the land of Israel, maybe it is better we don’t know. If that makes any sense.