The Torah is a complicated book. Its origins are obscure, its contradictions are many, its stories range from heartwarming to confounding; some of its principles transcend generations while others are clearly of a different place and time. This week’s Torah portion provides an excellent opportunity for an exploration of the complex nature of our Torah text. The portion is called Chukat and you can find it here.
“Miriam died there and was buried there.” (Num 20:1). That’s all we get about the end of Miriam the prophetesses’ life. Contrast this with descriptions of Moses’ death where he is praised and extolled about as Israel’s greatest leader: “Moses the servant of יהוה died… in the land of Moab at the command of יהוה and [God] buried him.” (Deut 34:5-6). Moses’ brother, Aaron, is also honored; his death is foretold by God and Moses gently prepares him for his end:
Moses stripped Aaron of his vestments and put them on his son Eleazar, and Aaron died there on the summit of the mountain. When Moses and Eleazar came down from the mountain, the whole community knew that Aaron had breathed his last. All the house of Israel bewailed Aaron thirty days. (Num 20:27-29)
In her research, the Israeli scholar Dr. Atar Livneh of Ben Gurion University points out that the Bible’s frequent belittling of the deaths of its great women is ultimately rectified by elaborate descriptions in post Biblical literature. Livneh gathers midrashim (stories about the stories in the Bible) which discuss the deaths of Sarah, Rebecca, Leah, and Miriam. The accounts of these later writers seek to provide the heroic Biblical women with appropriately reverential death narratives. For example, the Roman Jewish historian Josephus imagines Miriam’s death:
They buried her lavishly at public expense on a certain mountain that they call Sin, and Moyses purified the people after they had mourned for thirty days in this manner. The high priest led forth and sacrificed a female calf… (Antiquities 4.78-79)
As a female scholar, Livneh opens our minds to the discrepancy between the passages in the Bible and those written by later writers. This is an observation that might have gone unrevealed were it not for the awareness of the author who views the texts through the lens of her own lived experience. The sources she’s uncovered not only tell us about the agendas of their writers, but they also point to the importance of scholars who see the material through different lenses.
Seeing events, texts, art, music, or anything within the range of human experience, through the eyes of another can greatly expand our own understanding. It is easy, in our world, to surround ourselves with voices and perspectives that mirror our own. This is certainly the path of least resistance. However, walking through life with our ideas unchallenged also leaves us intellectually poorer. When we expose ourselves to vantage points that cause us to question and refine our own ideas about the world that surrounds us, our ability to think critically and understand more deeply is strengthened. We needn’t agree with the antagonist whose ideas challenge our own, but the mere experience of listening with an inquisitive mind can deepen our own understanding of the things that matter most in our lives.
– Rabbi Ron Stern