D’Var Torah By: Rabbi Andy Gordon

Our Passover story is a complex tale that addresses over 400 years of history. During the Passover seder, we retell a story that begins with Abraham, the wandering Aramean, and ends with our ancestors’ arrival in the Promised Land. Much of our storytelling and almost every ritual, including matzah (the bread of affliction), maror (the bitterness of slavery), and salt water (the tears of our ancestors) represents our many years of enslavement. Yet, there is one modern ritual that typically occurs during the middle of the seder that celebrates our freedom. Many Reform and liberal Jews pour water into a cup to remember Miriam, a prophet and leader of our community in her own right. In Exodus 15:20-21, we read:
Then Miriam the prophet, Aaron’s sister, picked up a hand-drum, and all the women went out after her in dance with hand-drums. And Miriam chanted for them: Sing to Adonai, for God has triumphed gloriously; Horse and driver God has hurled into the sea.
Miriam is remembered for her connection to water. We learn in the Torah that Miriam saved Moses as his basket washed down the Nile River and provided a well of water to the Israelites during their 40-year journey in the wilderness. Moreover, after the Egyptian army perished in the Sea of Reeds, Miriam gathered the women at the water’s edge and sang songs to the Eternal. This was not the only singing and dancing that occurred after Pharoah’s demise. In Exodus 15:1, we read that, “Moses and the Israelites sang this song to Adonai. They said: ‘I will sing to Adonai, for God has triumphed gloriously.'” The Hebrew grammar in these sentences is very convoluted. Moses and the Israelites sang a song to God, but the word for sang, yashir, is written in the singular, not the plural. As the great biblical commentator Ibn Ezra teaches, “Moses composed the song by himself. He then taught it to all of Israel.” With Miriam’s song, the word for singing, shiru, is plural. Miriam and all the women gathered as one to sing their song. The modern midrash “Shiru” by Rabbi Tamar Duvdevani suggests a reason for this discrepancy:
What was the song of Moshe? ‘I shall sing to the Eternal.’ This is a song of one voice that does not join with a chorus of voices and melodies. Moshe sought to bring forth from each person’s heart and to redeem each person’s song. But the song of redemption was not complete.
Rabbi Duvdevani then looks at Miriam’s song:
What is the song of Miriam? ‘Sing to the Eternal.’ In the plural. Miriam taught: ‘The Eternal spoke these words to your entire assembly […] with a great voice, which did not cease.’ (Deuteronomy 5:18). What is the meaning of ‘a great voice?’ It means that it contains within it a multitude of voices, accents, languages and sounds. For the voice is the voice of the Divine, and the image is the image of Divine – made up of each person, each unique in form and thought.
At the seder, many Reform and liberal Jewish homes will have Miriam’s cup sitting prominently on their Passover tables. One of the most beautiful minhagim (customs) is to ask each person at the table to pour a little bit of water from their own cups into Miriam’s cup. This ritual serves as a reminder that each one of our voices matters and strengthens the community. May we listen to the voice of every one of us so that we can continue the journey together towards freedom and redemption for all, just as Miriam taught us.