The Well's Source
(א) וַיָּבֹ֣אוּ בְנֵֽי־יִ֠שְׂרָאֵל כָּל־הָ֨עֵדָ֤ה מִדְבַּר־צִן֙ בַּחֹ֣דֶשׁ הָֽרִאשׁ֔וֹן וַיֵּ֥שֶׁב הָעָ֖ם בְּקָדֵ֑שׁ וַתָּ֤מָת שָׁם֙ מִרְיָ֔ם וַתִּקָּבֵ֖ר שָֽׁם׃ (ב) וְלֹא־הָ֥יָה מַ֖יִם לָעֵדָ֑ה וַיִּקָּ֣הֲל֔וּ עַל־מֹשֶׁ֖ה וְעַֽל־אַהֲרֹֽן׃
(1) The Israelites arrived in a body at the wilderness of Zin on the first new moon, and the people stayed at Kadesh. Miriam died there and was buried there. (2) The community was without water, and they joined against Moses and Aaron.
(ו) עֲשָׂרָה דְבָרִים נִבְרְאוּ בְּעֶרֶב שַׁבָּת בֵּין הַשְּׁמָשׁוֹת, וְאֵלּוּ הֵן, פִּי הָאָרֶץ, וּפִי הַבְּאֵר, וּפִי הָאָתוֹן, וְהַקֶּשֶׁת, וְהַמָּן, וְהַמַּטֶּה, וְהַשָּׁמִיר, וְהַכְּתָב, וְהַמִּכְתָּב, וְהַלּוּחוֹת. וְיֵשׁ אוֹמְרִים, אַף הַמַּזִּיקִין, וּקְבוּרָתוֹ שֶׁל משֶׁה, וְאֵילוֹ שֶׁל אַבְרָהָם אָבִינוּ. וְיֵשׁ אוֹמְרִים, אַף צְבָת בִּצְבָת עֲשׂוּיָה:
(6) Ten things were created on the eve of the Sabbath at twilight, and these are they: [1] the mouth of the earth, [2] the mouth of the well, [3] the mouth of the donkey, [4] the rainbow, [5] the manna, [6] the staff [of Moses], [7] the shamir, [8] the letters, [9] the writing, [10] and the tablets. And some say: also the demons, the grave of Moses, and the ram of Abraham, our father. And some say: and also tongs, made with tongs.
What Is the Nature of the Well?
Rabbi Ḥiyya said: One who wants to see Miriam’s well, should do the following: He should climb to the top of Mount Carmel and look out, and he will see a rock that looks like a sieve in the sea, and that is Miriam’s well. Rav said: A spring that is portable, i.e., that moves from place to place, is ritually pure and is regarded as an actual spring and not as drawn water. And what is a movable spring? It is Miriam’s well.
Unpacking the Imagery
(1) ולא היה מים לעדה, “The congregation had no water.” When Miriam died, the well disappeared, because the well was due to the merit of Miriam who merited the water through [watching over] Moses [at the Nile], as it is written, "And his sister was stationed at a distance" (Exodus 2:4). And because it disappeared now, with her death, [Israel] realized that it was with them through her merit, and from here [we can infer] that the well was with them for the whole 40 years [of their wandering].
(ג) וּפִי הַבְּאֵר. בְּאֵרָהּ שֶׁל מִרְיָם שֶׁהָיְתָה הוֹלֶכֶת עִם יִשְׂרָאֵל בַּמִּדְבָּר בְּכָל הַמַּסָּעוֹת. וְיֵשׁ אוֹמְרִים, שֶׁפָּתְחָה פִּיהָ וְאָמְרָה שִׁירָה, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר (במדבר כא) עֲלִי בְאֵר עֱנוּ לָהּ:
(3) and the mouth of the well: The well of Miriam that went with Israel in the wilderness on all of the journeys. And some say, that it opened its mouth and uttered song, as it stated (Numbers 21:17), "rise up, O well; answer it."
ודברתם אל הסלע לעיניהם. הסלע הזה הוא הצור שבחורב, והוא בארה של מרים על דעת רז"ל. ומצינו לו בתורה ארבע שמות, עין משפט וצור וסלע ובאר... צור שנאמר (שמות יז) הנני עומד לפניך שם על הצור בחורב, ונקרא צור על שם השכינה שנגלית שם, וכאן בקדש שלא נגלית נקרא סלע שנאמר ודברתם אל הסלע. באר שנאמר (במדבר כא) היא הבאר אשר אמר ה' למשה. לפי שנסתלק במיתת מרים חזר עתה בזכות משה, ועל כן הזכירו בה"א הידיעה, שנאמר ודברתם אל הסלע.
“You will speak to the rock in their presence, etc.” the rock called סלע in our verse here is also the one called צור at Mount Horeb, and it is also the well of Miriam. This is the opinion of our sages [in Taanit 9]. We find that this rock appears under four different names סלע, באר עין משפט, צור,... [It was called] צור, as it is said "I will be standing before you on the rock at Horeb[, strike the rock and water will issue from it]" (Exodus 17:6) And it was called צור, a name for the Shekhinah that was revealed there. And since here at Kadesh God didn't reveal God's self, it is referred to [merely] as סלע, as it is said, "You shall speak to the סלע." [It is also called] באר, as it is said, "It is the same באר where God had said to Moses: 'assemble the people so that I can give them water'" (Numbers 21:16). Since it disappeared with the death of Miriam, it returns now through the merit of Moses, and thus we are reminded of its significance through the ה, as it says, "And speak to הסלע" [instead of סלע, indicating that this is a very specific rock]. (translation mine)
את כל דגי הים יאסף להם – אפילו אתה מכניס להם דגים לאכול היו מתרעמים! והלא הלכה עמהם באר במדבר והיתה מעלת להם דגים שמנים יותר מצרכם! – אלא שמבקשים עלילה היאך לפרוש מאחרי המקום...
כיון שהלך משה אצלם, אמר להם: היד ה' תקצר? (תהלים עח) הן הכה צור ויזובו מימיו ונחלים ישטופו הגם לחם יוכל תת אם יכין שאר לעמו? אמרו: פשרה היא זו! אין בו כח לתת אלינו שאלתינו!
"Could all the fish of the sea be gathered for them?" (Numbers 11:22). Even if you gathered fish for them to eat, they would grumble! Didn't the well of Miriam accompany them in the wilderness and did it not bring up for them more plump fish than they needed? Rather, they wanted an excuse to separate from God...
When Moses went to them, he said to them [quoting God], "Will God's hand fall short?" (Numbers 11:23). [They responded by quoting Psalms 78:20] "'True, He struck a rock and water flowed and streams flooded forth, but can He also give bread? Can He supply food for His people?'" They said, "This is a compromise! He doesn't have the power to give us what we ask for!" (translation mine)
The Well's Healing Properties
מַעֲשֶׂה בְּשִׂיחִין אֶחָד סוּמָא שֶׁיָּרַד בַּמַּיִם לִטְבֹּל, נִזְדַּמְּנָה לוֹ בְּאֵרָהּ שֶׁל מִרְיָם וְטָבַל וְנִתְרַפֵּא.
There is a story of Shihin (a town near Sepphoris) about a certain blind person who went down to bathe in the waters in a cave. He happened upon the well of Miriam, immersed [himself in it], and was healed.
הגה... וי"א לדלות מים בכל מוצאי שבת כי בארה של מרים סובב כל מוצאי שבת כל הבארות ומי שפוגע בו וישתה ממנו יתרפא מכל תחלואיו [כל בו] ולא ראיתי למנהג זה:
RAMA: ... And there are those who say to draw water from wells or natural springs every Saturday night, because the well of Miriam passes through all the wells and natural springs every Saturday night. And one who touches it and drinks from it will be healed from all his afflictions [Kol Bo]. And I did not see (anything) about this custom.
Miriam and Her Well - A Model of Non-Hierarchal Leadership
But this is still treating power as something elite, coupled to public prestige, to the individual charisma of so-called 'leadership,' and often, though not always, to a degree of celebrity. It is also treating power very narrowly, as an object of possession that only the few - mostly men - can own or wield ... You cannot easily fit women into a structure that is already coded as male; you have to change the structure. That means thinking about power differently. It means decoupling it from public prestige. It means thinking collaboratively about the power of followers not just of leaders. It means, above all, thinking of power as an attribute or a verb ('to power'), not as a possession. What I have in mind is the ability to be effective, to make a difference in the world, and the right to be taken seriously, together as much as individually ... one of the most influential political movements of the last few years, Black Lives Matter, was founded by three women; few of us, I suspect, would recognize any of their names, but together they had the power to get things done in a different way.
Mary Beard, Women & Power: A Manifesto (New York: WW Norton, 2017).
How can we best understand what Miriam’s Well represented? Israel in the Bible had two main centers of practice: the Tent of Meeting (or Tabernacle, later replaced by the Temple) and the home…. Moses, we might say, had focused on institutional religion. But in our midrashic rendering of the story, Miriam’s gift was to raise up the personal practices of the Israelites and to help the women of Israel recognize and claim their homes as a sacred place. Each woman’s own Sabbath table became like an altar.
Carol Ochs, “Contemporary Reflection,” in The Torah: A Women’s Commentary, ed. Tamara Cohn Eskenazi and Andrea L. Weiss (New York: Women of Reform Judaism, 2008), 933-4
People often ask me at this age who I am passing the torch to. First of all, I'm not giving up my torch, thank you! I'm using my torch to light other people's torches ... If we each have a torch, there's a lot more light.
-- Gloria Steinem, National Press Club 11/18/13