“Remember what your God did to Miriam on the journey after you left Egypt.” (Deut.24:9)
Miriam spoke about Moses in such a way that God afflicted her with a skin condition that indicated that she had used the gift of speech inappropriately. As a result, she was quarantined outside the camp.
Moses is teaching the people and by extension all of us to remember what happened to Miriam. She becomes a lesson for all time.
We use her as an example of how not to use our language.
She reminds us of the consequences of using our language wrongly.
It is wrong to speak of others in negative and disparaging ways.
Remember what happened to Miriam. Learn from her mistake.
Remember in order to learn to measure our words and
not destroy others with our tongue.
Elul is a time of year to remember and to reflect on who we are,
what we have done and what we want to be.
We are given this month to recreate ourselves and
to imagine an improved self.
We get a chance to start again.
Miriam, the sister of Moses, the prophetess,
the leader of the women, was also human.
She used her words in not good ways and so do we.
Maybe it is easier to know the things others have done or said that hurt us
than to know what we have done to others.
We are enjoined to learn from others,
knowing that we may well be guilty of the same ‘crime.’
We are enjoined to use the gift of memory
to learn from both our mistakes and our successes.
Let us reflect on the past to create an improved future.
Sending much love for a Shabbat shalom,
Elissa
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