Illustration credit: Noa Kelner
Prayer in the Parashah תְּפִלָּה
זָכוֹר אֵת אֲשֶׁר עָשָׂה ה' אֱלֹקֶיךָ לְמִרְיָם בַּדֶּרֶךְ בְּצֵאתְכֶם מִמִּצְרָיִם׃
Remember what God your Lord did to Miriam, on your journey leaving Mitzrayim (Egypt).
Do you remember what happened to Miriam? You can look back at Parashat Behaalotkha to refresh your memory (Bemidbar 12). God gives Miriam the skin disease צָרַעַת (tzara’at) after she speaks לָשׁוֹן הָרַע (lashon ha-ra, gossip) about her brother Moshe.
The Torah wants us to remember this event because it’s a powerful reminder to avoid lashon ha-ra. Even though Miriam loved Moshe very much and probably wouldn’t have wanted to hurt him (remember when she stood watch over his basket?), and even though Moshe forgives Miriam right away, God still punishes her. This teaches us that we have to be really, really careful with how we speak.
In tefillah, at the end of Shaharit, there’s a section called the שֵׁשׁ זְכִירוֹת (sheish zekhirot, six remembrances). It’s a collection of pesukim from the Torah about six things that we’re supposed to remember every day. One of the zekhirot is the pasuk above, about remembering what happened to Miriam.
Here are the other five zekhirot:
- יְצִיאַת מִצְרַיִם (yetziat Mitzrayim, the Exodus from Egypt) = Remembering this event starts our day off with gratitude.
- מַתָּן תּוֹרָה (matan Torah, the giving of the Torah) = This reminds us of our obligations to God.
- Amalek = We remember the threat of evil in the world.
- חֵטְא הָעֵגֶל (heit ha-eigel, the sin of the golden calf) = We also remember our flaws and mistakes.
- Shabbat = Every day of the week, Shabbat reminds us to aim for holiness.
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