And I sent before you Moses, Aaron and Miriam...

In the Haftarah (the reading from the prophets) which accompanies the Torah portion Balak, the prophet Micah relays God's chastisement of Israel. The message is clear: the people have rebelled, yet again,but God does indeed love them, else why would the Divine have sent leaders such as Moses, Aaron and Miriam?

Legends concerning Miriam often involve a magical well which sprang up and followed her wherever she went. Some  stories even say that she was a water witch, gifted with locating actual water where there was none: a very useful skill in the desert, yes?

Other commentaries say that she was a source of  spiritual inspiration, as necessary to this wandering people as water. She was a prophet of equal standing with her two brothers; in fact, Moses owes his very life to her for she was the one who got his parents back together, she was the one who stood by the river (water again:) to see what would become of him, and she was the one who found a midwife (their own mother) to nurse the him. She was also the one who had the vision to have the women pack their timbrels in order to celebrate their redemption at the shores of the Red/Reed Sea.

Miriam impressed me so much that I chose to make a tambourine/well shaped headdress in her honor!

For more details or to purchase this Miriam headress kippah, please visit: renaissancewomankippot.org

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