Parshas Behaaloscha 5777

What Did Miriam Tell Aron about Their Brother?

The Torah writes (Numbers 12:1-2)

Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Cushite woman he had married: “He married a Cushite woman!” They said, “Has the LORD spoken only through Moses? Has He not spoken through us as well?” The LORD heard it.

Rashi (ibid) - he divorced his wife:

THAT HE HAD MARRIED A CUSHITE WOMAN, and had now divorced her.

and (ibid) - he separated from his wife:

And whence did Miriam know that Moses had separated himself from his wife (for this was the statement she made; cf. Rashi below)? R. Nathan answered: “Miriam was beside Zipporah When it was told to Moses, ‘Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp’ (Numbers 11:17). When Zipporah heard this, she exclaimed, Woe to the wives of these if they have anything to do with prophecy, for they will separate from their wives just has my husband has separated from me!” It was from this that Miriam knew about it, and she told it to Aaron.

Daas Zekeinim:

“for he had married a woman from the land of Cush.” (Ethiopia) According to Moses’ biography, Moses had been king in that country and his wife had been a queen in her own right previously. Moses had ruled over that land for a period of forty years (before coming to Midian) This is why the Torah reported Miriam and Aaron as speaking critically only of Moses (“did G–d only speak with Moses?”) They thought that seeing that G–d had spoken with Moses, Moses had felt that no Jewish woman was good enough for him to marry, i.e. that he had given himself airs. They did not criticise Moses for having married Tzipporah, as he had done so in circumstances when he was a refugee from Egyptian justice at the time.

Chizkuni:

they wondered why Moses had chosen this point in time to separate from Tzipporah and concluded that it was because she wasn't beautfiul, and they could not understand that he had married her in the first place seeing that she had always been that way.

And:

A different interpretation of this line: She had been a queen in her land, the land of Kush. This would fit with what we have read in Chronicles that Moses had been a King in that land. At the time, he had to marry a local woman. Now there was no need for him to remain married to a Kushite woman. 

Several Points about the Story of Miriam

• The definition of the words "אשה כושית" has several possibilities but the simplest is that it was someone from the land or the people of Cush
• That is a problem if Tzipporah is the person referenced here since her father, Jethro, was from Midian who was one of the sons of Abraham. There are several possible solutions:
• it does in fact refer to her, but the word doesn't mean "someone from Cush".
• it does refer to her since her mother was from Cush (see Rokeach)
• it refers to Moses's first wife who was the Queen of Cush
• Midrash states that Tzipporah and Basiah, the daughter of Pharaoh, were twins who were abandoned in the marketplace and adopted by Jethro and Pharaoh. This way these still could have been originally from Cush.
• What was the issue that Miriam noticed?
• According to Rashi it was that Moses separated or divorced his wife
• According to other opinions above, it was that as if Moses was too important to marry someone Jewish
• Or that he should be marrying someone Jewish now that he has the opportunity
• How did Miriam know this and why is this story placed here?
• According to Rashi it was she overheard Tzipporah saying that during the story of Eldad and Medad (who were Moses's half brothers)
• It is also possible she hard about her lineage from Jethro's family that was just here

[Published at parshapeople.blogspot.com / Comments welcome to parsha-people@publishyoursefer.com]