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    18 Jun PARSHAS BEHAALOSCHA: PAYBACK TIME COMES YEARS LATER

    Posted at 17:52h in by
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    Miriam’s Act of
    Patience: Payback
    Time Comes Years
    Later
    When Miriam the
    prophetess was afflicted with
    Tza’raas, she was required to
    remain outside the camp, per the
    prescribed procedure. During the
    time, the nation did not proceed on
    their journey. Picture the scene…
    There were some 2 million people
    anxious to travel, but they were told
    that they could not go. They had to
    wait until Miriam was healed.
    Rashi [Bamidbar 12:15] explains
    that this was the reward that G-d
    gave to Miriam for waiting a brief
    moment to ensure the welfare of her
    brother Moshe when he was floating
    in a basket as an infant on the Nile
    River. This was her payback for

    standing in the reeds to see what
    would happen to Moshe. Now the
    entire Jewish Nation would stand
    and wait for her.
    Why did Miriam receive this
    reward now? Why was this the
    appropriate time for the Jews to
    show their appreciation to Miriam?
    This was the proper time to show
    appreciation to Miriam, because
    this was the time when they were
    finally able to retroactively
    understand what her “small” action
    accomplished. In this week’s
    parsha, the Torah elaborates about
    Moshe Rabbeinu. “With him I
    speak face to face, in a vision not
    containing allegory, so that he sees
    a true picture of G-d…” [Bamidbar
    12:8]. Moshe’s relationship with
    G-d was different than the
    relationship that any other prophet

    had with G-d.
    As a result of this
    insight regarding
    Moshe, we have a
    new appreciation of
    that which Miriam
    accomplished. She
    may have waited for
    a little baby floating
    in the Nile. At the
    time, everyone
    considered it to be a
    ‘nice act’. But at the time it seemed
    like a very small and seemingly
    inconsequential act. It was only
    many years later – over 80 years
    later, that they could understand and
    truly appreciate that act of patience.
    Therefore, this was payback time.
    We can extrapolate from this
    incident in the Torah to life in

    general. While certain events in life
    are occurring, we often do not have
    an appreciation of their import and
    significance. However, often we
    can look back decades later and say,
    “That is when it all began” or “That
    is when it all ended”. Years later, we
    can point back to a date and a time
    in history and say, “That is it! That
    is the red letter date!”