Miriam the Prophetess—an immensely powerful figure and a symbol of courage—stood with strength against King Pharaoh and his cruel ways. Through bold actions that shattered every “rule” and decree, she succeeded in protecting children’s lives, overturning his harsh edicts, and leading her people toward a profound turning point. In the words of The Rav, Rabbi Berland shlit"a, we will enter her gripping story, reflect on her fearless decisions, and discover how she influenced an entire course of history.

A lesson delivered after the evening prayer (Ma’ariv) Miriam the Prophetess went against every law. She didn’t “keep” any law! Every time they made laws—she nullified all the laws. She had the audacity to stand up to the king. King Pharaoh was a “righteous” king, a king of “uprightness”—the most “straight” king in the world… and she didn’t listen to a single one of his laws.

He said to her: “And you shall look at the birthstool”—the main thing is the birthstool—“if it is a son, you shall kill him.” All the boys must be killed; not a single boy may be left. But they did the opposite! Even if a child was born with a defect—half blind, half deaf… they would heal all the children. Not only did they not strangle them as the king commanded.

The king said: at the time of birth you should report, “the baby was strangled”—a technical malfunction. No! No technical malfunction—rather, they kept the children alive! The king said to them: Now I’m sending people to kill you—starting today, every day! Tonight, at exactly 12:00 midnight, they’ll come—from the prosecutors, from the special units, the commando—you should know they will eliminate you! Tonight say Kaddish, confess, go to some rabbi to confess before him, and try to make a good confession—because tonight! And precisely at 00:00 they broke into their house, tore off the locks—people were turned into benches! Tables! She and Yocheved—one day they were benches, one day they were tables, one day decorations, chandeliers, neon lights… Every day they turned into something else—like this for 80 years! And 3 years and 4 months before Moshe was born, the astrologers already told Pharaoh: Know that this is your end. In another 3 years and 4 months a child will be born who will hang you by your peyos on a tall tree, fifty amos high.

When he heard this, he said: “Every son that is born you shall throw into the Nile, and every daughter you shall keep alive.” Even the Egyptians! English, French—everyone, throw him into the Nile, all of them! Because they told him: “Now he is being born—this very second.” Everything was calculated down to the seconds—down to fractions of a second. They said, “Now he is being born,” and he issued an order to throw all the children into the Nile. Seventy thousand children were thrown at that moment, snatched from their mothers’ hands.

And therefore Amram said: “There’s nothing to do—one must lower his head. ‘With every wave and wave I nodded my head’ (Rabbi Akiva). A person must lower his head; we must lower our head!” Miriam said: “What do you mean, bend the head?! What nonsense—there is no Pharaoh here and there are no decrees here; nothing exists here! It’s just your imagination. Pharaoh is our sins—Pharaoh is our sins! He doesn’t exist at all! He isn’t in the world; he has no reality whatsoever. We do teshuvah.” Immediately she said: “Father, go back to Yocheved—go back to Mother!” —“But in the end they’ll throw the son into the Nile!” —“Go back to Mother. Do what I’m telling you—go back to Mother immediately! I’m warning you!” She was a little chatterbox, three and a half years old—tiny, tiny, short like that. She said: “You’re bringing Mother back. I don’t care about anything else.”

In the end, what happened? They threw Moshe into the Nile as well! Father gave her two sharp slaps—like this—on the matter of “and her father spit, spit in her face,” and he even spit in her face. “You said to bring Mother back—look what happened!” So she went and hid in the reeds. Yocheved gave birth to the child three months early, because the Egyptians knew she was pregnant, so they counted nine months. But she gave birth three months earlier.

And then Eldad and Meidad were born—they are the brothers of Moshe and Aharon and Miriam: also Aharon’s brothers, also Miriam’s brothers, also Moshe’s brothers. They were brothers, and in the end they received prophecy—every minute they would prophesy. And then they said: “Moshe is dead.” Miriam fainted on the spot; she had a stroke. “What—my brother will die?? What do we do, how do we go on?? Ah… because he took a Cushite woman! Why specifically a Cushite?!” A Cushite is the best—there is nothing better than a Cushite.

But why did Moshe take a Cushite woman? Moshe insisted only on a Cushite. Miriam went out of her mind and said: “Now he’s going to die on me?! Woe is me!” And then she became “leprous as snow” because they spoke about Moshe. Moshe is Holy of Holies! It is forbidden even to have the lightest, slightest thought. She had the lightest thought of all—how to save her brother.

Because they said “Moshe is dead,” therefore the spies did not want to enter the Land. Because they went up “Rechov to come to Chamas”—an acronym for Rachel. But they went “to scout the Land” (an acronym for Leah), because the land of Canaan is Rachel, and Eretz Yisrael is Leah. All our avodah is to transform Eretz Yisrael from Rachel into Leah. So Moshe said: “You are going now to the land of Canaan—turn it into Eretz Yisrael!” But they were afraid that if they entered Eretz Yisrael, they would dismiss them. In the end they dismissed them all. There was Buki ben Yogli, who was expert in the entire Shas. Elitzafan ben Parnach—he was the father of Eldad and Meidad. They took new leaders. Their tongues stretched down to their navels! And everything brought up worms—worms, worms, worms. Therefore the 17th of Elul is the yahrtzeit. On the 17th of Elul one must guard it with every kind of guarding, to light candles. In another two months, then will be the most important yahrtzeit in the world: in the fifth year, in the fourth month, on the fifth day. Today, the 5th of Tammuz, we see Ma’aseh Merkavah: “The heavens were opened and I saw visions of G-d” (an acronym for Emunah, Rebbe Nachman). Today, every single person merits the revelation of the Merkavah!