What would you do?
Would you deem it worthwhile
To bear children
If your sons
Would be drowned in the Nile?
Amram and Yocheved
Withstood the test,
Took correction from their young child
With Moshe’s birth, were blessed.
Miriam had been right,
The redeemer was born;
Hashem had remembered them
As He had sworn.
Ki tov – the child shone light
Like creation’s first day,
But he would be killed –
They had to send him away.
Could you have relied solely
On Hashem providence,
Send your newborn out
To a death sentence,
Floating in a casket of papyrus,
Drifting, from the Nile’s bulrushes?
Could you even watch
This tender fugitive,
Wondering – how could this baby
Possibly live?
Miriam watched,
She had no doubt,
Even if she couldn’t figure it out,
G-d has His ways,
She had bitachon;
Hashem’s path to salvation
Would be made known.
What were the odds
Despite Pharaoh’s decree,
The redeemer’s rescuer
Could possibly be
Pharaoh’s own daughter,
Hashem’s will manifest,
Her maids walked by the river,
Silenced, their protest.
Miriam approached,
Offered to fetch a Hebrew nurse;
The idea was appealing
The princess not adverse.
Gladly agreed to the little girl’s charms,
Moshe was returned
To his mother’s arms.
A Hebrew saved
From an Egyptian
At the water’s shore;
This event would be replayed
On a large scale, once more:
On one side, churned the ocean deep,
On the other, Pharaoh’s great army
With vengeance to reap;
Doom seemed certain
From one side, or another,
But Miriam watched
As she did for her brother.
Nachshon of Yehudah
Didn’t speak a word,
Went forth like a lion
Then the miracle occurred,
Macro-cosmic salvation
Of the entire Hebrew nation,
Miriam had cause
For her own celebration;
Danger at death’s door
Changed to jubilation.
She merited to sing
Her very own song,
Her prophecy delivered
For her faith was strong.
We no longer have prophecy,
The world harsh and unjust;
But Miriam had the answer:
In HaKadosh Baruch Hu, we trust.
By Sharon Marcus