Girls in Trouble is an indie-folk song cycle about women in Torah by musician, writer and Torah teacher, Alicia Jo Rabins. The Girls in Trouble Curriculum links these musical midrashim with their source texts, Alicia's notes, and other artistic interpretations, inviting teachers, students, and individual learners on a journey through the world of women in Torah. We hope you enjoy this concise version of the Miriam unit. To download the full unit, including teacher's notes, please visit www.girlsintroublemusic.com.
Behind the Music: Notes from singer/songwriter Alicia Jo Rabins
Miriam is celebrated for her leadership and prophecy throughout Exodus. But later in the Torah, as the Israelites wander in the desert, God strikes Miriam with leprosy, and she is exiled from the camp for seven days.
How does this episode fit into the rest of Miriam’s life? How might she feel about this experience? And how can this story guide us through challenging moments in our own lives?
(1) Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses about the Cushite woman he had married, for he had married a Cushite woman. (2) They said, “Has God spoken only through Moses? Has God not spoken through us as well?” God heard it. (3) Now Moses was a very humble man, more so than any other man on earth.
(4) Suddenly God called to Moses, Aaron, and Miriam, “Come out, you three, to the Tent of Meeting.” So the three of them went out. (5) God came down in a pillar of cloud, stopped at the entrance of the Tent, and called out, “Aaron and Miriam!” The two of them came forward; (6) and God said, “Hear these My words: When a prophet of God arises among you, I make Myself known to him in a vision, I speak with him in a dream. (7) Not so with My servant Moses; he is trusted throughout My household. (8) With him I speak mouth to mouth, plainly and not in riddles, and he beholds the likeness of God. How then did you not shrink from speaking against My servant Moses!” (9) Still incensed with them, God departed. (10) As the cloud withdrew from the Tent, there was Miriam stricken with snow-white scales! When Aaron turned toward Miriam, he saw that she was stricken with scales. (11) And Aaron said to Moses, “O my lord, account not to us the sin which we committed in our folly. (12) Let her not be as one dead, who emerges from his mother’s womb with half his flesh eaten away.” (13) So Moses cried out to God, saying, “O God, pray heal her!”
(14) But God said to Moses, “If her father spat in her face, would she not bear her shame for seven days? Let her be shut out of camp for seven days, and then let her be readmitted.” (15) So Miriam was shut out of camp seven days; and the people did not march on until Miriam was readmitted.
Translation: JPS, edited
Questions for Discussion:
1. What are the most compelling questions that arise as you read this text?
2. How might Miriam’s experience of being “shut out of the camp seven days” impact her sense of self? How might it affect her relationship to God and Moses?
3. Have you ever had an experience which is in some way similar to Miriam's experience in this story? Do you relate to Miriam in any way?
SONG LYRICS
SNOW/SCORPIONS AND SPIDERS
a song in Miriam's voice, by Alicia Jo Rabins/Girls in Trouble
Well my mother named me bitter
Although as a child I was so kind
Hiding myself in the trees to watch over my brother
But still my name was bitter
Bitter the taste of the sea
Bitter the cries of the horses drowning behind us
If anybody had asked me
I might not have chosen to go
But everyone knows
Sometimes you don’t have a choice
So when he said You’re banished,
Seven days in the desert alone
I just started walking
I knew there was nothing to say
The scorpions and the spiders
Crawled up to me and stopped in my shade
Together in silence we watched
As the sun crossed the sky
And if your father spit in your face
Wouldn’t you want to leave that place
And if your skin should turn to snow
Wouldn’t you have to go
And if your God should turn from you
wouldn’t you turn too?
Still I don’t regret a minute
And I don’t regret an hour
of the week that I lived all alone
at the top of the mountain
Though no voice came down from heaven
and I never saw words written in fire
I did see the birds of prey pick all the carcasses clean
If anybody had asked me
I might not have chosen to go
But everyone knows
Sometimes you don’t have a choice
And if your father spit in your face
Wouldn’t you want to leave that place
And if your skin should turn to snow
Wouldn’t you have to go
And if your God should turn from you
wouldn’t you turn too?
Questions:
1. What emotions does this song evoke in its lyrics and/or music?
2. Does the experience of hearing the story in "Miriam's voice" (as imagined by the artist) change the story for you? How?
2. In this song, the artist imagines Miriam thinking about her exile: “If anybody had asked me / I might not have chosen to go / But everyone knows / Sometimes you don’t have a choice.” Does the Miriam of this interpretation seem resigned to her fate or angry? How do you imagine Miriam responding to her leprosy and exile?
For more songs and study guides about women in Torah, as well as upcoming performances, come visit us at www.girlsintroublemusic.com.