Elijah’s cup and Miriam’s well

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Excerpt­ed from “A Grow­ing Hag­gadah”

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Fill the Cup of Elijah

Our Seder draws to an end but Redemp­tion is not yet com­plete. Our activ­i­ties here tonight recall us to our covenant with the Eter­nal One, to the tasks that still await us as a peo­ple called to ser­vice, to a great pur­pose for which the peo­ple of Israel lives: to bring to real­i­ty a world of שָׁלוֹם, whole­ness, and, until that time, the preser­va­tion and affir­ma­tion of hope.

❦ One of those present opens the door.

שְׁפֹךְ חֲמָתְךָ אֶל־הַגּוֹיִם אֲשֶׁר לֹא יְדָעוּךָ וְעַל מַמְלָכוֹת אֲשֶׁר בְּשִׁמְךָ לֹא קָרָאוּ. כִּי אָכַל אֶת־יַעֲקֹב וְאֶת־נָוֵהוּ הֵשַׁמּוּ. שְׁפָךְ־עֲלֵיהֶם זַעְמֶךָ וַחֲרוֹן אַפְּךָ יַשִּׂיגֵם. תִּרְדֹּף בְּאַף וְתַשְׁמִידֵם מִתַּחַת שְׁמֵי יְיָ.

Sh’foch khamatcha el ha-goy­im ash­er lo y’da-ucha v’al mam­la­chot ash­er b’shimcha lo kara-oo. Ki achal et-ya’akov v’et navey-hu heysham­mu. Sh’foch aley­hem za’mecha vacharon apcha yasigeym. Tird­of b’af v’tashmideym mitachat shmey Adonai.

Lis­ten to us, neigh­bors! Come see what we do. We have noth­ing to hide here. We have much to share.

There are many who express their dis­dain for this liv­ing globe. Let the heav­ens and the earth pour their wrath upon them. Yes, let those who reject the beau­ty of cre­ation and despoil its gifts feel our wrath, for their cal­lous­ness destroys all sustenance.

But we state by our words and our actions that we strive to live in har­mo­ny with cre­ation, rec­og­niz­ing with­in each frag­ment, the won­drous image of the Whole.

❦ Pass the cup of Eli­jah around the table so that every­one can pour some of their wine into it.*

We call this cup of wine Elijah’s cup—for the Prophet Eli­jah, the mes­sen­ger of God, appoint­ed to announce the era of the Mes­si­ah. Until now, this cup has stood empty.

We do not look for a Mes­si­ah who will mag­i­cal­ly remake the world. When we have accept­ed our respon­si­bil­i­ties, pooled our efforts and remade the world—we will ush­er in the Mes­sian­ic Era.

This will be a time of abun­dance and peace, when our peo­ple, and all the peo­ples of our earth, will live in secu­ri­ty and plen­ty, and will be free to live in dig­ni­ty with oth­ers. Just as we open the door for the mes­sen­ger of the Mes­si­ah, so may we open our arms and the doors of our hearts as we work for the Mes­sian­ic Era.

Eli­ahu haNavi

אֵלִיָּהוּ הַנָּבִיא, אֵלִיָּהוּ הַתִּשְׁבִּי, אֵלִיָּהוּ, אֵלִיָּהוּ אֵלִיָּהוּ הַגִּלְעָדִי. בִּמְהֵרָה בְיָמֵינוּ יָבֹא אֵלֵינוּ עִם מָשִׁיחַ בֶּן דָּוִד, עִם מָשִׁיחַ בֶּן דָּוִד.

Eliyahu ha-navi, Eliyahu ha-Tish­bi, Eliyahu, Eliyahu, Eliyahu ha-Gila­di; Bimheira v’yameinu yavo eileinu Im-Mashiach ben David, Im-Mashiach ben David.

Eli­jah the prophet… Eli­jah from Tish­bi…, Eli­jah of Gilead; Soon, in our day, may he come to us; With the mes­si­ah, the son of David.

❦ Close the door.

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Drink from Miriam’s Well

❦ Before the seder, pre­pare a large pitch­er of fresh, tasty drink­ing water from which all will drink at the end of the Seder (also a bowl(s) to emp­ty the remain­der of wine in the cups before drink­ing from Miriam’s Well) The well will be explained at the end of the Seder. (I like to slice an orange and pile ice on top to the rim of the pitch­er. Then fill the remain­ing space with cold water.) The pitch­er remains on the table through the Seder. The ICE melts through the process of our lib­er­a­tion, until we drink from Miri­am’s well, after the fourth cup of wine is drunk and before the Neertzah.

❦ Emp­ty what­ev­er wine remains in the wine glass­es into the emp­ty bowls then pour some water from the pitch­er that has stood on the table into everyone’s wine glass.

We have escaped slav­ery and crossed the sea. We enter the arid land before us, made hes­i­tant by gen­er­a­tions of servitude—mixed with our recent strug­gle, and yet heady in our new freedom.

We have thirst­ed for free­dom, but now we thirst for water. As with so many peo­ple in the world who do not have water, we face bit­ter­ness** and quarreling***.

Water runs deep in the sto­ries of Miri­am, whose name means “bit­ter water” and Moses, whose name means to “draw out” (of water). And so he was, when as an infant… after Miri­am, his sis­ter, put him there.

Our ancient texts tell us that Moses and Miri­am were able to turn the bit­ter into sweet­ness and bring forth water.

Fur­ther, we are told that Miri­am, the mid­wife of our lib­er­a­tion has stood ready, wait­ing to sus­tain us in the time ahead as we come to grips with our tasks and responsibilities.

Our Sages spoke of Miriam’s Well, cre­at­ed in the twi­light of creation’s week. It now lies hid­den in the sea of Galilee**** for Eli­jah to restore to us. Ish­mael received water from it as “the well of liv­ing and see­ing”*****; Rebec­ca drew from it when she greet­ed Eliez­er******; the well first appeared to our peo­ple when Moses struck the rock on Miriam’s account at the place of bit­ter­ness in Sinai*******—and it trav­elled with us through­out the desert years. Its waters, we are told, taste of old wine and new wine, of milk and of honey.

Miri­am haNevi­ah (sung to the melody of Eli­ahu haNavi)********

מִרְיָם הַנְּבִיאָה, עֹז וְזִמְרָה בְּיָדָהּ, מִרְיָם תִּרְקֹד אִתָּנוּ לְהַגְדִּיל זִמְרַת עוֹלָם, מִרְיָם תִּרְקֹד אִתָּנוּ לְתַקֵּן אֶת‑הָעוֹלָם: בִּמְהֵרָה בְיָמֵינוּ הִיא תְּבִיאֵנוּ, אֶל מֵי הַיְשׁוּעָה 

Miri­am ha-n’vi’ah oz v’z­im­rah b’yadah. Miri­am tirkod itanu l’hagdil zim­rat olam. Miri­am tirkod itanu l’tak­en et ha-olam. Bimheyrah v’yameynu hi t’vi’einu el mey ha-y’shuah.

Miri­am the prophet, strength and song in her hand, Miri­am dance with us in order to increase the song of the world. Miri­am dance with us in order to repair the world. Soon she will bring us to the waters of redemption.

This is the well of the Ances­tors of the world:

Abra­ham & Sarah, Isaac & Rebec­ca, Jacob & Leah and Rachel dug it;

the lead­ers of old­en times have searched for it;

the heads of the peo­ple, the law­givers of Israel,

Moses, Aaron and Miriam,

have caused it to flow with their staves.

In the desert we received it as a gift

and there­after it fol­lowed us on all our wanderings:

to lofty moun­tains and deep valleys.

Not until we came to the bound­ary of Moab,

when we entered the Land with­out Moses and Miriam,

did it disappear

because we squan­dered our free­dom by not ful­fill­ing our responsibilities.

Now, as we begin a new sea­son of renew­al, may these cleans­ing, refresh­ing waters, rem­i­nis­cent of Miriam’s well, recall for us a time of puri­ty of pur­pose and help us focus on the tasks ahead.

זֶה בּאֵר מִרְיָם, בּאֵר מַיִם חַיִּים. זֵכֶר לִיצִיאַת מִצְרָיִם.

Zeh Be’er Miryam, be’er may­im chay­im. Zeich­er l’tzi-at Mitzrayim.

This is the Well of Miri­am, the well of liv­ing waters. A reminder of the Exo­dus from Egypt.

❦ All drink the water from Miriam’s well.

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Notes

*This was an inno­va­tion of R. Naf­tali Zvi Horowitz of Rop­shitz (May 22, 1760 – May 8, 1827). It has been part of “A Grow­ing Hag­gadah” since (at least) 1992.

**Exo­dus 15:23

***Exo­dus 17:6–7, Num­bers 20:11

****http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/123007

*****Gen­e­sis 16:14

******Gen­e­sis 24:14–18

*******Num­bers 20

********song text by Rab­bi Leila Gal Berner