2 weeks ago on Monday, I went to visit my daughter’s class to talk with the 4th grade girls and to decorate tambourines with them. I had extra tambourines left over from a previous event, and after an extremely difficult, scary, and depressing week for all of us, I felt I just had to do at least something, because “One action is worth more than a thousand sighs.”
I discussed with the girls that while the whole world is so afraid right now, we are not worried at all! Instead, we are actually feeling really excited, because we know that this is all part of the process of Geulah and we are closer to Moshiach than ever before!
One of the girls spoke for most of us when she asked, “Yeah, but we already thought that 2 years ago when corona started…?!”
I replied, that that’s why we need to turn to Miriam, to be our role model!
MIriam received the prophecy of Geulah when she was just 6 years old, and she only saw the fulfilment of that prophecy when she was 86 years old!
She probably didn’t have a physical tambourine to hold onto for all those 80 years, but she definitely held on to her figurative tambourine - her full bitachon, for all those decades of waiting! She never gave up even when she had every reason to!
When her mother was forced to place Moshe Rabbeinu in the basket, her parents felt so much pain and regret that the midrash says her father Amram actually even slapped her, demanding, “Where is your prophecy?”
It seemed clear that it would never come true!
But Miriam knew that it was DEFINITELY true! It was not a question of IF. It was only a question of HOW, and WHEN.
Instead of feeling afraid, she felt curious. She wanted to see exactly how the prophecy would unfold. And so while her parents hurried back home so as not to watch their beloved baby perish, Gd forbid, Miriam stayed put, hiding behind the bushes, to witness how Hashem would turn things around…
And thanks to her bitachon, she was able to ensure that Moshe returned to his mother to be nursed and nurtured, as the future Redeemer of the Jewish people.
Over the following 80 years, Miriam felt the bitterness of the golus more than anyone else, as symbolised by her name, which means bitter. But at the same time, she did not feel discouraged or depressed. She was so fully confident that her prophecy would be fulfilled, that she even prepared for the Geulah celebrations in a tangible physical way, and inspired all the women of her generation to do the same.
So when our old tambourines get lost or broken, or when the figurative tambourines in our hearts, start to fade, we turn to Miriam as our role model of unbreakable trust, and remember that if she could hold on for 80 years, we can hold on too…
And bezH we will not need to hold on any longer!
May we immediately witness the great miracles of Geulah, and celebrate proudly with our beautiful tambourines - our proof that even though it took way way too long, we never gave up on seeing the fulfilment of our Rebbe’s nevuah, and that we were truly standing ready!
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