Miriam's Cup

זאת כוס מרים כוס מים חיים זכר לציאת מצרים

Zot Kos Miryam, kos mayim hayim. Zeiher litzi’at mitzrayim.

Pour water from Miriam's cup into every guest's cup.

All drink, leaning to the left.

Miriam, who first appears in the Torah as the unnamed sister of Moses, led the Israelites in song and dance as they crossed the sea. "And Miriam the prophet...took her timbrel in her hand, and all the women followed her, in dance, with timbrels. And Miriam sang..." (Exodus 15:20-21).

Miriam is the first woman to be called "prophet" in the Torah. In the Midrash, the Rabbis attribute this honor to her insistence that the Israelites, including her own parents, defy Pharaoh's decree forbidding marital relations between Israelite slaves.

Miriam, with her brothers, Moses and Aaron, led the Israelites on their desert journey. According to rabbinic tradition, Miriam's ability to locate sources of fresh water preserved spirits and lives. When she died, the people were afraid that they, too, would perish. But when their period of mourning was over, they discovered fresh springs that revived them. Miriam's Well accompanied our people on our forty-year journey through the wilderness.


haggadah Section: Introduction
Source: The Open Door edited by Sue Levi Elwell