Legend tells us that Miriam found the wells that kept us alive during the forty years we wandered in the wilderness before we came to the Promised Land.   Miriam’s Well was said to hold Divine power to heal and renew.  It became a special source of transformation for a people seeking to leave slavery behind them and form a new identity.   Throughout our journey as a people, we have sought to rediscover these mayim khayyim, living waters for ourselves.

 Elijah’s Cup, which we speak of at the end of the Seder, represents our future redemption, looking forward to the time of the Messiah when peace will fill the world.  Miriam’s Cup is a symbol of our past redemption when our people were brought out of Egypt and delivered from slavery.

 We are still on the journey.  Just as the Holy One delivered Miriam and her people, just as they were sustained in the desert and transformed until they became a new people, so may we be delivered, sustained and transformed on our own journey to a stronger sense of ourselves as individuals and as one people.


haggadah Section: Cover
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