Miriam’s Cup is filled with water and placed on the seder table alongside Elijah’s Cup of wine. It honors Miriam the prophet, whose well sustained our ancestors through the wilderness.
Tonight we honor Miriam – the one who stood watch, who believed in possibility, who sang even before she knew the ending.
Miriam knew what it meant to wait by the water. She watched her baby brother float in a basket on the Nile, not knowing if he would live or die. She held hope when hope felt impossible.
According to tradition, a well of living water followed the Israelites through the desert because of Miriam’s merit. When they were thirsty, when they doubted, when they couldn’t see the promised land – the water sustained them.
We too need sustaining waters.
Water is the mikveh where we immerse in hope and renewal. Water is amniotic fluid, the first home. Water is tears we’ve cried. Water is life itself.
Tonight we drink from Miriam’s Cup and remember:
Even in the wilderness, there is water.
Even in the waiting, there is sustenance.
Even in uncertainty, there is the possibility of miracle.
Pass Miriam’s Cup around the table.
Each person may take a sip of water and say:
May I be sustained through this wilderness.
This reading is part of Southern Mikveh’s “From the Narrow Place to Hope: A Haggadah Supplement for Fertility Journeys.” Click here to learn more.
