Israeli Women Celebrate Miriam & Her Mystical Well

For the last 18 years, Maureen Kushner, 71, has been chartering a vessel from Tiberias-based Holyland Sailing Ltd. to bring a boat-full of women to the spot on Lake Kinneret where – according to Midrash (Bamidbar Rabbah 1:1) – the mystical peripatetic spring known as Miriam’s Well now rests.

In the past, the boat sailed on Nisan 10 – on the anniversary of the death of Miriam the Prophetess, according to Judaism’s lunar calendar. This year, the Bronx-born, Jerusalem-based artist raised the anchor on Rosh Chodesh (the new moon) of Sivan.

This may be the last time she organizes the nautical female-only celebration, the red-haired firebrand said in an interview in her home and studio in Jerusalem’s funky Nahlaot neighborhood. Kushner charged NIS 100 ($34) for women and NIS 60 ($20) for children for the boat ride and transportation from Jerusalem. But having sponsored many of the passengers, she was left with a deficit of $4,000. It’s a considerable sum for a pensioner, she noted. And no, she is not related to Jared Kushner, she kibbitzed. “I can’t continue [subsidizing the trip]. I don’t know if I’ll be able to do this anymore.”

This year, 126 women and children (corresponding to Miriam’s age when she died) equipped with ram’s horns, violins, harps, drums, flutes, guitars, and tambourines made the joyful maritime pilgrimage on the fresh-water body, also called the Sea of Galilee and Lake of Gennesaret. Jewish tradition considers where they dropped anchor to be the exact location where the miraculous spring that supplied the children of Israel with drinking water during their 40 years of wandering in the Sinai Desert ended its own journey.

While this spring, the yahrzeit (death anniversary) of Miriam fell on Saturday, March 28, immediately before Passover, Kushner – who is named in Hebrew in honor of the miracle-working older sister of Moses and Aaron – booked the sailing for May 17. This allowed Sabbath-observant women from Jerusalem and other distant cities to join in the fête.

The date was set in coordination with the IDF’s Home Front Command, anxious to avoid a boatload of women and children becoming a target for Hezbollah missiles fired from Lebanon. Wartime regulations limit public assembly. The Galilee has been frequently shelled by terrorist barrages.

As well, Kushner consulted Rabbi Mordechai Machlis, a Brooklyn-born scholar renowned for his Sabbath hospitality at his home in the Jerusalem suburb of Maalot Dafna. Encamped at Mount Sinai, Rosh Chodesh Sivan “was the only time in history the Jewish people were united in one heart and one soul,” he advised her.

Unfazed by the specter of exploding projectiles, Kushner and her crew – equipped with water, hats, sunscreen. kosher snacks, and love – set out Sunday to make their 135-minute voyage on the lyre-shaped lake. When the King David raised its anchor, it was Holyland Sailing’s first boat trip in many moons. Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, massacre and the consequent Gaza, Lebanon, and Iran wars have devastated Israel’s tourism sector.

“What a hallelujah for our beloved Kinneret!” said Kushner. “What a hallelujah in honor of our great, great, great HaKodesh Baruch Hu (the Holy One Blessed Be He),’ who is filled with goodness and compassion and love and blesses Am Israel (the Jewish People) with rain and dew and sustenance and a good life here in Eretz Israel, the Good Land.”

Paralleling the dearth of tourists, Israel has also suffered from a prolonged drought. Nevertheless, “In the zechut (merit) of Miriam HaNivia (Miriam the Prophetess), we celebrated with shofarim, drums, flutes, and the harp,” she enthused. The somewhat unscripted hillula (celebration) was very much in the spirit of Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach. Rocking the boat was Tzionna Achisheina singing Hallel and Psalms. She was accompanied by violinist-harpist and back-up singer Chava Rachel Saban, violinist Shaked Roker, and percussionist Hadar Givoni. The dancing was choreographed by Sarah Bracha and Joy Strauss.

Since mourning is not permitted on Rosh Chodesh, Kushner arranged for Tamar Biton and her 4-year-old daughter, Rachel, to come aboard as the guests of honor. The Beit Shemesh rebbetzin and her husband, Rabbi Yitzhak Biton, became national figures on March 6 when an Iranian missile smashed into their family home, killed their children Yaakov, Avigail, and Sarah.

Tamar’s saga “is a story about survival, faith and emunah (belief),” said Kushner. “She felt so embraced. So loved.”

Kushner said she welcomes sponsors for 2027’s sailing. She can be reached at MaureenKushner@hotmail.com.

Gil Zohar is a journalist and licensed tour guide in Jerusalem.