At the end of our sedra, Miriam is punished for speaking ‘lashon hara’ about Moshe. Rav Dessler raises the question that if you look at the psukim (always a good idea!), all Miriam seems to be saying is asking ‘why Moshe must seperate from his wife to receive prophecy?’ And the question is a fair one; Miriam was also a prophetess and did not need to separate from her husband. Wasn’t Miriam just asking a fair question? Rav Dessler answers that there are two types of question; one is a genuine will to know an answer, and the other is a veiled attack – it is not a question at all and the questioner does not want to know an answer; they just want to make known that they disagree and do not approve of something. Miriam’s was the latter – she was not asking genuinely why Moshe separated from his wife, but was showing her disaproval of Moshe in a question form. This was the origin of her sin.
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