Chukat / Miriam’s passing… and gaining atonement from death

“They came to the Tzin Desert, and the people stopped in Kadesh. It was there that Miriam died and she was buried there.” (20:1)

This is all the Torah has to say about Miriam, whose death was comparable to Moshe’s (Baba Batra 17a), Aharon’s, and even Avraham’s, on account of all them utilizing the word sham (there), which even appears twice here (Menachem Recanati on this verse).

The Talmud (Moed Katan 28a) tells us Miriam’s death is juxtaposed to the Parah Adumah (Red Heifer) of Chapter 19 because just as the Parah Adumah brought atonement, so does the death of the righteous bring atonement.

Toldot Yitzchak notes that the Parah Adumah is not classified as a korban (sacrifice) and does not bring atonement — it brings about taharah (purity).

This may explain why Rashi here misquotes the Talmud, saying, “Just as korbanot bring atonement, so does the death of the righteous.” [Tosafot claims the atonement brought by Parah Adumah is for the sin of the Golden Calf. See also Rashi 19:22.]

Other commentaries address the idea that the death of the righteous brings atonement. Torah Temimah focuses not on the death, but on observed mourning and honor given to the deceased, which translates to Honor of G-d, which brings atonement.

The Toldot Yitzchak surmises that “the Rabbis’ intent was that the atonement was not available for a person who does not feel a real spiritual void, a loss for all of Israel, when the righteous die. Such a loss should humble a person, and make a person feel like the dust of the earth, an idea connected to the Parah Adumah which is burned into dust.”

The deaths of Nadav and Avihu are mentioned in Yom Kippur’s Torah reading to help us think about what purpose the death of the righteous can serve on the Day we aim to achieve atonement.

Recanati (Bamidbar 25) says that after the Baal Peor incident, Moshe was instructed to gather the leaders of the people to get G-d’s wrath to subside from Israel (25:4) because, through the leaders either judging the people or themselves dying, G-d’s attribute of Judgment is appeased. (See Medrash Shir HaShirim 1:6) This helps explain why the wrongs perpetrated against the Givonim were only righted through the deaths of seven descendants of Shaul (see Shmuel II:21)