Chukas of this week's סדרה, which is Chukas Balak, we learned that when Miriam passed away, the water stopped. The Yidden had water in the desert for forty years, wasn't in a natural way, it came from a rock. And when Miriam passed away, it stopped, and then the Gemara, the פסוק continues with the story that the Yidden complained, etc., etc. But Rashi says, מכאן, from here we see, שכל ארבעים שנה היה להם הבאר בזכות מרים, that all forty years in the desert the Yidden had the water in the zechut of Miriam. Which means like this: Chazal tell us that the man that the Yidden had in the desert came in the zechut of Moshe Rabbeinu, the ענני הכבוד, the clouds, which surrounded the Yidden and protected the Yidden from the heat and from the sun and from everything else, it killed the snakes, etc., it made it comfortable for the Yidden, that came in the zechut of Aharon, and the water came in the zechut of Miriam. And the Rebbe asks, why is it that the water came in the zechut of Miriam? It should have been the zechut of Moshe. We know Moshe Rabbeinu is called the רעיא מהימנא, the trustworthy shepherd. A shepherd is somebody who takes care of all the needs of his sheep, of his flock. So Moshe Rabbeinu, being the רעיא מהימנא, is the one that takes care about of all the needs that the Yidden have. So why would water be different, that the water didn't come in the zechut of Moshe, but it came in the zechut of Miriam? And the Rebbe explains it like this: We know that

there is a halachah that when you make an eruv, like an eruv chatzerot, eruv tavshilin, you have to have food. And the din is that water cannot be used. And the Rambam in Peirush HaMishnayos explains like this: He says food is nourishment. Food comes into a person, becomes part of the person, it becomes דם ובשר כבשרו, it becomes blood and flesh of the person. But the water is the one that brings the nourishment of the food to all parts of the body. If not for the water, it wouldn't be able to accomplish it. So the water doesn't nourish, it's not called food, but it does have the function of bringing what the food is supposed to accomplish to all parts of the body. Now, whatever we have b'gashmiyus, we also have b'ruchniyus. So in ruchniyus, this is the difference between food and water. Food represents when a person in his mind internalizes, understands how he's supposed to behave, understands what avodas Hashem is, what he is supposed to do, whether it's in his mind or is in his heart, in his feeling, but it's something that he internalized, like food that's internalized. But that's not enough. You got to have that idea that you're able to take what you internalize in your mind and in your heart, and bring it out to reality, to actuality, to bring it out into your whole behavior and everything that you do. And that is represented by water. So food represents the part that you understand and you feel of what Yiddishkeit is, what avodas Hashem is, and the water represents that you take that, and you bring it into action, bring it into reality. That's what water is. Now, we know this is one of the difference between the men and the women. We know the Gemara says that a man is called ish, a woman is called ishah, they both have the same letters, אל״ף שי״ן, but the man has the יו״ד and the woman has the ה״א. The difference between יו״ד and ה״א, it says in Chassidus, יו״ד is chochmah, represents chochmah, and ה״א represents binah. Chochmah is a nekudah, it's a dot, it's a point of seichel. Binah is when you take the seichel and you bring it out, you spread it out, you develop it, you bring it down to knowing exactly what to do. So binah represents that you're able to apply it to the way to behave. And the woman has more binah than the man. The Gemara says, בינה יתירה ניתנה באשה יותר מבאיש, a woman has more binah than a man. What does that mean? That a man could know the ideas and know what is supposed to be done, but how to apply it and how to actually bring it out into maaseh and to apply it, that's what a woman. That's why we see by Avraham Avinu, Sarah was the one that recognized what Yishmael is, knew how to apply what is supposed to be done to the children. Avraham was the one that's supposed to set the tone, but who was able to apply, who knew it? Sarah. Rivkah with Yitzchak, who knew about Esav more was Rivkah. Yitzchak knew the idea more in in a higher level, in abstract thinking, and Rivkah was able to apply it. So the women have this maalah of what is represented in the water. And therefore, in the desert, the water came in the zechus of Miriam, the woman. And that teaches us, gives the woman the koach that the water of Torah, which is the idea of taking the Torah and applying it to daily behavior, applying it to your family, into the chinuch of the children, etc., that's in the hand of the woman. Now, vadai, if the woman can't do it, then the Oybershter gives the koach to the man also. That's why when Miriam passed away, it came in the zechut of Moshe. But lechatchilah, the right way to do it is that this is in the hands of the woman, so the woman have to know the great responsibility that they have.