The virgin mary, miriam, and jewish reactions to marian devotion in the high middle ages

While discussing the rites and customs of burial and mourning in his book Tashbeátan, the early fourteenth-century Rabbi Shimshon ben áadok made the following remark: And the fact that we spill the water [that was in the presence of the dead man] outside [after the death] is because that when Miriam died the well ceased. For it is written: 'And there was no water for the congregation ['eda] since it was for her merit that the well traveled [with the Israelites] and we allude to it that he [the deceased] is a great man and he is worthy that water would cease on his behalf.