I just wanted to share these thoughts by some rabbis when it comes to the burning of the red heifer and the living waters when it is mixed. They liken the living waters to Miriam’s death some 38 years after the burning of the red heifer. After her death they received the living waters from the rock (or crag{{{pun intended, hidden in the crag) and we know that the rock represents Jesus giving us the Holy Spirit, the living waters. Now in their Kabbalistic demented inverted mindset, they see Miriam as a sort of divine feminine type of their Shekinah which is nothing more than a Kundalini spirit. It made me think about what these living waters will represent in their mind and I think they believe it will be represented as Miriam giving them life through the ashes of the red heifer. In my book I mention that the sprinkling of these ashes will be more like the drinking of the white ash (MZKT) of the golden calf and death following shortly after. I believe the spiritual connotations of this whole thing is a disaster for everyone. In an inverted and backwords world like the one we live in, evrything is twisted. To them, Miriam is a goddess representing their shekinah. She is a feminist to the woman representing modern feminism. And her death was their atonement as will be the red heifers burning their purification.

“The “living waters”  represent  the word of Hashem and His life giving powers. “They have forsaken the Lord, the fountain of living water,” Jeremiah 17: 13) . It further describes  life and cleansing. Yet more dramatically water is adaptable. It transform’s itself into the vessel that contains it. This was a characteristic that truly describes the character of Miriam the sister of Moshe.  Miriam whose name includes the word Yam or oceans. This is the same living waters that were used to return empowerment to the man encountering his own mortality with the red heifer…Miriam like the clear pure waters refreshed the broken souls and gave them back life and hope. Miriam represented the quenching hope filled waters of redemption. Our sages have taught that the children of Israel were afforded three gifts that were given to them in the wilderness in the merit of their leaders. The Divine clouds of Glory that surrounded and protected the people were given in the merit of Aaron. The manna from Heaven was given because of Moshe and the “waters of the well” were gifted due to Miriam. Miriam represented hope in the midst of adversity.” (http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/20695)

Parshat Chukath – במדבר פרק-כ – we learn from Rashi that the demise of the prophetess Miriam was juxtaposed to the chapter of the Red Heifer to teach us that both of these atone.

The Pasuk says:

וַתָּמָת שָׁם מִרְיָם וַתִּקָּבֵר שָׁם

Rashi:

ותמת שם מרים. למה נסמכה מיתת מרים (ל) לפרשת פרה אדומה, לומר לך, מה קרבנות (מ) מכפרין, (ס”א כמו שפרה אדומה מכפרת) אף מיתת צדיקים (נ) מכפרת (מועד קטן כח.):‏

Why was Miriam’s death juxtaposed to the Red Heifer? To teach us that just as sacrifices atone (alternate reading: just as the Red Heifer atones) so too does the demise of the righteous atone.

Rashi is quoting the Gemara in Mo’ed Katan 28a – which has the alternate reading‘s text.

Tosafos there explains – מה פרה אדומה מכפרת פירוש על מעשה העגל וכדאמרינן במדרש משל לבן השפחה שטינף פלטירין של מלך – that the Red Heifer atones for the sin of the Golden Calf, as per the Medrash that the maidservant (Heifer) is expected to clean up her child’s (Calf’s) mess in the palace.

The שפתי חכמים elaborates:

ל) פירוש דאין כאן מקומו שהרי בשנה ראשונה ליציאת מצרים עשו העגל ובשנה שנייה שרפו פרה אדומה ומיתת מרים היתה בסוף מ’ שנה ליציאת מצרים:‏

That is: The first RedHeifer was done soon after the Mishkan was erected – it should be in the Chumash around Tazria-Metzora. Miriam’s demise happened 38 years later; the Red Heifer is put here – some 38 years after it happened – to teach us something.

He continues:

מ) ואם תאמר וכי קרבן היתה הפרה אדומה והלא לא היו מקריבין ממנה כלום. ויש לומר לפי דבר אחר שפירש”י לעיל שקראה הכתוב חטאת לומר שהיא כקדשים ליאסר בהנאה שמע מינה שהיא כקרבן: ‏

That is: Even though the Red Heifer was not a real sacrifice, (it was done outside the Temple and no part of it was brought on the altar), Rashi already explained that it has some of the laws of a sacrifice, as it’s called a חַטָּאת (ibid 19:9) ולפי הלכותיו קראה הכתוב חטאת, לומר שהיא כקדשים להאסר בהנאה – in that one is forbidden to derive personal benefit from it, [besides for its stated purpose. (As per שפתי חכמים there- ויש מפרשים כקדשים שבאין לכפרה כך האפר בא לטהר מי שצריך ואין שום הנאה אחרת ממנה).]

He concludes:

נ) ואם תאמר לפי זה היה לו לסמוך גבי קרבנות ממש. ויש לומר לכך נסמכה לפרה לפי שהם דומים להדדי לפי שמיתת צדיקים אינן קרבנות וגם הפרה אינה קרבן ממש ולמדנו מהדדי כמו שזה מכפר גם זה מכפר:‏

That is: Miriam’s demise was juxtaposed to the Red Heifer, and not to a regular sacrifice, to highlight that neither are real sacrifices, yet they both atone. (https://judaism.stackexchange.com/questions/57251/what-do-we-learn-from-miriams-demise-being-juxtaposed-to-the-red-heifer)

This excerpt comes from: https://jewishweek.timesofisrael.com/death-and-rebuke-for-the-greatest-generation/

“There has never been a generation like that of Moses, Miriam and Aaron, says the Zohar. Their combined presence, awesome as it was for the “wilderness generation,” made the idea of their deaths that much more traumatic. The depth of this loss is foreshadowed in Chukat, which begins with the mysterious ritual of the Red Heifer. The Zohar explains that this rite, while providing a means of purification from contact with the dead, demonstrates the eternal principle that for the community to receive atonement the most precious souls must pay the price.

Of the three siblings, Miriam was the first to go. The Zohar connects her death to the Red Heifer: “Just as judgment was executed on this cow to purify the unclean, so was judgment passed on Miriam for the purification of the world.” Both Miriam and the heifer are held blameless, it is a judgment on the world in general. However, the link established between Miriam and the Red Heifer paves the way for her brothers’ deaths. After Miriam dies, and the well that supplied Israel with water in her merit dries up, the people turn on her brothers. But instead of calling the Israelites to account and supporting Moses, as in the past, God does something unexpected: He appears to switch sides. A Midrash portrays Him rebuking the brothers: “My children are dying of thirst while you sit and mourn” for Miriam.”

This excerpt comes from: patheos.com/resources/additional-resources/2011/06/miriam-the-red-heifer-anna-batler-06-29-2011

“Miriam’s death receives only a single sentence in the text. After the people arrive in the Zin Desert, we are told that “Miriam died there and she was buried there” (Num. 20:1). The text is silent as to who will carry her memory forward; does she have children who will wear her garments in her stead? In the two stories that expressly speak of Miriam, she is seeking power for herself. At the splitting of the sea, she acts in a manner parallel to Moses. Miriam sings with the women as Moses sings with the men (Ex. 15:21). Later, Miriam is exiled with leprosy because she compares herself to Moses once again, claiming for herself the title of a prophet like Moses (Num. 12:3). Did Miriam, the woman who believed herself to be the equal of a man, die alone?

The Midrash responds to the problem of Miriam’s lonely death by writing for her a family. She is a mother, married to Caleb, the good spy who did not speak negatively of Israel, with a sister-wife, Batyah, Pharaoh’s daughter who saved baby Moses from the Nile (Steinmetz, “A Portrait of Miriam in Rabbinic Midrash“). In providing Miriam with an extraordinary family, the Midrash gives Miriam a peaceful resting place in our tradition, as a mother and a wife in Israel. However, in the Torah, there is no peaceful rest for Miriam. She is forgotten by the text and the people, but mourned by God. After her death, the Israelites’ water well dries up. When her life stops, so does the source of life. From the juxtaposition of Miriam’s death and the drying of the well, the Talmud learns that this well existed because of Miriam’s merits; it was her well (Tractite Sukkah 3:11). To restart it, God commands Moses and Aaron to speak to Miriam’s well, but instead they hit the well and are punished with an early death in the desert.

Does the violence forced upon her well echo the violence forced upon her identity? Was Miriam required to toe the line of womanhood, even as she prophesied for a God who has no gender? Are Aaron and Moses punished for causing violence to Miriam’s well and to her identity? Is God saying to Aaron and Moses, “She died in the desert and you dare to think that you will not perish here too? You are no greater then she was.” Her end was not peaceful, but neither was it quiet. Today, I return to Miriam’s proverbial ashes to exhume a feminist voice in our tradition even when, like the purpose of the red heifer, it is not discernable or apparent.”

This excerpt comes from: https://ladderofjacob.com/2016/07/13/redheifer/

“In our parasha, Miriam dies. Israel was provided water by the Rock in her merit, and at her death, the water (mayim) ceased. Within the name of מרים, Miriam, are the letters for מים, mayim/water. The Midrash Rabbah cites a principle from the Talmud called מיתתן של צדיקים מכפרת mitatan shel tzaddikim mekapparet, in relation to the death of Miriam,

יב א״ר אבא בר אבינא מפני מה נסמכה פרשת מיתת מרים לאפר פרה אלא מלמד שכשם שאפר הפרה מכפר כך מיתת הצדיקים מכפרת
מדרש רבה ויקרא פרשה כ סימן יב

“R. Abba b. Abina enquired: For what reason was the section recording the death of Miriam placed in close proximity to that dealing with the ashes of the Red Heifer? Simply this, to teach that as the ashes of the Heifer effect atonement, so the death of the righteous effects atonement.”
Leviticus Rabbah 20:12, Soncino Press Edition, cf. Moed Katan 28a”