{"id":49605,"date":"2019-02-17T13:52:03","date_gmt":"2019-02-17T11:52:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=49605"},"modified":"2022-09-11T12:50:09","modified_gmt":"2022-09-11T09:50:09","slug":"crossing-over","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/crossing-over\/","title":{"rendered":"Crossing Over"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[442,397],"acf":{"old_id":"49605","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":34004,"related_cahpter":"157","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"What anger, or sadness, or envy, or spurned love do Moses\u2019 words limn forth?","content":"

…In reading the text of Deuteronomy, crossing over emerges as a leitmotif. Particularly haunting is the way Moses repeats the refrain of “You [Moses] shall not cross over…. He [Joshua] shall cross over …” (Deut. 3:27-28).13 This counterpoint is sustained in relation not only to Joshua, his successor, but also in relation to the people: “For I am to die in this land; I shall not cross over the Jordan. But you will cross over and take possession of that good land” (4:22). <\/span><\/p>\n

This is not simply an antithesis of (their) life and (his) death, but, precisely, of crossing over and not crossing over. (“I must die” is subsidiary to the main statement\u2014<\/span>eineni over<\/span><\/em>: “I am not to cross over.”) It is striking that, in many cases, this expression is not completed by a reference to the Jordan River. Crossing over stands on its own in almost metaphysical antinomy with not crossing over. The pathos of Moses’ harping on this theme provokes the reader to wonder about the message that Moses may be conveying to the people. For once God has repudiated his prayer; in some sense Moses lays his narrative at the door of his audience. What does he want of them? What anger, or sadness, or envy, or spurned love do his words limn forth? <\/span><\/p>\n

Another dramatic appearance of the crossing over theme occurs in the speech of the two and a half tribes, Reuben, Gad, and half of Manasseh, when they lay claim to the conquered lands of Transjordan. They forcefully plead with Moses: “<\/span>Al ta’avirenu<\/span><\/em>\u2014do not make us cross over that Jordan!” (Num. 32:5). These tribes want the conquered land for their cattle, but they just as strongly do not want to cross over the Jordan. The word <\/span>mikneh<\/span><\/em>, cattle, with its root meaning of “property” or “acquisition,” of being attached to pasture land, stands in some tension with the notion of crossing over. They appeal to Moses, whose deepest wish is <\/span>E’ebra na<\/span><\/em>\u2014”Let me, I pray, cross over.” <\/span><\/p>\n

What precisely is implied in the tribes’ reluctance to cross over, as it is played out against Moses’ radical desire? For Moses, the word \u201c<\/span>e\u2019ebra<\/span><\/em>\u201d and the desire it signifies hold a more than technical meaning. He is refused by Sihon, by Edom, who do not let him cross (<\/span>e\u2019ebra<\/span><\/em>) through their land\u2014and by God. And even among his own people, there are those whose language betrays a radical alienation from the structure of his desire: <\/span>Al ta’avirenu<\/span><\/em>\u2014<\/span><\/i>“Do not make us cross over.” <\/span><\/p>\n

Excerpted from: \u00a0Bewilderments<\/em>, Schocken Books, 2017, p.<\/span>291-293<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":52953,"id":52953,"title":"jo3-crossing-the-threshold","filename":"jo3-crossing-the-threshold.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/jo3-crossing-the-threshold.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/remembering-the-thresholds\/jo3-crossing-the-threshold\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"jo3-crossing-the-threshold","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":52952,"date":"2019-04-03 08:30:57","modified":"2022-09-11 09:50:07","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":300,"height":169,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/jo3-crossing-the-threshold-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/jo3-crossing-the-threshold-300x169.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":169,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/jo3-crossing-the-threshold.jpg","medium_large-width":300,"medium_large-height":169,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/jo3-crossing-the-threshold.jpg","large-width":300,"large-height":169,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/jo3-crossing-the-threshold.jpg","1536x1536-width":300,"1536x1536-height":169,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/jo3-crossing-the-threshold.jpg","2048x2048-width":300,"2048x2048-height":169,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/jo3-crossing-the-threshold.jpg","post_full_size-width":300,"post_full_size-height":169,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/jo3-crossing-the-threshold.jpg","home_baner-width":300,"home_baner-height":169}},"embedded_video":"","video_duration":"","show_fb_comments":true,"credit_media":""},"tile":{"top_caption":"","main_caption":"Crossing Over","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"What anger, or sadness, or envy, or spurned love do Moses\u2019 words limn forth?","preview_embedded":"","preview_image":{"ID":52953,"id":52953,"title":"jo3-crossing-the-threshold","filename":"jo3-crossing-the-threshold.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/jo3-crossing-the-threshold.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/remembering-the-thresholds\/jo3-crossing-the-threshold\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"jo3-crossing-the-threshold","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":52952,"date":"2019-04-03 08:30:57","modified":"2022-09-11 09:50:07","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":300,"height":169,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/jo3-crossing-the-threshold-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/jo3-crossing-the-threshold-300x169.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":169,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/jo3-crossing-the-threshold.jpg","medium_large-width":300,"medium_large-height":169,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/jo3-crossing-the-threshold.jpg","large-width":300,"large-height":169,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/jo3-crossing-the-threshold.jpg","1536x1536-width":300,"1536x1536-height":169,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/jo3-crossing-the-threshold.jpg","2048x2048-width":300,"2048x2048-height":169,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/jo3-crossing-the-threshold.jpg","post_full_size-width":300,"post_full_size-height":169,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/jo3-crossing-the-threshold.jpg","home_baner-width":300,"home_baner-height":169}},"preview_video":"","external_link":"","link_for_pay":false,"tile_gallery_items":false,"credits":""},"alternate_tile":{"top_caption":"","main_caption":"","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"","hide_media":false},"tile_group":{"preview_image_url":false,"main_caption":"","sub_caption":"","":null,"popup_package_extra_content":"","read_time":""},"home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo":{"seo_title":"","seo_description":"","seo_default_title":"","seo_default_description":""},"links":false,"send_noty":false},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49605"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49605"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49605\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":107871,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49605\/revisions\/107871"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49605"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49605"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49605"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}