The Crossers

 This aliyah gives us the incredible mitzvah of writing Torah on the stones at the boundaries of Israel - a remarkable and holy deed that lets everyone know - people coming in as well as the inhabitants - that this is a land fundamentally tied to Torah and belief and trust in H'.  As always, Torah is completely free - so free, in fact, that it can even be written on stone (is this the origin of the phrase "written in stone") and apparently not tarnished, ever, for all to see.

But with that in mind, the verse that caught me today was not really a verse in particular but really the repeated use of the Hebrew word b'avrichem - basically, "in your crossing [over the Jordan River into Israel]."  

I can't quite believe that I had never heard this before but surely it is these verses (along with all of the others that discuss crossing) which led to the birth of the Ivrim - the Hebrews - the "crossers."  The only context in which I had previously heard this was in relation to Avraham who, I believe, crossed over the Euphrates River when he "came from the East" - from Ur Chaldees - before arriving in the land.  And what a journey that must have been.

With this in mind - that Ivrim are named for the act of their ancestral generation that crossed over into Israel - what does this actually represent?  Sure, it means entering into the "land flowing with milk and honey" and a literal physical migration of people - but what does it metaphorically mean?  Can it mean anything other than entering into a state of oneness and unity with G-d, where every act, as indicated by the borders themselves - is infused with Torah?  And once this infusion occurs - down to the literal soaking of the land in the Word of Torah, and in the food, and in the air, and in commerce and daily activities, and in the minds of the people - I mean, can we call this anything other than enlightenment?  If enlightenment is something other than this kind of constant divine awareness - at least in the Jewish mind - I'm not quite sure what the something else would be.

And our ancestors have done it.  They have, quite literally, crossed over - and directly, I would say, after a long detour, of course - from the wilderness into the promised land.  What did they cross over though?  They crossed over rushing instability and reactiveness and impermanence - all symbolized by water - into stability, but not only that - stability plus sweetness and joy - constantly - flowing water (impermanence) to flowing milk and honey (permanence, sustainability, life, and sweetness).  And they did it individually and collectively.