I'm going to cross the Jordan
I said, I'm going to cross the River Jordan
One of these days, hallelujah
Parashat Vaetchanan begins
on the east side of the Jordan River
where the People of Israel are camped
in order to prepare themselves
to cross the river and enter the land.
Moses is still with them
and takes the opportunity to review the
journey and reiterate the laws
of the Torah. The whole book of Dvarim
or Deuteronomy,
in fact is Moses's valedictory speech.
God has told Moses
that he will not cross the Jordan
with the rest of the people.
With the land so close,
Moses appeals to God to reverse
the sentence of death in exile.
There is something tragically human
about Moses's attempt to convince God
to postpone his death.
Like anyone, he first denies
the reality of death and then tries to bargain with
God for a different outcome.
But this isn't just anyone facing his last days.
This is Moses, the greatest prophet
with whom God spoke face to face,
who led the Israelites to freedom,
who brought down
the Ten Commandments from Sinai.
Why does Moses die
just outside the Promised Land?
According to the book of Numbers,
Moses's fatal mistake was to draw water
from a rock by hitting it twice,
when God told Moses to speak to the rock.
According to Deuteronomy,
the people are to blame for insisting
that Moses send spies into the land
and then believing their negative report.
Perhaps Moses must die simply because
he belongs to the generation destined to die
in the wilderness.
But there is more to it than these reasons.
The great prophets and visionaries
never do seem to get
into the Promised Land.
They envision the next phase of history,
but they don't live to see it.
The dreams of these prophets
come into being through 'Joshuas,'
successors with a different sets of skills
that can make dreams into realities.
God assures Moses that Joshua
will lead the people across the Jordan River
and settle them in the land.
Moses climbs a peak
above the Jordan Valley
and looks to the mountains in the north,
the deserts in the south,
and westward all the way toward the sea.
He sees not only the geography of the land,
but also the long history
of the people.
Most importantly, he sees future generations
interpreting these Five Books and realizes
that it is through them
that he will gain immortality.
The Children of Israel and God
are linked in an endless loop
of forgetting and remembering.
There is also love
between the Children of Israel and God.
God saved the people from oppression,
fed them in the wilderness
and will soon bring them across to a land
flowing with milk and honey.
In return they are asked to love God
with all their heart, with all their soul,
and all their might.
God's words are with them always:
at home and on the road,
when lying down and standing,
on their arms and on their foreheads,
on the doorposts of their homes,
and on their gates.
Shema Yisrael, Adonai Eloheinu,
Adonai Echad.
Producer: Sarah Lefton
Animation Director: Nick Fox-Gieg
Animation: Colleen MacIsaac
Editorial Director: Matthue Roth
Theme Music: Tim Cosgrove
Written and narrated by Rachel Havrelock
Beatbox and Harmonica by Yuri Lane
Sound Recording: Hyim