August 22 • 2019 45
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n Parashat Ekev, Moses is in the 
midst of preparing the Israelites 
to cross over the Jordan into the 
land of promise. 
We recently completed the 
Book of Numbers, where, 
toward the end of the book, 
Moses has embraced his new 
role as a leader who will step 
aside for Joshua, and Moses 
climbs up Har Ha’
Avarim 
(Numbers 27:12). 
Listening to Rabbi David 
Wolpe’
s podcast on Parashat 
Pinchas, Wolpe noted that 
Samson Raphael Hirsch, a 
19th-century German rabbi, 
translated Har Ha’
Avarim not 
as the Mountains of Avarim, 
but as “the Mountain of 
Transition.” The root of Avarim
is ayin, vov, raish, which can be 
translated as crossing or on the 
other side. Hirsch’
s translation as 
the Mountain of Transition echoes 
what our ancient rabbis say about 
why Abraham was called Ivri, a 
Hebrew, “because all of the world 
was on one side and Abraham was 
aver, on the other side.
Abraham had to make a 
transition from being like 
everyone else to being different. 
So, too, Moses has to transition; 
his leadership was in flux. He 
eventually accepts the end of his 
tenure, allowing the people to move 
forward, closer to entering the 
land.
Being in a state of transition 
continues into the Book of 
Deuteronomy. Building from 
Hirsch and Wolpe, we can read 
Deuteronomy 1:1, when Moses 
addresses Israel b’
ever ha-Yarden
“on the other side of the Jordan,” as 

another moment in transition, in 
a liminal space. Wolpe notes that 
we live in a liminal state, “the state 
between what you were and 
what you’
re becoming.” 
After the Exodus, in 
Numbers, Moses and Israel 
struggle with transition — 
from being slaves to being 
a free people. It was easy 
to agree that freedom from 
slavery would be good, but it 
was a struggle to learn what 
that freedom would look and 
feel like. 
It can be a struggle to not 
be like Pharaoh or Balak, 
who do not recognize 
there’
s a power greater than 
themselves. Israel is called 
to recognize the Divine Presence 
in their midst by creating a society 
built on justice and striving for 
goodness. Building and striving are 
ongoing journeys. 
In Ekev, Moses wants Israel to 
create rituals to internalize this 
lesson because life gets really busy 
and it’
s easy to forget; so teach 
Torah to your children; connect 
with your heart and mind; and 
inscribe it on the doorposts of your 
houses and on your gates. Keep a 
sense of holiness at your center as 
you move through life’
s journey. 
We don’
t know how we’
re going 
to react or feel, but we know that 
we can keep a sense of holiness at 
our communal center, working and 
caring for each other, so that when 
one of us stumbles another person 
can pick us up. ■

Davey Rosen is a Jewish educator based 

in Ann Arbor and a rabbinic student at the 

Academy for Jewish Religion in New York.

Davey Rosen

Life’s Challenges

Parshat 

Ekev: 

Deuteronomy 

7:12-11:25; 

Isaiah

49:14-51:3.

spirit

torah portion

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