For the source text click/tap here: Chagigah 23
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As we learned in the first Mishnah in this perek (chapter) (20b), great care must be taken to ensure ritual purity in both cases of terumah (tithes) and kodashim (Temple sacrifices), but the demands made regarding kodashim are greater than those having to do with terumah. We have already seen a number of examples of the contrast between these two halakhot.
R’ Chananyah ben Akavya relates that the only restriction of transporting midras and kodesh is to transport them on a boat while traveling over the Jordan River.
Rashi (1) explains that according to R’ Chananyah ben Akavya, decrees of Chazal are structured after the incident which inspired the decree and are not extended to circumstances that are similar; therefore, R’ Chananyah ben Akavya does not extend the restriction to other forms of transporting the kodesh.
We explore the importance of the Jordan river as one of the 4 rivers The Jordan, the Jarmuth, and the Keiromyon, and the Piga, which are the rivers of Damascus.(see bava Basra 74b) surrounding Eretz Yisrael and the seven seas.
What is the importance of spatial boundaries and how has the river inspire date imagination of 3 religions down to the exploration by the US Naval expedition of 1849.