Parshas Masei (5768)
We are presently in the middle of what is known
traditionally as the "Three Weeks" - the saddest
period in the Jewish calendar in which we mourn the
destruction of the Holy Temple and the loss of our
homeland, and we pray to G-d to return His Divine
Presence to Zion and His people to Jerusalem.
Ironically, at this time when we in the Diaspora are
yearning to come back to our land, the government of
Israel is involved in all kinds of peace talks and
negotiations with its enemies (direct talks with Abbas
and the PA and indirect talks with Assad and Syria
through Turkey) which might involve giving away that
land - including areas of Judea and Samaria, and
possibly (but unlikely) the Golan Heights.
Now I don't know whether or not these talks and any
eventual peace agreement with either the PA or Syria
will accomplish the type of peace that was attained by
giving back the Sinai Peninsula to Egypt in the late
70's, but one thing I can tell you. And that is that while
the majority of the Sinai Peninsula is not a part of the
Biblical Land of Israel, the so-called "West Bank" and
the Golan Heights to the north definitely are. As the
Torah states, when describing the Land's boundaries,
in this week's Torah Portion: "From Atzmon the
[southern] border shall turn [north] and follow the
Egyptian Wadi [el Arish] which shall be its far
boundary to the west." (Numbers 34:5). [See Artscroll
Stone Edition Chumash page 923 for a map of the
Biblical boundaries of the Land of Israel.]
Of course the fact that these areas are part of the
Biblical Promised Land doesn't necessarily mean that
we shouldn't "return" them if by so doing we can
achieve a lasting peace with our Arab neighbors.
Frankly, that is a political (some would add halachic)
debate that I would rather not get into right now. But it
has other very important ramifications.
You see, unbeknownst to many Jews in the world
today, one of the 613 Commandments of the Torah
(according to many authorities) is for each and every
Jew to dwell in the Land of Israel, as we shall explain
presently.
THE MITZVAH OF YISHUV ERETZ YISRAEL
Earlier in this week's Torah portion, G-d commands
Moses to say to the Children of Israel:
"When you cross the Jordan to the land of Canaan,
you shall drive out all the inhabitants of the Land
before you; and you shall destroy all their prostration
stones; all their molten images shall you destroy;
and all their high places shall you demolish. You
shall possess the Land and you shall settle in it, for to
you have I given the Land to possess it." (Numbers
33:50)
Nachmanides, the great medieval Torah
commentator, in his explanation of these verses,
writes that the phrase "You shall possess the Land"
Biblically obligates the Jewish community collectively
to take control of the government of Israel, and not to
leave it in the hands of another. The second
phrase, "and you shall settle in it", legislates a positive
commandment for each individual to live in the Land
of Israel, even if the land is under foreign domination.
These two mitzvos, according to Nachmanides, are
applicable throughout history and are as relevant to
our generation as they were to the generation led by
Joshua bin Nun, who first entered Israel. This
commandment is generally referred to as the mitzvah
of Yishuv Eretz Yisrael - to dwell in the Land of Israel.
There is a great question among the later rabbinic
commentaries if this interpretation of Nachmanides is
shared by other great Torah authorities, most notably
Maimonides. The aforementioned verses can be
understood as to apply only to the first generation who
originally entered the Land of Israel, and not to future
generations. However, the consensus of rabbinic
authorities follows the view of Nachmanides who
holds that there is an actual Biblical commandment
(counted as one of the 613 mitzvos) for each and every
Jew to live in the Land of Israel.
Wow!! Do you have any idea what this means? This
means that according to Torah law, it is not enough
to "show our support" by picking ourselves up from
our cozy homes in the Diaspora and visiting our
suffering brothers and sisters in the Holy Land every
so often ... it is actually a Biblical commandment
incumbent upon all of us to move to Israel!!!
Now, wait ... hold on a second there! Before any of you
start calling your travel agent and the realtor, I must
qualify and clarify the above statement. I mean, if it
were so clear-cut and simple that we are all obligated
to get up and move to Israel, no matter what, then
what am I doing here living in Canada, writing a
hypocritical D'var Torah telling all of you to move to
Israel, when I myself should really be living in
Jerusalem or Tel Aviv (or the Gaza strip) and not in
Houston?!
The truth is that for the better part of the last 2000
years since our Temple was destroyed by the
Romans and we were exiled to the four corners of the
globe, the majority of the Jewish people lived outside
of the Land of Israel - including many great Rabbis
and leaders who were well aware of the mitzvah of
Yishuv Eretz Yisrael - so obviously there's a lot more
that needs to be said about the nature and
applicability of this particular commandment.
LIVING IN THE HOLY LAND "ISRAELI" HARD
You've probably heard the old joke that people tell
about (some) Israelis and their manners (or lack
thereof):
An American, a Pole, a Chinese, and an Israeli are
standing on a street corner when a man comes over
with a clipboard.
"Excuse me," he says, "I am taking a poll. What is
your opinion of the world meat shortage?"
The American asks: "What's a 'shortage'?"
The Pole asks: "What's 'meat'?"
The Chinese asks: "What's an 'opinion'?"
The Israeli asks: "What's 'excuse me'?"
And how about these old-time favorites about the
Israeli economy and inflation:
What's the difference between a dollar and a shekel?
A dollar.
How do you make a small fortune in Israel?
Come with a large one.
Look, no one ever said that living in Israel was easy.
And for these reasons and others, Jews throughout
the generations, though wanting to live in the
Promised Land, found it difficult to actually get up and
move there.
Way back in the Middle Ages, one of the French
Tosafists (grandsons of Rashi, the preeminent
Talmudic commentator, and great Talmudic
commentators in their own right) wrote that the
mitzvah to dwell in the Land of Israel should not apply
in his times because the journey and subsequent life
in Israel are fraught with danger. (This may or may not
apply in our times, when traveling to Israel is definitely
not difficult, save the occasional rude flight attendant,
and when living in Jerusalem or Tel Aviv might be a
little scary, but is definitely not "fraught with danger",
no matter how they portray it in the media. However,
living in the West Bank on one of the Jewish
settlements is a whole different issue, with the
Kassam rockets and all ...)
The Talmud in Bava Basra 91a lists poverty as
grounds for exemption from the mitzvah. One who
cannot make a comfortable living in Israel is not
required to live there in penury. In another place in the
Talmud, permission is granted to leave the Land of
Israel in order to learn Torah or to marry. Although
both Torah and prospective spouses are readily
available in Israel, the Talmudic sages recognized
that cases may arise where a person feels he can
only lead a normal life learning from a particular Rabbi
or married to a particular person who resides outside
Israel (and, I might add, who speaks English, which
would be helpful.)
The common denominator of these cases is the
opportunity to lead a "normal life". Even if we were to
accept that there exists today, as always, a binding
obligation upon each and every Jew to dwell in the
Land of Israel, we could not be expected to live in
Israel under abnormal and unbearable conditions. If
living in Israel means a life of poverty, or a life devoid
of the Torah or companionship of one's choice, then
the obligation falls away. Put differently, it may be said
that the Land of Israel, being the land chosen and
sanctified by G-d, is the natural and proper place for
Jews, the people chosen by Him to live there. For
individual Jews there may be extenuating
circumstances, such as those mentioned above, in
which it becomes clear that their place is not in
Israel.
[Some have even suggested, based on this rationale,
that the greatest Torah scholars and leaders of the
Diaspora are permitted, or even obligated, to remain
in Chutz La'Aretz (outside Israel) because that is their
sphere of influence, and it is there that they will have
the most beneficial effect in disseminating Torah for
those who need it most.]
"I LEFT MY HEART IN THE LAND OF ISRAEL ..."
Now I make no claim to be the great Torah authority
who has the ability and the knowledge to decide
whether or not the mitzvah of Yishuv Eretz Yisrael -
which according to many great Rabbis is obligatory for
each and every Jew - applies in a given situation. Nor
is it my intention to decide on such important and
delicate issues, which have to be analyzed and dealt
with on a case-by-case basis.
My main point, though, is, that even if we do return
land in the hope that it will bring us the peace we so
desperately crave, we must never forget that the land
we are giving up is ours - part of the land G-d
promised to Abraham and his descendants (that's us)
as recorded in the Bible - and, as such, is land that is
included in the greater commandment for us to dwell
and inhabit the Land of Israel.
And whether we choose to actually fulfill this
commandment today and pack our bags and move to
Haifa or Hebron or wherever in the Land of Israel we
want to live, or if we decide to stay in New Jersey or
London or Toronto for whatever reason we feel we
need to be there, it is important for us to know that
Israel - all of it - is every Jew's real home, and the
place where G-d really wants us to live.
As the great Jewish philosopher and poet Rabbi
Judah Halevi once wrote: "Libi b'mizrach v'anochi
b'sof maarav - My heart is in the east even though I am
far west." I may be living in North America or Europe
because that's where I have to be - my job, family and
community is here and I am not ready to give all that
up to move to Israel even though we finally have our
own Jewish autonomy there - but my heart echoes
with a yearning for the beauty, holiness, and
uniqueness of my true home - Eretz Yisrael.
[Sources: Journal of Halacha and Contemporary
Society Number VIII pages 14-33]
http://www.torchweb.org/torah_detail.php?id=16