The Land I Will Show You, sec. 1, chapter 3
The Land I Will Show You, sec. 1, chapter 3
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3: Other Sources for the Mitzvah to Reside in Eretz Yisrael
It would seem that if the Torah doesn’t command us to reside in Eretz Yisrael, there is no obligation to do so. This seems fairly obvious – but it is incorrect.
We will open the discussion by presenting the words of Rabbi Yehuda HaLevi about the uniqueness of Eretz Yisrael. The concept of Eretz Yisrael is very central to the approach of the Kuzari, a book that “almost revolves on this axis… from one end to another, beginning and end, concluding in the manner it commences.”[1]
R’ Yehuda HaLevi asserts that the root sin that hinders the return of the Shechinah to its nation is the sin of the Jewish people in neglecting to seek out the land. This is what he says:
Al Khazari: Let me hear a few of their observations.
The Rabbi: One sentence is: All may bring up to Eretz Yisrael, but none may be bring down from it (Kesubos 110b)… They further say: It is better to dwell in Eretz Yisrael, even in a town mostly inhabited by heathens, than abroad in a town chiefly peopled by Israelites (ibid.) … Another saying is: To be buried in EY is as if buried beneath the altar (ibid, 111a). They praise him who dies in the land more than him who is carried thither dead… They further said: The atmosphere of EY makes wise (Bava Basra 158b). They expressed their love of the land as follows: He who walks four cubits in the land is assured of a portion in the world to come (Kesubos 111a). R. Zera said to a heathen who criticized his foolhardiness in crossing a river without waiting to reach a ford, in his eagerness to enter the land: The place which Moses and Aaron could not reach, who says it will be reached by me (ibid., 112a)?
Al Khazari: If this be so, you fall short of the duty laid down in your law, by not endeavoring to reach that place, and making it your abode in life and death, although you say: “Have mercy on Zion, for it is the house of our life,” and believe that the Shechinah will return there. And had it no other preference than that the Shechinah dwelt there nine hundred years, this is sufficient reason for men's souls to find security and safety there, as happens near the abodes of the pious and the prophets. Is it not “the gate of heaven”?... Your bowing and kneeling in the direction of it is either mere appearance or thoughtless worship. Your first forefathers chose it as an abode in preference to their birth-places, and lived there as strangers, rather than as citizens in their own country. This they did even at a time when the Shechinah was yet visible, but the country was full of unchastity, impurity, and idolatry. Your fathers, however, had no other desire than to remain in it. Neither did they leave it in times of dearth and famine except by God's permission. Finally, they directed their bones to be buried there.
The Rabbi: This is a severe reproach, O king of the Khazars! It is the sin which kept the divine promise with regard to the Second Temple – “Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion [for I am coming to dwell amongst you]” (Zechariah 2:10) – from being fulfilled. Divine Providence was ready to restore everything as it had been at first, if they had all willingly consented to return. But only a part was ready to do so, while the majority and the aristocracy remained in Babylon, preferring dependence and slavery, and unwilling to leave their houses and their affairs. An allusion to them might be found in the enigmatic words of Solomon: “I sleep, but my heart is awake” (Song of Songs 5:2-4). He designates the exile by sleep, and the continuance of prophecy among them by the wakefulness of the heart. “The voice of my beloved knocks” means God's call to return; “My head is filled with dew” alludes to the Shechinah which emerged from the shadow of the Temple. The words: “I have put off my coat,” refer to the people's slothfulness in consenting to return. The sentence: “My beloved stretches forth his hand through the opening” may be interpreted as the urgent call of Ezra, Nechemiah, and the Prophets, until a portion of the people grudgingly responded to their invitation. In accordance with their mean mind, they did not receive full measure. Divine Providence only gives man as much as he is prepared to receive; if his receptive capacity be small, he obtains little, and much if it be great. Were we prepared to meet the God of our forefathers with a pure mind, we should find the same salvation as our fathers did in Egypt. If we say: “Worship his holy hill”; “Worship at His footstool,” and “He who restores His glory to Zion” and other words, this is but as the chattering of the starling and the nightingale. We do not realize what we say by this sentence, nor others, as you rightly observe, O Prince of the Khazars.[2]
The return of Divine Providence to the Children of Israel depends solely on the Children of Israel themselves: If they would only prepare themselves with a powerful pursuit of Zion, to make it the house of their life, then indeed the Shechinah would return to dwell in their midst, just as it would have returned had they all consented willingly to leave the Babylonian exile in the days of the Second Temple.[3] He wrote the same at the end of the book:
“You shall arise and have mercy upon Zion, for it is time to favor her, the set time has come. For Your servants take pleasure in her stones and embrace her dust thereof” (Psalms 102:14-15). This means that Jerusalem will only be rebuilt when Israel yearns for it to such an extent that they embrace her stones and dust.[4]
Our exile is not due to some extraneous sin, nor is our redemption dependent on repentance from it – but rather everything depends on our stance toward Zion and Jerusalem itself. The rejection of the cherished land is the root of the distance between us and Hashem, and the desire for it serves as the root of the closeness for which we yearn. What is the source for this novel idea? It can be derived from the story of the spies. For the exile – from the land, when the Temple was destroyed – was already decreed from then, as is written: “They rejected the cherished land and didn’t believe His word… He raised His hand to fell them in the desert and to fell their seed in the nations and to scatter them among the lands” (Psalms 104:24-26); Chazal also asserted that the exile was decreed then, as a punishment for the sin of the spies: ‘”And the people cried that night’ (Numbers 14:1); said Hashem: ‘You cried for no reason, and I will establish a cry for all generations’” (Taanis 29a). Yet the destruction decreed from days of old is also attributed to the 3 cardinal sins, as Chazal said: “Why was the first Temple destroyed? Because of the 3 things that were in it: idolatry, incest and murder” (Yoma 9b). How do the two sources comport? Which sin caused destruction and exile – the sin of the spies or the 3 cardinal sins? The answer is that they are one and the same: rejecting the holy land leads to all sins; it is the root that grows into poison which leads to forgetting Hashem and forgetting His commandments, and upon it all religion depends.[5] For in truth, “Whoever resides in Eretz Yisrael remains free from sin” (Kesubos 111a); even so, the Children of Israel sinned throughout the hundreds of years that they resided in EY. How could that be? How did EY not protect them, as promised? It must be that their residence in EY was imperfect since they didn’t properly appreciate the benefits of EY and its holiness, and this from the time of the sin of the spies.
As the prophet said:
Son of man, the House of Israel resides on their soil and have contaminated it through their ways… And I have poured my wrath on them for the blood they spilled on the land and have contaminated it with their fetishes. I scattered them among the nations, and they were dispersed through the countries: I punished them in accordance with their ways and their deeds. But when they came to those nations, they caused My holy name to be profaned, in that it was said of them, “These are the people of Hashem, yet they had to leave His land.” (Ezekiel 36:17-20)
The sin and the decree of dispersion among the nations that follows in its footsteps – all derive from not valuing the holiness and purity of the land. Had the Children of Israel understood the holiness of the land, they would never have sinned and contaminated it.
It follows that there is a moral obligation of the highest order to cherish the land and desire it, even if there isn’t an explicit command in the Torah to reside in Eretz Yisrael. Otherwise – Jerusalem will not be rebuilt. In this way is the matter summarized in the “Charedim”:
Every Israelite must cherish EY and come to it from the edges of the earth like a son to his mother’s lap, for the beginning of our sins that was established as a cry for all generations was due to our rejecting it, as it says: “They rejected the cherished land,” and about the redemption of our souls – may it speedily occur – it says: “For your servants take pleasure in her stones and embrace her dust thereof,” and there it says: “You shall arise and have mercy upon Zion.” [6]
Rabbi Yaakov Emden also relied on the words of Rabbi Yehuda Halevi. These are his words:
It is known that the one who is praying must direct his body towards Jerusalem... and here we have seen fit to mention Jerusalem a second time, to say that the allusion and hint that we make for the remembrance, as a mere symbol and sign, suffice only where it is impossible, for then the intention and the good thought will combine with the action that can’t be done due to unfeasibility or danger, because when something is unfeasible one is exempt from everything, and what is forced cannot be demeaned, although it will not be praised, but the intention will not help where there is no claim of complete unfeasibility and at a time of ease. Therefore, every Israelite must make an absolute and firm commitment in his mind to ascend and reside in Eretz Yisrael… and to desire to merit and pray there before the King’s palace, although it is desolate the Shechinah hasn’t budged from there, while one who resides outside of the Land worships false gods… Therefore, listen to me my brothers and friends who dwell in a land that isn’t ours, on impure soil: remember this and take strength, remember Hashem and may Jerusalem enter your hearts, and do not plan to live outside of EY permanently, Heaven forbid!... This was the sin of our early forefathers that caused a cry for all generations, since they rejected the cherished land, and it is what stood in our bitter exile, that not only one stood up against us, but rather in every generation we haven’t been quiet and calm, we have been chased without cease, we have been forgotten from the heart like a dead person, since we have completely forgotten about residing in EY, there isn’t one in a thousand who arouses himself to take it and settle there, only one from a country and two from a city, nobody seeks her love, demands her safety and well-being, nor yearn to see her. It appears to us, being at peace outside of Eretz Yisrael, that we have found a different Israel and Jerusalem like it, and this is why all the evils came upon us, when Israel dwelt in the land of Spain and other lands in peace and with great honor, for a long time, since the days of destruction for close to thousands of years... Hashem is righteous because the matter of their exile was completely out of their minds, and they mixed with the nations and learnt their deeds and committed abominations, and the holy seed mixed with the peoples of the lands, it is Zion, and no one is demanding it... All this has befallen us, because we have become like a cedar, the coveted land we have forgotten, to return to the land of our birth we did not remember, the city of our ancestors' graves we did not demand... Because Israel is called the property of Hashem, and the land is His property and the Torah depends on both of them – on Hashem's people on Hashem's property, and the one who abandons the one abandons the other, in truth... There is no need to speak at length, as it is known how much the Sages said in praise of EY and its residents, as the Talmud and Midrash and Zohar and Books of Wisdom are full from end to end, and the exegetes also worked for Hashem mentioned it for great praise, especially ibn Ezra and Ramban on the Torah, and the author of the Kuzari, the great pious man, said wondrous things about this in several places in his book which almost revolves on this axis… from one end to another, beginning and end, concluding in the manner it commences, as well as in the second and fourth of his essays, and everything follows the ending that he observed what his lips said and did as he said, and answered the king… wisely, not minding the trouble of travel and danger… righteousness goes before him…
For the sake of the poor and sad Holy Land I have now come, for the sake of Zion I will not rest until its righteousness shines like the morning star, and for the sake of Jerusalem I will not be silent to strengthen it, the voice calls “Clear the way of the people, remove obstacles,” to hasten to come to her without relenting. Truly it is an ongoing perplexity on the holy Israelites in all places, they are strict on themselves with many details of mitzvahs that they keep and are very careful with them, they spend a lot of money and take great pains to keep them as perfectly as possible, and why do they despise this lovable mitzvah, a peg on which the whole Torah depends?...
You my sons... listen to Jacob your father and let this be a testimony upon you, which I command you concerning the land of Israel, because it is the time to cherish her dust and stones, for the time has come...
We have come back to the subject. One who makes an absolute commitment in his heart to go to the Land of Israel when he can do so, and is delayed outside the Land due to necessity, then his good intention will benefit him and count, and his prayer will be accepted as if he was standing in the Land of Israel opposite the gate of heaven, and they will help him to carry out his thought to actually carry it out.[7]
By virtue of the obligation to turn to the Land of Israel as the direction of prayer, Rabbi Yaakov Emden developed an obligation for “every Israelites to make an absolute and firm commitment in his mind to ascend and reside in Eretz Yisrael… and to desire to merit and pray there before the King’s palace.” This is, in fact, nothing more than an adaptation of Rabbi Yehuda Halevi’s words in the Kuzari: The king accused the sage and said that “Your bowing and kneeling in the direction of it is either mere appearance or thoughtless worship.” Meaning that making Eretz Yisrael the direction of prayer is not a meaningless act, some magical charm that causes prayers to be accepted. The meaning of turning to EY in prayer is the assertion that it is the house of our lives, the life of our soul. The longing for it is the core pillar of our spiritual life, and thus so important for prayer, for turning to Hashem. Thus, R’ Yaakov Emden concluded, turning toward EY in prayer will not be effective for those who are found “where there is no claim of complete unfeasibility” not to go there.[8] It follows, therefore, that in the obligation to turn to EY in prayer lies a moral and spiritual obligation to return there, and as soon as possible.
After these words of truth, it becomes clear that it is a mistake to think that the obligation of residing in Eretz Yisrael depends solely on an explicit command. If redemption depends on loving the land, and if every true and sincere turning towards EY in prayer is no less than the expression of longing for the land, it is incumbent upon us to love it, long for it and dwell in it as much as possible.
It would be possible to summarize the argument in a simpler way: after all, the Sages said, “Anyone who resides in EY remains without sin”; and that “Anyone who resides in EY is like one who has a God, and anyone who resides outside the land is like one who does not have a God” (Kesubos 110b). Don’t such statements direct to action based on the foundations of the entire Torah – accepting Hashem as God, loving Him, fearing Him, and being careful to avoid sin?[9] However, these statements need an interpretation in order to understand them; and as will be explained in the next chapter, an obligation generated not by virtue of an express and absolute command – but by virtue of an understanding of the general intent of the Torah – such an obligation depends on the level of a person's understanding. That is why I saw fit to rely mainly on the words of the later sages who interpreted the matter, thereby creating a great and holy obligation for everyone who understood their words well. To the extent that their words are deeply felt, an automatic obligation is generated to return to Eretz Yisrael.
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[1] Expression of R’ Yaakov Emden, Siddur Beis Yaakov, Lemberg 5666,pg. 13.
[2] Kuzari, 2:21-24.
[3] This is as per Resh Lakish’s opinion and not like Reb Yochanan’s opinion; see Yoma 9b. Below, in section 5, chapters 4-5, we will treat of this dispute and the opinion of R’ Yehuda HaLevi in this matter.
[4] Kuzari 5:27.
[5] It will be explained in section 7 how the love of the land serves as an anchor for the whole religion.
[6] Charedim, chapter 59; quoted from there by Shela”h, Sha’ar Ha’osios 458.
[7] Siddur Beis Yaakov, Lemberg 5664, Sulam Beis El, pg. 13.
[8] This whole idea is rooted in Chazal; to understand its sources, see section 3, chapter 6.
[9] As for the question whether these ideas apply these days – see section 3, chapter 6.