The Land I Will Show You, sec. 3, chapter 7
Is Eretz Yisrael Exclusively for Righteous People?
7: Is Eretz Yisrael Exclusively for Righteous People?
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After it was clarified in the previous chapter that there are 2 situations regarding residence in Eretz Yisrael – the law about a single individual and the law of a complete community, wherein an individual who ascends to Eretz Yisrael can receive something limited from residing in the land, while the complete community can receive the fullness of its blessing and the indwelling of the Shechinah, it becomes clear that one should ask the following question regarding every statement and source about residing in Eretz Yisrael: Which residence is the source referring to? Once we know that there are 2 types of residence in Eretz Yisrael, it wouldn’t be wise to take words said in a certain context and apply them crudely in another context. Not every statement said about an aliyah of individuals is intended also about an aliyah of a community.
One point is liable to confuse if we are not aware of this subtlety, and that is the connection between Eretz Yisrael and righteousness. Are righteous people alone worthy of ascending to Eretz Yisrael? We will lay out the sources of the matter and delve into the root of the matter, and then we will discern which residence is being discussed and what the conclusion should be in practice.
There were among our early rabbis some who demanded ascetism and righteousness as a precondition of aliyah to Eretz Yisrael, who discouraged people who might ascend without being on the proper spiritual level. So wrote the Maharam of Rotenberg:
What you asked about the very mitzvah to go to Eretz Yisrael – I don’t know, only as is explicit in the end of Kesubos. And if they forgive all his sins – it is explicit in tractate Kesubos, provided that he is ascetic from now on and is careful from all types of sin and fulfills all the mitzvahs that are in practice there; for if he sins in them he will be punished more for the sins that he sinned there than in the Diaspore, for Hashem your God seeks it constantly, and the eyes of Hashem and His providence are constantly in it, and there is no comparison between one who rebels in the king’s palace and one who rebels outside the palace, and that is why “It is a land that consumes its inhabitants” (Numbers 13:32), and also “And the land will not spit you out” etc. (Leviticus 18:28), since it spits out sinners, and that is why it is written “Your enemies will be shocked as they settle in it” (ibid., 26:31), for even the idolaters in it don’t succeed, since they are sinners, and that is why Eretz Yisrael is currently desolate and doesn’t have in it a city surrounded by walls and settled as there is in other lands. And those that go there and want to behave with levity in it and quarrel therein in their wantonness, I apply to them [the verse]: “And you came and defiled my land” (Jeremiah 2:7), and “Who has asked you for this trampling of my courtyard?” (Isaiah 1:12); but one who goes there for the sake of heaven to act in holiness and purity, his reward is endless.[1]
One who is liable to defile the land isn’t invited to enter its gates. Rabbi Ahron of Lunil, too, wrote something in the same spirit:
Anyone who would awaken from his slumber and attempt to ascend to Eretz Yisrael, it is forbidden to restrain him. He is doing a great obligation. But one who has fear of heaven in his heart will aid him and fulfill his needs and desires, as the reward of a mitzvah is a mitzvah, and anyone who restrains him will not merit to see the face of the Shechinah. But in truth it isn’t proper for a person to ascend and dwell in it except for a master of Torah who fears heaven and is scrupulous in mitzvahs and has money to do business through which he will live… and anyone who lacks wealth and the ability to go and puts his burden on the communities… is doing many sins and has no merit at all, but rather many wrongs.[2]
In the book Sha’arei Tzedek he decreed decisively and ruled that a person shouldn’t ascend if he won’t be sanctified and purified in Eretz Yisrael:
However, not everyone who wants to take the reputation and ascend should ascend, even though in the Mishnah at the end of Kesubos (110b) it says “Everyone could make ascend” etc., that is specifically for one who is able to sanctify himself there and be purified and serve Hashem constantly with his whole heart, and is of clean hands and pure heart… for one who doesn’t sanctify himself and become purified there, it is better that he doesn’t ascend.[3]
The mitzvah of residing in Eretz Yisrael does not function in contradiction to the holiness of the land, and residence in it cannot be disconnected from the spiritual advantage that the land is supposed to bestow on its residents, as is written: “To give to you the Land of Canaan, to be for you a god” (Leviticus 25:38). Not only according to those who argue on the Ramban and don’t count residing in Eretz Yisrael as one of the enumerated mitzvahs, and in their opinion the mitzvah of residing in it is influenced by general spiritual considerations (as was explained in sec. 1 chapters 3-5), in which case it is certain that one should not separate between residing in it and the holiness it bestows; but even according to the opinion of the Ramban that residing in the land in one of the enumerated mitzvahs, it is possible that the mitzvah itself is conditional on the holiness that will be attained through it, such that there is no mitzvah in a situation that residence in the land won’t bring to spiritual growth (although it isn’t clear that there is such a situation, as shall be explained).[4] As Ramban himself said:
He gave them the land only so that they should fulfill the Torah, as is explicit in the Torah in many passages, and it is written, “And he gave them the lands of the nations, and they took possession of the fruit of the peoples’ toil, that they might keep His statutes and observe His laws” (Psalms 105:44-45).[5]
Residing in Eretz Yisrael and its sanctity are connected, and therefore the abovementioned sages warned that the “uncircumcised” and impure shouldn’t come to dwell in the holy land. Some have derived from here that only a completely righteous man with great fear of heaven is worthy of ascending to the land in our days, in these times, and that it isn’t appropriate for there to be in Eretz Yisrael any person who is liable to sin.[6] But actually it seems that the abovementioned sages never intended to say something like that. Truly, residence in Eretz Yisrael and its sanctity are co-dependent, but the sanctity will be achieved in a specific way for an individual and in a different way for a community. The crucial question is always the same question: How will holiness be attained through this residence, and the answer changes according to the conditions. When the ascent of an individual to a desolate land is being discussed – the ruling is decisive: Only a righteous man who is sanctifying and purifying himself will attain the holiness of the land, and only he would be able to grow spiritually due to it, by physically being there. One who isn’t from the special few will not grow from residing alone in Eretz Yisrael. But a complete community that settles in Eretz Yisrael will attain the holiness of the land in a different way – as a community, even if not all the individuals that comprise the community are at the appropriate spiritual level. A community is comprised of great and small people, and the great ones will grow and become sanctified and thereby influence the small ones, until the community as a whole becomes sanctified and grows in the way that is appropriate for a community.
Therefore, when the possibility of a broad, community aliyah to Eretz Yisrael arises, it is our obligation to consider the arguments in a new light. There is no reason in applying what was said in a completely different context, at such time that there was no such possibility. There are two situations of aliyah to Eretz Yisrael, completely different. Exactly as Rabbi Yehuda HaLevi explained, the reason for an individual to make aliyah is because “the invisible and spiritual Shechinah is with every born Israelite of virtuous life, pure heart, and upright mind before the Lord of Israel”; only one who is on that level is invited to ascend. But when there is an opportunity for a community aliyah that would atone for the root sin that withheld the return of the Shechinah to its nation, everyone is invited, small and great, as they were all invited in the days of Joshua and the days of Ezra, with no discrimination. Holiness will be achieved by the united, holy nation in the land, led by the righteous at its head who understand well the holiness of the land and will influence by virtue of it on those of lower spiritual status than them. The nature of a whole nation is that there will be among it righteous people and wicked people, as Rambam said: “It is usual that… this nation will have among them righteous people and wicked people… such as it written ‘for there won’t cease to be impoverished people in the land’ [Deuteronomy 15:122].”[7] That is the nation that will attain, through its totality, the benefits of the land, and for which Hashem will be a God.
Based on this, it is reasonable to say that there is no situation in which the fulfillment of the mitzvah, as per Ramban’s opinion, won’t bring to spiritual achievement. The whole discussion in his opinion is only theoretical, for there is no fulfillment of the mitzvah through a lonely individual lacking a supportive community being in Eretz Yisrael;[8] and when there is a community present in Eretz Yisrael, in accordance with the mitzvah, it would seem that this would eventually bring about, one way or another, to communal spiritual progress.
It is clear that the purpose of residence in Eretz Yisrael is proper conduct and advance in holiness. But the nature of the relationship between the act of residing there and the holiness that will be achieved is complex and obscure, and one should not make assertions regarding these subtle matters except based on deep thinking about the complexity of this broad subject that hinges on understanding human nature and how it is influenced, i.e., on the social level. A careful and proper analysis about the dynamics of the Jewish nation and its land will attest that no return to the holy land will lack holiness, all the more so when its great leaders will understand what the land can do for them and how, and together with them also for those they lead.
The natural conclusion is that the call of Rabbi Yehuda HaLevi is in force today too, with no qualification: The redemption depends on the return of the whole congregation to the land of Hashem. The resistance to return is the sin at the root of everything that we – the whole Congregation of Israel, small and great alike – must rectify. To this we will turn in the next section: If this is such a severe sin, how do we justify all the previous generations and their sages who didn’t return to Eretz Yisrael?
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[1] Tashbatz Katan, sec. 562; brought also in Colbo, sec. 127, and Orchos Chaim, Berlin 5662, vol. 2, pg. 611.
[2] Orchos Chaim ad loc. However, it isn’t certain that his intention is that in principle only one who is a master of Torah who fears heaven and is scrupulous in mitzvahs is worthy of residing in the holy land; it is possible that his intention is that due to a concern of laxity in the difficult mitzvahs that are dependent on the land, it isn’t appropriate to live there for anyone other than those who will probably withstand this challenge – someone who is scrupulous in mitzvahs who has a good source of income. If so, his words aren’t relevant to the matter discussed in this chapter. The problem of the mitzvahs that are dependent on the land will be treated in section 6.
[3] Rabbi Avraham Danzig, Sha’are Tzedek, Vilna 5572, chapter 11, sec. 1.
[4] See Va’Yoel Moshe, Essay on Residing in Eretz Yisrael, sec. 43.
[5] Chidushei Ha’Ramban, Shabbos 88a.
[6] See Va’Yoel Moshe, Essay on Residing in Eretz Yisrael, sec. 121 and sec. 133 letters a-b; R’ Chaim Elazar Shapiro, Minchas Elazar, vol. 5 sec. 12.
[7] Laws of Repentance 6, 5.
[8] This point will be dealt with presently, in Sec. 4 chapter 2.