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May 14Liked by Rabbi Shnayor Burton

What if Jews have political control of a land outside of Israel?

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*If* that would occur, it would be comparable to the Land of Israel; thus "living in Babylonia is akin to living in Eretz Yisrael."

If absolute political control according to the standards that are considered "כיבוש" would be achieved, then that land would be equivalent to lands outside the boundaries of biblical EY that are captured by the Jewish nation, and it would attain holiness for מעשרות, at least under certain circumstances.

It is not soil that is holy, as per Rambam, but human beings.

All this should stop the Rambamists from hurling at some people the calumny that they would have accepted, say, Uganda as a Jewish state. Rambam would appreciate any Jewish state, anywhere. If the Jews would make Uganda Jewish, Uganda would be special.

That being said, I don't think Jews would achieve full political control anywhere but for the land of Israel, which was granted to Abraham, making all this of merely theoretical interest.

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