I confess to a certain ambivalence in attempting to speak about Eretz Yisrael. On the one hand, as much as one hopes that he's in chutz la'aretz for halachically correct and compelling reasons, אל תאמין בעצמך עד יום מותך. רבן יוחנן בן זכאי
wasn't sure about the decisions he made in his life; I'm not sure that we're entitled to a larger measure of confidence. And one certainly doesn't want to compound being eino mekayem by adding to that of being doresh v'eino mekayem. On the other hand, in preparing to speak about Eretz Yisrael, so one is forced to engage in an always welcome cheshbon hanefesh as one seeks to review the various aspects of what our relationship to Eretz Yisrael should be. So perhaps let's begin by posing a single multi-tiered but seminal question. Practically, religiously, metaphysically, what is Eretz Yisrael? What's special and singular about Eretz Yisrael? We'll begin perhaps on the practical level, most extrinsic, and make our way אם ירצה השם בלי נדר to the intrinsic. I hope we'll briefly consider five perspectives on Eretz Yisrael, each of which enjoys a consensus omnium. There's no dispute, each one is incontrovertible. And for that reason, as important as the Ramban in Sefer Hamitzvos about Yishuv Eretz Yisrael who enumerates as you all know Yishuv Eretz Yisrael in the minyan taryag, takes the Rambam to task for not having included it, or the Ramban's famous discussion of the Sifrei of hatzivi lach tziyunim where he ranks kiyum hamitzvos avodas Hashem in Eretz Yisrael vis-a-vis kiyum hamitzvos avodas Hashem in chutz la'aretz, we're not going to focus on those very, very important sources. Beginning with the practical, I think statistically Eretz Yisrael today is either on the cusp or has already, now has the single greatest concentration of Jews anywhere. One of the most fundamental obligations that we have is to identify with the klal. In a passage so powerful, so repercussive in Hilchos Teshuva, the Rambam based on a Gemara in Rosh Hashana includes in his list of those who rachmana litzlan have no chelek and forfeit their share in Olam HaBa, so this is the Rambam's understanding of a Gemara in Rosh Hashana. The Rambam notes poreish midarkei tzibbur. A person who separates himself from involvement with the klal. אף על פי שלא עבר עבירות. Even though you can't indict him for anything in the minyan taryag, there's no seif in Shulchan Aruch, there's no seif katan in Mishnah Berurah that you can fault him for neglecting. אף על פי שלא עבר עבירות אלא נבדל מעדת ישראל,
but he stands to the side ואינו עושה מצוות בכללן, doesn't join together communally to fulfill mitzvos, v'lo nichnas. and doesn't feel and share in whatever crisis, whatever difficulties, whatever adversity engulfs the Klal, v'lo misaneh b'tanisam, if there's occasion for a ta'anis to be declared, he's not part of that, ela holech b'darko, he goes his own way, k'echad migoyei ha'aretz, as though he were one of the, as though he were a Gentile, k'ilu eino meihem, without feeling that larger, broader responsibility of the Klal, אין לו חלק לעולם הבא. Perhaps just as an aside, it's very important, it's parenthetical in terms of our topic this morning of Eretz Yisrael, but as an aside, the Rambam's formulation, אף על פי שלא עבר עבירות, a person who's parush midarkei tzibbur is not guilty of any formal issur which can be found in the minyan hamitzvos, and yet the consequences are as severe as is imaginable. The notion that we sometimes operate with, that the minyan hamitzvos, the minyan Taryag, encapsulates all our obligations, is simply wrong. For instance, if one will search the Rambam's minyan hamitzvos for a mitzvah to believe that Torah min hashamayim, to believe that there's going to be a Melech Hamashiach and the Yemos Hamashiach, to believe that there's going to be a techiyas hameisim, so one can do an exhaustive search of minyan hamitzvos and it's not to be found. And involvement with the darkei tzibbur, the prohibition of being poresh midarkei tzibbur, can be added to that list. The reason, which would take us too far afield, is not necessarily the same why each of these is not formalized and and translated into an official mitzvah as it were in minyan hamitzvos, but clearly, clearly, the aggregate of our obligations, our most basic obligations, goes far beyond what can be found in the in the in the minyan Taryag. The imperative of nichnas b'tzarasam that the Rambam writes demands that we existentially identify with the plight of acheinu bnei Yisrael in Eretz Yisrael. When shelters are opened in the Golan Heights, it has to affect us very, very deeply. The prospect of of those who live by an ideology of lechu v'nachchidem migoy establishing bases in in Syria, even if their missiles are not pointed to to our neighborhoods, is something which has to affect us very, very deeply on the deepest level, on the most existential level. The truth is just again, still speaking on on a practical level, that the importance of Eretz Yisrael and Medinas Yisrael goes even further than that. The Rav commented, I don't remember how many years ago it was, but it's it's something which over the years has become more even more true than when he said it, that the current geopolitical reality is that in truth, the fate of all Jews bechol makom shehem, wherever wherever we are, is linked to the fate of Jews in Eretz Yisrael. Regardless of our self-definition, the ummos ha'olam identify us with Eretz Yisrael. Regardless of our self-definition, and haleivai this is our self-definition, we belong to the Jewish people who comprise, who constitute Medinas Yisrael. If rachmana litzlan Jews in Eretz Yisrael are deemed vulnerable, open to attack, to that same degree perhaps even more, all Jews are seen that way. The Rav's incisive political analysis again just to בבחינת טעמו לחכם ויחכם עוד, when the poskim discuss the mitzvah of chatzotzorot, וכי תבוא מלחמה בארצכם על הצר הצרר אתכם והרעתם בחצצרות,
we spoke about it a couple of weeks im yirtze Hashem, hareiosom bachatzotzorot. That there's a mitzvah to blow chatzotzorot. So there are different reasons given by the already the classical achronim. How come we never really see that bazman hazeh b'eis tzarah blowing chatzotzorot? One of the reasons again just בבחינת טעמו לחכם ויחכם עוד, not intending to imply anything whatsoever halacha l'maiseh, but one of the reasons the Magen Avraham gives is that there's only a mitzvah of blowing chatzotzorot if it's a tzarah which affects rov Yisrael. But if it's a more limited tzarah, so then the Torah doesn't have a mitzvah of blowing chatzotzorot. The Rav's political analysis suggests that whatever the demographic statistics are, a tzarah which affects אחינו בני ישראל בארץ ישראל by definition affects rov Yisrael. This linkage of the fate of world Jewry, Jews bechol makom shehem to Eretz Yisrael Jewry, only reinforces this mechayev of meuravos b'darkei tzibur vis-a-vis Eretz Yisrael and in case we need it, it also awakens our most basic self-interest. A second perspective on Eretz Yisrael, again moving gradually from the extrinsic to the intrinsic. Identifying with Eretz Yisrael entails feeling like an outsider in America or anywhere else in chutz la'aretz. And that feeling protects against assimilation rachmana litzlan. Meshech Chochmah in yesterday's krias hatorah writes אם היה יעקב אבי כל שבטי ישראל קבור שם. If Yaakov Avinu would have been buried in Mitzrayim, הלא היו מתייאשים מארץ כנען, so the connection with Eretz Yisrael rachmana litzlan would have been severed. והיו משתקעים במצרים ומחשבים אותה לארץ מולדתם, and they would have struck deep roots in Mitzrayim and they would have thought of it as this is my land. והיה בטל ייעוד האלוקי עליהם, and the divine destiny which Hakadosh Baruch Hu had prepared for them would have become null and void rachmana litzlan. Skipping a line or so, lachen tziva says Rabbi Meir Simcha bechol oz with all the force that Yaakov Avinu could muster, so he commanded לקבור אותו בארץ כנען. V'yidmu and they should understand כי אבות האומה וייחוסה בארץ כנען, that subsequent generations should know, should understand v'yidmu, they should know, they should understand that the patriarchs, our ancestors, are all identified with Eretz Yisrael, our lineage is based in Eretz Yisrael. ובזה נקבע בנפש בניו קישור טבעי, and with this Yaakov Avinu implanted in the soul of his children a natural bond להשתוקק אל ארץ אבותיהם to yearn for the land of their fathers velachshov atzmam k'gerim and to think of themselves as strangers, as outsiders in any other society, in any other place they find themselves. Vezah, this is what the passage that we know from the Haggadah, from the Sifrei, וזה ויגר שם מלמד שלא ירד יעקב אבינו להשתקע. perush says Meir Simcha melamed ledorot. melamed means that Yaakov Avinu was teaching all future generations בכל גלות וגלות ההנהגה. He was teaching again this code of conduct shelo yerdu lehishtakeia that never ever attitudinally should one feel that one is settled, that one has struck roots, רק לגור עד קץ הימים ויהיו נחשבים בעיני עצמם לא כאזרחים.
And in their own eyes, says Meir Simcha, Jews of all future generations, this is what Yaakov Avinu laid the groundwork for, should perceive themselves, not as citizens with a green card, with a work permit. Whenever speaking of assimilation, dangers of assimilation, Rachmana litzlan, it's crucial to emphasize that assimilation is not an all-or-nothing reality. In its most extreme form, Rachmana litzlan, assimilation presents as chillul Shabbos, even intermarriage, but assimilation can affect and infect us lemachtza leshlish velerivie as well. When we adopt societal models, mores, standards of living, ideas and axioms, and then consciously or otherwise integrate them into our lives, try to superimpose them upon Torah or substitute them for Torah values, it's also evidence of assimilation. If we feel appropriately attached to Eretz Yisrael and its Torah traditions and concomitantly outsiders, ויהיו נחשבים בעיני עצמם לא כאזרחים anywhere else in the world, we would easily reject or more easily reject those values in the surrounding society which are antithetical to Torah. A third perspective in Eretz Yisrael: to the degree that we reflect on the miraculous establishment and continued existence of Medinat Yisrael, it would inspire and strengthen emunah, emunah b'Hashem, emunah b'Klal Yisrael as his am hanivchar and the special hashgacha which we enjoy. To state the obvious, there's simply no adequate natural explanation for the establishment of the Medina or its continued existence, יד ה' עשתה זאת. Sometimes we think to ourselves, if only we lived in an age when hashgacha was more overt, when the Chiddushei HaRim and other sifrei Chassidus etymology of the word olam that it's derived from he'elem ya'alumo, it's derived from the root to mean to be hidden because the world is the place in which Hakadosh Baruch Hu's presence is hidden. If only we lived in a time when that teaching of the Chiddushei HaRim and others was a little less true, so then it would be easier, we could, it would be easier to lead an inspired, purposeful life, committed life of avodas Hashem. But in reality, all of us since 1948 have been blessed that all we have to do is open our eyes, look at Eretz Yisrael with sensitivity and discernment. And we see a miracle of staggering proportions. My father would often cite the Gemara at the end of the second perek in Maseches Brachos. Amar Rav Ashi bnei Mosa Mechasya, the local city people in Mosa Mechasya in Bavel, they're abirei leiv, they're especially callous, especially insensitive, דחזו יקרא דאורייתא תרי זמני בשתא ולא קמיגייר גיורא מנייהו.
The Yarchei Kalla in Elul and Adar was held in Mosa Mechasya, and despite the fact that the gentiles there were exposed to this massive yakara d'Oraisa, kavod haTorah, it didn't inspire a single one of them to be misgayer. Whether the yakara d'Oraisa is as Tosefos suggests, that there was some miracle associated with the Yarchei Kalla, that עמוד של אש היה עמוד של אש יורד מן השמים עליהם,
that a pillar of fire would come down from shamayim or, my father would suggest, maybe the yakara d'Oraisa is just the natural force of such a momentous Torah assembly, but not to be inspired, what Rashi says is to be in the class of abirei leiv. Eretz Yisroel in our day for the past seventy years, certainly the past and compounded the past fifty, fifty-one years challenges us to be rigshei leiv, not rachmana litzlan abirei leiv. The fourth perspective: Mitzvos hatluyos ba'aretz, so many mitzvos which are only operative in Eretz Yisroel. The Rambam penned very famous lines with which you're all familiar at the end of Hilchos Lulav. He writes that השמחה שישמח אדם בעשיית המצוות ובאהבת האל שצוה בהן עבודה גדולה היא.
It's so central to avodas Hashem not only that a person fulfill mitzvos, not only that a person comply with the dictates of the Torah, but the attitude, the mindset is indispensable. There should be a sense of joy associated with mitzvos, there should be a sense of אהבת הקדוש ברוך הוא for giving us, for commanding those mitzvos. וכל המונע עצמו משמחה זו, a person who holds himself back, doesn't allow himself to experience that simcha, ra'ui lehipara mimenu, is liable, שנאמר תחת אשר לא עבדת את ה' אלהיך בשמחה ובטוב לבב מרב כל ועבדת את אויביך.
Mitzvos are not rachmana litzlan an ones or a burden, they're an incalculable bracha. When we relate to mitzvos as burdensome obligations, so then we look to minimally discharge those obligations, to poter op, better yet if one can avoid the obligation entirely. We're supposed to recognize that mitzvos, obligations, give our life meaning, purpose, and direction. We need to internalize another teaching of the Chiddushei HaRim. The Chiddushei HaRim says that the term mitzva should be understood etymologically as deriving not only from the Hebrew of letzavos to command, but also from the Aramaic of betzavta, being together. And as Rabbeinu Yonah already already has this idea, that mitzvos is something which creates togetherness, something which binds a person, as it were kavyachol, to Hakadosh Baruch Hu. Viewed in that sense, in that context, in that light, so then one doesn't look to One looks to see what the maximum is to take full advantage of the opportunity of every mitzvah. And ועל אחת כמה וכמה one is not looking to avoid mitzvos, one is looking to incur more mitzvos. Koheles teaches אוהב כסף לא ישבע כסף. A person who loves money is never satiated. He can never have enough money. There are people who already have more money than their children ad kama doros could spend, and they still spend yomam valaylah trying to amass more money. אוהב כסף לא ישבע כסף. The Midrash famously comments on that pasuk and אוהב מצוות לא ישבע מצוות. And a person who loves mitzvos can never be satiated with mitzvos. Darash Reb Simlai, the Gemara in Sotah again very famously tells us מפני מה נתאוה משה רבינו ליכנס לארץ ישראל. Why did Moshe Rabbeinu desire so strongly? He davened tefillos k'minyan vaeschanan, the gematria of vaeschanan that Hakadosh Baruch Hu should allow him into Eretz Yisrael. וכי לאכול מפריה הוא צריך או לשבוע מטובה? I think some girsos have lishboa mituvah here instead of the le'echol mipiryah. Is that what motivated Moshe Rabbeinu to want to come into Eretz Yisrael? אלא כך אמר משה הרבה מצוות נצטוו ישראל ואין מתקיימין אלא בארץ ישראל.
There are so many mitzvos that can only be fulfilled in Eretz Yisrael. אכנס אני לארץ כדי שיתקיימו כולן על ידי. I want to enter Eretz Yisrael that I can be a part, I can be an instrument for fulfillment of those mitzvos as well. The fifth perspective: Eretz Yisrael in the words of the Navi is nachalas Hashem, is eretz chemdah. When Dovid Hamelach faces the prospect of leaving Eretz Yisrael in order to flee from Shaul, he describes that as gerashuni hayom. I've been driven away mehistapeach benachalas Hashem from being connected to nachalas Hashem, to the heritage of Hakadosh Baruch Hu. Again Dovid Hamelach, this time in Sefer Tehillim, in the kapitel which sort of gives an overview of Jewish history until that point, so Dovid Hamelach describes and defines the cheit hameraglim and the dor hamidbar as וימאסו בארץ חמדה לא האמינו לדברו. They spurned, they detested the desirable land, a land that's coveted. Objectively Eretz Yisrael is an eretz chemdah. Eretz Yisrael is a land to be coveted, and the meraglim and that generation vayimasu. I was looking for something else and I stumbled across ino Hashem leyadi. The Sefer Chareidim has the following, writes the following. Sefer Chareidim is a lista, a list and discussion of mitzvos. So in discussing mitzvos hatluyos ba'aretz, so the Sefer Chareidim writes: צריך כל איש ישראל to cherish Eretz Yisrael, to have a chibas ha'aretz. ולבוא אליה מאפסי ארץ and to come to Eretz Yisrael from the most distant spots on the globe bitshuka gedolah with a tremendous desire, tremendous yearning, כבן על חיק אמו like a toddler to his mother. כי תחלת עוננו שנקבע עלינו בכיה לדורות. The first sin, the sin that that is responsible according to Chazal... ויבכו העם בלילה ההוא which is responsible for bechiya ladoros which charted the course of subsequent Jewish history with all its suffering. Yaan maastem ba is because we spurned Eretz Yisrael, sheneemar Vayimasu be'eretz chemdah. Dovid HaMelech then says that HaKadosh Baruch Hu, I don't remember exactly how the pasuk goes, that HaKadosh Baruch Hu then decided that lezarotam bagoyim, that he would scatter us amongst the nations of the world. ופדיון נפשינו מהרה יהיה כתיב and when we'll be redeemed, it should happen bimhera, the Sefer Charedim says ksiv כי רצו עבדיך את אבניה ואת עפרה יחוננו. The Geulah, part of the Geulah will be when we have that chibas ha'aretz. U'lefichach, skipping a few words, hayu ha'amoraim, the famous accounts in the Gemara, whether it's Rabbi Abba or others, היו האמוראים מנשקים עפרה ואבניה בבואם אליה. And that's why they would literally, they would kiss the ground. מה טוב ומה נעים, says the Sefer Charedim, listen to this Rabosai, מה טוב ומה נעים, he says לשיר שיר ידידות אשר יסד רבי יהודה הלוי עליה באהבה רבה.
He says, you should come to Eretz Yisrael and sing one of the poems composed by Reb Yehuda Halevi, the be'ahava raba, I don't know, maybe it's a double modifier for how Reb Yehuda Halevi composed it and how we should try to sing it. תחלת השירה ארץ הקדושה יקרה חמודה. And then the Charedim says כן אנו משוררים על ציון רבי יהודה בר אלעאי כל ערב ראש חודש בשמחה רבה.
And we takeh do this every erev Rosh Chodesh, part of their Yom Kippur Katan observance, ומתחננים לקל שלא יגרשנו מאליה. גם הקרובים והרחוקים אשר חוצה לה,
so the Sefer Charedim is writing from the perspective of a ben Eretz Yisrael. Now he addresses us, גם הקרובים והרחוקים אשר חוצה לה, those who are outside of Eretz Yisrael, ראוי להם שיהיו נכספים ותאבים אליה. We should yearn, we should desire Eretz Yisrael, כי כשם שבחר בהם just as HaKadosh Baruch Hu, one bechira is that he was bocher b'Klal Yisrael, כך בחר בארץ ישראל. So too HaKadosh Baruch Hu was bocher b'Eretz Yisrael, and those bechiros, the Charedim says, are linked. Veyiched osa lahem. Skipping a line, ומצינו במדרש שהקדוש ברוך הוא אמר לאברהם אבינו, פעם ראשונה שילך לארץ ישראל ויראנה ויחזור.
The Midrash says that Avraham Avinu visited Eretz Yisrael then went back to chutz la'aretz. ואחר שחזר לא נתן לו רשות לחזור לארץ ישראל עד חמש שנים,
and then there was a hiatus of five years before HaKadosh Baruch Hu gave Avraham Avinu a visa to come back to Eretz Yisrael. ואותם חמש שנים היה משתוקק לחזור ללכת, and during those five years, Avraham Avinu was consumed with a teshuka for Eretz Yisrael. והוא אמר זה הפסוק, מי יתן לי אבר כיונה אעופה ואשכונה, הנה ארחיק נדוד אלין במדבר,
etcetera. We must cherish the gift of Eretz Yisrael, embrace the eretz chemda for what it is and not allow for any complacency or apathy regarding our living outside of Eretz Yisrael. There shouldn't Rachmana litzlan be even a shemetz of vayimasu be'eretz chemdah. So what does all this add up to l'maise, these five perspectives that we tried to sketch Eretz Yisroel just as the place where the largest concentration of acheinu bnei Yisroel are Eretz Yisroel as a bulwark against assimilation rachmanu litzlan Eretz Yisroel as a source of inspiration and chizuk in terms of emuna Eretz Yisroel אוהב מצוות לא ישבע מצוות and finally embracing nachalas Hashem Eretz Chemda. So what does all that add up to? So at the very least we have to have a genuine profound concern for Eretz Yisroel the plight and fate of Eretz Yisroel if we needed a reminder so current events serve as such. It should be central to our tfillos and beyond that we should try to be mechazek our brethren in Eretz Yisroel through whatever partnerships are available. Embracing nachalas Hashem Eretz Chemda also means that we shouldn't be in chutz la'aretz because of hesach hadaas by default or inertia. Consult with your distinguished moreh hora'ah what the conditions and circumstances are that warrant such a decision but it should be a conscious decision a decision which is constantly revisited and reviewed to see if the factors which dictated that decision which drove that decision are still the same or whether they've changed. And even when conditions and circumstances warrant remaining in chutz la'aretz as the Chareidim says we still have to be mechabev Eretz Yisroel. משל למה הדבר דומה one of the Eretz Yisroel's niknas b'yisurim one form of the yisurim that people have who go on aliyah who go to Eretz Yisroel is when it entails leaving family behind in chutz la'aretz and it's a tremendous mesiras nefesh. The fact that it's the right thing for them that they came to the conclusion that it's the right thing that it's the right decision that doesn't mean that they don't miss the family. Doesn't mean oh it's the right thing so so what that we don't get to see our parents our siblings or whatever as often. No family is important there are deep deep bonds even when conditions and circumstances warrant that one doesn't get to see family as often but those bonds remained and they translate into a sense of missing and a sense of yearning for those infrequent occasions when when the family can get together. Part of embracing Eretz Chemda even when conditions and circumstances warrant that we should be in chutz la'aretz is that we should miss Eretz Yisroel. It's not that once once a person comes to again hopefully if he comes to that decision hopefully it's the correct decision that conditions and circumstances warrant being in chutz la'aretz okay so I I made the cheshbon hanefesh this is the result and now I can be shaleim. Yes that's true but part of being shaleim means realizing that again part of being shaleim of being in Eretz Yisroel is still missing one's parents one's siblings all one's friends that one left behind in chutz la'aretz. That's not at odds with being shaleim with with the decision. So similarly not only is it not at odds but it has to be part of the decision. Part of the decision even when conditions and circumstances warrant that we should be here is to be mishtokek. to the time when the various obligations and that everyone has and the balancing act that we all engage in Avodas Hashem should allow us to integrate Eretz Yisrael more fully into that life of Avodas Hashem.