Mitzvah of living in Eretz Yisroel

Parshat Behar

The Importance of Living in Eretz Yisrael

by Rabbi Shmuel Knopfler

In Parashat Behar… we learn of the special relationship that the Jewish people have to the land of Israel, and of the special obligations that apply to those who dwell in the Holy Land.

Parashat Behar details the mitzvot of Shmita, the sabbatical year in which the land lays fallow every seventh year, and Yovel, the jubilee that is observed in the fiftieth year. The Torah, in this parasha, also mandates the practice of redeeming the land in the jubilee year, outlines the regulations regarding the purchasing of resident houses in walled cities, calls for the establishment of cities for the Levites and pronounces guidelines for preventing poverty.

After warning the people against lending money on interest, the Torah boldly states, in Vayikra 25:38, “Ani Hashem Elokeichem ahsher hotzaytee etchem meEretz Mitzrayim lihot lahchem et Eretz Canaan, lihyoht lachem lelokim,”I am Hashem, your G-d, Who took you out of the land of Egypt, to give you the land of Canaan, to be G-d onto you. The juxtaposition in this verse of receiving the land of Israel as a Divine gift, and the peoples’relationships with G-d, is seen by many commentators as an obligation upon the people who live in Israel to be a sanctified people. Residents of Israel are expected to follow the instructions of the Torah, no matter how challenging they may appear to be, such as not taking interest on loans and allowing the land to lie fallow–unworked for an entire year.

In his comments on this verse, Rashi (Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki, 1040-1105, foremost commentator on the Bible) underscores the specialness of the land of Israel, and the relationship of the Jewish people to the land. Citing a Midrash from Torat Kohanim 54, and a Talmudic statement in Ketubot 110b, Rashi says that whoever resides in the land of Israel, “I [G-d] am a G-d to him, and whoever leaves the land of Israel, it is as one who worships idols.”

The Torah Temimah (written by the famed author, Rabbi Baruch HaLevi Epstein, 1860-1941) records the full citation from the Talmud in Ketubot 110b.

Our rabbis stated that a person should always live in the land of Israel, even in a city where the majority of the residents are gentile, and not live outside of Israel, even in a city where the majority of the residents are Jews. For those who dwell in the land of Israel are like those who have a G-d, while those who dwell outside of Israel are like idolaters. As it states (Leviticus 25:38), “To give you the land of Canaan, to be a G-d to you.”

To further substantiate the Talmudic citation, the Torah Temimah cites another verse, from I Samuel 26:19, where King David states, “For they have driven me out this day from being joined to the inheritance of G-d, saying, ‘Go worship other gods.’ Who, after all, forced King David to worship other gods? Rather, the verse comes to underscore that anyone who resides outside of Israel is regarded as worshiping alien gods.

The Torah Temimah explains that G-d’s relationship with the people of Israel is very much dependent on their dwelling in the land of Israel, where the Divine Presence itself dwells. Israel is a land that is especially chosen for prophecy and holiness. As the Bible states, in Deuteronomy 11:12, “A land that the L-rd your G-d seeks out at all times.” That is why G-d is often referred to as the “L-rd of the land.”

Ramban (Nachmanides, Rabbi Moshe ben Nachman, 1194-1270, Spanish Torah commentator), as well as other Bible commentators, regard the verse in Numbers 33:53 as a positive Torah commandment to reside in Israel. The verse reads, You shall possess the Land and you shall settle in it, for to you have I given the land to possess it. In fact, the Midrash (Sifri, Re’eh 12:29) regards this mitzvah as so significant, that it regards the one mitzvah of dwelling in the land of Israel as equivalent in value to all the other Torah mitzvot combined.