In honor of the season of Yom Ha’atzmaut and Yom Yerushalayim, it is appropriate to once again review the halakha’s of the blessing the Chazal fixed over the mitzvah of ‘yishuv ha’aretz‘ – the settling and redemption of the Land of Israel.
| Article by Rabbi Eliezer Melamed Shlitah |
Our Sages said: “On seeing the houses of Israel when inhabited, one says: ‘Baruch ata Hashem, Elokeinu Melech Ha’Olam, matziv gevul almana‘ (“Blessed be He who sets the boundary of the widow”) (Berachot 58b, S.A. 224:10). The intention of this blessing is to thank God for returning Israel to their land.
After transgressing God’s commandments, we were exiled from our land and ridiculed and scorned among the nations – akin to a widow, wandering around broken and lonely, without any prospect of returning to our borders and building our house; Hashem took pity on us, returned us to our land so as to build houses there, inhabiting them with serenity and confidence.




