The Fundamental Centrality of Eretz Yisrael

Avraham Avinu demonstrated his commitment to Hashem in many ways over several decades. He brought many people close to avodat Hashem and he was thrown into a fiery furnace for his faith.

Yet, Sefer Bereishit begins its account of Avraham’s relationship with Hashem with Hashem’s call to him to move to Eretz Yisrael (Ber. 12:1). Judaism begins with Hashem’s directive to the first Jew to move to His land, which He intends to belong to Avraham’s descendants.

Sefer Bereishit continues to describe how Eretz Yisrael remained central to Avraham’s descendants, Yitzchak and Yaakov. Hashem prohibited Yitzchak Avinu from leaving Eretz Yisrael (Ber. 26:2). He was holy and needed to stay in the Holy Land (Rashi, Ber. 26:2). That is why Avraham sent Eliezer, not Yitzchak, abroad to find a wife for Yitzchak and why Avraham insisted that the girl move to Eretz Yisrael. Hashem promised the land to Avraham and his descendants, so it was vital that Yitzchak remain there (Rashbam, Ber. 24:7).

Yaakov Avinu also assumed that he would live in Eretz Yisrael and was understandably concerned when he was forced to flee from Eisav. When he finally returned to Eretz Yisrael, he hoped that he could finally settle down (Rashi, Ber. 37:1). Decades later, when he headed down to Mitzrayim, he intended to merely visit Yosef and then return to Eretz Yisrael (Ber. 45:28).

Hashem informed Yaakov that He wanted his family to move to Mitzrayim because it would be where they would develop as a nation (Ber. 46:3). However, it would not be their permanent home. Hashem would eventually return them to Eretz Yisrael (Ber. 46:4).

Hashem had already warned of the exile in His covenant with Avraham. Hashem foretold of the suffering of the Jewish people in a land “not their own” (Ber. 15:13). But the exile would be temporary. The fourth generation would return to Eretz Yisrael (Ber. 15:16).

Yaakov reinforced this point before his death in Bereishit’s final parashah, Parashat Vayechi. Though he died in Mitzrayim, Yaakov identified Eretz Yisrael as our true home by insisting that he be buried there (Ber. 49:29-32). Yosef, his son, followed suit with the same request. Sefer Bereishit concludes with his request that the Jews take his bones with them when they leave Mitzrayim (Ber. 50:25). By doing so, Yosef reinforced their belief in the ultimate return to Eretz Yisrael.

Understandably, the return to Eretz Yisrael was the ultimate goal of Yetzias Mitzrayim. Hashem presented it this way to Moshe at the burning bush in Parashat Shemot (3:8,17) and as the climax of His “lashonot(languages) of redemption” in Parashat Vayera (6:8). With the completion of the salvation at Yam Suf, the Jews, in their Shirat Hayam, expressed their yearning for the next step: the return to and eternal implantation in Eretz Yisrael (Shem. 15:17).

The journey was not complete until the Jewish people returned to Eretz Yisrael. And that is the overall mission of the continuation of the Torah. After Matan Torah and the construction of the Mishkan at Har Sinai, Sefer Bamidbar depicts the Jewish people’s journey toward Eretz Yisrael, and Sefer Devarim describes how Moshe prepared them to enter it.

Hashem’s first words to the first Jew at the beginning of the Torah’s first sefer commanded him to travel to Eretz Yisrael; the Torah ends with the Jewish people poised to realize that goal.

Understandably, the Torah assumes Jewish life in Eretz Yisrael. Many of its mitzvot pertain to this reality and can be performed only there.

The Torah considers exile from Eretz Yisrael to be the worst of all punishments (Vay. 26:33). Conversely, our return to the Land is a sign of Hashem’s reconciliation with us (Dev. 30:3-5). The Nevi’im foretold the eventual ingathering of the Jewish people to Eretz Yisrael, and the Rishonim saw this return as a sign of redemption. This is why our yearning to return to Eretz Yisrael is central to all of our tefillot.

Chazal also emphasized the centrality of living in Eretz Yisrael. Living in Eretz Yisrael is equal in importance to the fulfillment of all the other mitzvot (Sifri Re’eh 28, Eikev 7); only when we live in Eretz Yisraelis our relationship with Hashem and our ability to fulfill His mitzvot properly complete (Tosefta A”Z 5); only then are we truly considered a national entity. Living in Eretz Yisrael atones for our sins (Sifri Haazinu 28) and guarantees us a place in Olam Haba (Ket. 110b). Chazal even permitted violating (certain) Shabbat prohibitions to purchase land in Eretz Yisrael (Git. 8b) and granted the right to force a spouse to move there (Mish. Ket. 110b), highlighting the overriding importance of living in Eretz Yisrael. 

Life in Eretz Yisrael is a central component of Judaism. People often focus on whether it has the formal status of an independent mitzvah. But even if it does not, this is not because it lacks significance, but because living in Eretz Yisrael is fundamental and assumed.

We thank Hashem for living in an era when He has begun to facilitate our return to Eretz Yisrael. Whether we live there or not, we need to know that it is where we all belong and yearn to return (Kuz. 2:24).

We also need to identify ourselves with it and by it. We learn this from Chazal’s (D”R 2:8) explanation of why Yosef, as opposed to Moshe, merited burial in Eretz Yisrael. Yosef deserved to be buried there because, even while in Mitzrayim, he always considered himself (and was always seen as) an “Ivri,” someone from Eretz Yisrael (Ber. 39:14). Moshe Rabbeinu, in contrast, was seen by Yitro’s daughters as an “Ish Mitzri” (Shem. 2:19).

Obviously, Moshe’s identity was not his fault. He and even his parents were not born in Eretz Yisrael. By no choice of his own, he was born in Egypt and raised in an Egyptian palace as a prince. Although not at fault for his identity, he could not be buried in Eretz Yisrael because it only receives those who identify with it.

Eretz Yisrael should also be at the forefront of our minds and a constant topic of conversation. Rav Kook articulated this idea in response to a student who asked why every conversation with him invariably returned to the topic of Eretz Yisrael.

Rav Kook explained, “Whenever I open a Chumash to study Torah, I see that Hashem is speaking about the Land. The Torah begins with the promise of the Land to the forefathers. It continues by assigning Moshe the task of bringing the Jewish people to the Land. It lays out a multitude of laws on agriculture, Temple service, and more, that are all dependent on the Land. Moshe ends his life praying to enter the Land. If Hashem is always speaking about the Land, it seems only proper that I should do the same.”

Our identification with Eretz Yisrael sustained us through millennia in exile. Our forefathers resisted assimilation into untold nations by reminding themselves that their true place was in Eretz Yisrael. Although deeply entrenched in exile, each year they proclaimed their faith: “Next year in Yerushalayim.” 

Although our return to the Land was many years later, that proclamation continues to remind generations of Jews of their proper place and identity.

May our appreciation of the centrality of Eretz Yisrael in our lives inspire us to continue to focus on it, identify with it, and endeavor to return to it. May we thus merit our complete and final redemption. n

arrRav Reuven Taragin is the Dean of Overseas Students at Yeshivat Hakotel and the Educational Director of World Mizrachi and the RZA. His new book, Essentials of Judaism, is available at rabbireuventaragin.com.