I. “Firsts”. 4

II. The Three Cities. 4

Shechem.. 6

Hevron. 18

Jerusalem.. 26

III. The Conquest 28

IV. Contact Points. 29

Jericho. 31

V. Brit Mila. 32

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The Sages teach us that what Shabbat, Sabbath, is to time, so Eretz Israel, the land of Israel, is to space. The Shmita, or Sabbatical, year connects these two. Space and time come together in a Shmita year. The next Shmita year will be 5768. It follows that we should study Eretz Israel as we would study Shabbat. Lets look at Eretz Israel and its ownership. Lets start by seeing what Rashi has to say about Eretz Israel:

 

R. Yitzchak says: The Torah should have begun with, "This month shall be for you" (Shemot 12:1), which is the first mitzva that Israel were commanded. Why, then, did it begin with, "In the beginning?" Because of, "The strength of His deeds He declared to His people, to give them the heritage of the nations." (Tehillim 111:6) If the nations of the world should say to Israel, "You are thieves, because you captured the land of the seven nations," they say to them, "The entire world is G-d's! He created it and gave it to those that He wants. He desired to give it to them, and He desired to take it from them and give it to us." -(Rashi quoting the Midrash)

 

Rashi tells us that HaShem gave His people the land of Israel. It is their inheritance along with the Torah. The Torah also shows HaShem clearly giving the land to the Children of Israel:

 

Bamidbar (Numbers) 33:50-54 And HaShem spake unto Moses in the plains of Moab by Jordan [near] Jericho, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye are passed over Jordan into the land of Canaan; Then ye shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you, and destroy all their pictures, and destroy all their molten images, and quite pluck down all their high places: And ye shall dispossess [the inhabitants of] the land, and dwell therein: for I have given you the land to possess it. And ye shall divide the land by lot for an inheritance among your families: [and] to the more ye shall give the more inheritance, and to the fewer ye shall give the less inheritance: every man's [inheritance] shall be in the place where his lot falleth; according to the tribes of your fathers ye shall inherit.

 

Bamidbar (Numbers) 34:2 Command the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye come into the land of Canaan; (this [is] the land that shall fall unto you for an inheritance, [even] the land of Canaan with the coasts thereof:)

 

Since HaShem gave us this land, we must take possession of it. Even if today is not the right time to return to the land, we must have it in the forefront of our mind. “Wherever we are going, we are going to Israel”. The land of Israel is our ultimate destination!

 

“Returning” is what we do when we go up to Israel. “Returning” is what we do when we repent from our sins.

 

The parallel between Teshuva (or “return to HaShem”) and entering the Land of Israel is supported by the fact that Teshuva, from the root word meaning “return,” occurs in the Tanakh most frequently in relation to the Jewish peoples’ return to the Land of Israel. This teaches that entering the Land of Israel (aliyah) in its deepest sense is the ultimate manifestation of return to HaShem (Teshuva), it being the physical and spiritual entry into an entirely new state of being. With this perspective we can begin to appreciate what our Sages in the Talmud have told us:

 

Ketuvot 110b Anyone who lives outside of Eretz Israel, it is as if they worship idols.

 

The Sages have thereby told us that there is a connection between returning to HaShem, through repentance, and returning to the land of Israel. This connection began “in the beginning…”

 

The Torah begins with the account of creation in order to prove that the earth belongs to HaShem and He can give it to anyone He wishes. When HaShem makes a covenant with Avraham, He gives Avraham AND HIS SEED Eretz Israel. Now we know that his seed was not through Ishmael, but through Yitzchak:

 

Bereshit (Genesis) 21:12 And God said unto Abraham, Let it not be grievous in thy sight because of the lad, and because of thy bondwoman; in all that Sarah hath said unto thee, hearken unto her voice; for in Isaac shall thy seed be called.

 

HaShem said to Avraham: "To your descendents I will give this Land." (15:18) However, it is not clear who the descendents of Avraham are, Yitzchak or Ishmael? So the Torah comes to tell us that Ishmael is excluded from all that Avraham had, he received gifts instead:

 

Bereshit (Genesis) 25:5-6 And Avraham gave all (“kol”) that he had to Yitzchak. And to the sons of the concubines he gave presents.

 

The Zohar does indicate that Ishmael has some connection to the land:

 

Soncino Zohar, Shemoth, Section 2, Page 32a Abram prayed to God: “O that Ishmael might live before thee!” Now, although the Holy One, blessed be He, promised Abraham that he would beget Isaac, yet Abraham was so attached to Ishmael, that the Holy One had to promise him: “As for Ishmael, I have heard thee: behold, I have blessed him... and I will make him a great nation”. Through his circumcision Ishmael entered into the holy covenant before Isaac was born. Now, for four hundred years the supramundane representative of Ishmael stood before the Holy One, blessed be He, and pleaded thus with him: “He who is circumcised, has he a portion in Thy Name? “ “Yes.” “But what then of Ishmael? Is he not circumcised? Why then has he no portion in Thy Name, like Isaac?” The Holy One answered: “Isaac was circumcised according to rule, [Tr. Note: i.e. with the peri'ah, or exposure of the flesh.] not so Ishmael; moreover the Israelites attach themselves to me from the eighth day of their birth, but the Ishmaelites for a long time are far from me.” Said he: “Yet, as Ishmael has been circumcised, he ought to have a reward!’, Woe, woe, that Ishmael was born into the world and was circumcised! What did the Holy One do? He banished the children of Ishmael from the heavenly communion and gave them instead a portion here below in the Holy Land, because of their circumcision. And they are destined to rule over the land a long time, so long as it is empty, just as their form of circumcision is empty and imperfect; and they will prevent Israel from returning to their own land until the merit of the children of Ishmael shall have become exhausted. And the sons of Ishmael will fight mighty battles in the world, and the sons of Edom will gather against them, and make war against them, some on land, others on sea, and some close to Jerusalem, and one shall prevail over the other, but the Holy Land will not be delivered to the sons of Edom. Then a nation from the furthest ends of the earth will rise against wicked Rome and fight against her for three months, and many nations will gather there and fall into the hands of that people, until all the sons of Edom will congregate against her from all the ends of the earth. Then the Holy One will rise against them, as it says: “A slaughter of the Lord in Bazrah and a great slaughter in the land of Edom” (Isa. XXXIV, 6). He will “take hold of the ends of the earth that the wicked might be shaken out of it” (Job XXXVIII, I3). He will wipe out the children of Ishmael from the Holy Land, and crush all the powers and principalities of the nations in the supramundane world, and only one power will remain above to rule over the nations of the world, namely the power representing Israel, as it is written: “The Lord is thy shadow at thy right hand” (Ps. CXXI, 5). For the Holy Name is at the Right, and the Torah is at the Right, and therefore all depends on the Right, and likewise the future salvation is at the Right, as it says: “Save with thy right hand” (Ps. LX, 7). Concerning that time it is written: “Then I will turn to the peoples a pure language that they may all call upon the name of the Lord to serve him with one consent” (Haggai III, 9), and on that day “will the Lord be one and his name one “ (Zech. XIV, 9). Blessed be the Lord for ever and ever. Amen and amen.’

 

Galatians 4:29-31 But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him [that was born] after the Spirit, even so [it is] now. Nevertheless what saith the scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son: for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman. So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free.

 

Ishmael’s rights in Eretz Israel can be exercised when the Jews do not exercise their blessing of “kol”, clinging to HaShem. Thus, our struggle with Ishmael for the rights to Eretz Israel is not simply a physical struggle, but a spiritual one as well. It will be successful when we realize the blessing of spiritual connectedness that HaShem gave to Avraham, and that was transmitted to us through our father Yitzchak.

 

So we know that the promise is to Yitzchak and not Ishmael, but how to we choose between Yaaqov or Esav? And while it is possible to exclude Ishmael, since he is the son of the maid, Esav is different, as Malachi states:

 

Malachi 1:2 "Was not Esav the brother of Yaaqov, the word of HaShem, yet I loved Yaaqov."

 

Why was Esav excluded and the promise fulfilled only with Yaakov? This is because in the brit bein habetarim (covenant of the pieces), it says:

 

Bereshit (Genesis) 15:13-18 Your descendants shall be aliens in a land not their own, and they will serve them, and they will oppress them, four hundred years ... The fourth generation shall return here ... On that day HaShem made a covenant with Avram saying, "To your descendants I have given this land."

 

Thus, it is clear that the same descendants who will be aliens, and will descend to Egypt -- they are the very same descendants to whom the Land will be given.

 

Regarding Esav it says: "Esav took his wives, his sons, his daughters ... and went to a land because of his brother Yaaqov."[1] Rashi cites a Midrash:

 

"Because of his brother Yaaqov." Because of the debt of the decree, "Your descendants shall be aliens," which was placed on the descendents of Yitzchak. [Esav] said, "I will leave here, and I will share neither in the gift, that this land is given to him, nor in the payment of the debt."

 

Therefore, it says in the end of Parshat Vayishlach: "These are the chiefs of Edom by their settlements, in the land of their possession,  he is Esav, father of Edom"[2], and immediately afterwards it says: "Yaakov settled in the land of his father's sojourning"[3], and the story of the descent to Egypt begins. The account of the exile was fulfilled only through Yaaqov, whereas Esav settled in his possessed land.

 

Only through Yaakov was the decree of brit bein habetarim, the covenant between the parts, fulfilled, and only through him was the promise of the land fulfilled.

 

Even though HaShem gave Avraham Eretz Israel, He did required Avraham to do his part in taking possession. In the war that Avraham fought with the kings of the world (Bereshit 14) in order to free Lot, Avraham became the owner of Eretz Israel because he defeated the kings who had previously owned it. Avraham defeated the kings of the known world. Avraham was the victor in this first world war and because of that victory he became the owner of the land of Israel. This manner of possession will be repeated by Avraham’s descendants in the days of Yehoshua.

 

In all of HaShem’s promises we see an element of human effort. HaShem requires that we do our part.

 

Those who follow events in Israel have noticed that the main protagonists have been waging war against each other in an effort to take possession of Eretz Israel. The descendants of Ishmael have been warring against the descendants of Isaac. It is a war between those who think they