Eretz
By Hillel ben David (Greg Killian)
The Sages teach us that what Shabbat,
Sabbath, is to time, so Eretz
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
Rashi tells us that HaShem gave
His people the
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
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
“Returning” is what we do when we go up to
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
Ketuvot 110b Anyone
who lives outside of Eretz
The Sages have thereby told us that there is a connection between returning to HaShem,
through repentance, and returning to the
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
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
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
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
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
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
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