Is the Land of Israel just stones and dirt?
Parshat Massei: Judaism and the land
'This is the Land and its borders,' Moses tells the people - speaking about the Land of Canaan. But the borders have changed over time. Many mistakenly believe there is a connection between mankind and the land, but they miss the true meaning of the Land of Israel
One of the themes of this week’s Torah portion is the geopolitical description of the borders of the Land of Israel. God sends Moses to tell the children of Israel: “This is the land,” and these are its borders.
Medieval commentator Rashi explains: Because there are many mitzvot (commandments) that only apply in Israel and don’t apply abroad, the Torah had to specify the borders…in order to tell us in which borders and before Whom the commandments are to be observed.”
In other, more modern, words: there are Torah commandments that depend on geographical place - the Land of Israel - and which apply only inside the borders specified in this week’s reading.
But as usual, when the Torah sheds light on one thing, it sheds different light on other things. And so it seems that the Torah itself has several definitions of the borders of the Land of Israel.
Firstly, we find God’s promise to Abraham: “I will give this land to your children, from the Nile River all the way to the Euphrates River” (Genesis 15.18).
Then there are the borders of the Jewish kings, Saul, David and Solomon, and they are fundamentally different from the actual borders of Israeli settlement.
And that is to say nothing of the borders that changed during the time of the Second Temple, when the borders were defined by the political realities of the time.
Straight from Egypt
Several academic researchers point to the verse, “And you are now coming to the Land of Canaan,” rather than the Land of Israel, land of your forefathers, or land of the Jews, to show that the Torah refers to the land as the Egyptian province known as Canaan, the same land inherited by the immigrants from Egypt - the great Egyptian mother.
Simply the borders of the Land of Canaan, nothing more.
Complex relationship
The traditional relationship between the people and the land is complex.
On one hand, Israel is the only place in which the Jewish nation and its Torah can gain full expression. Our historical drama takes place here, during the exile, our yearning and suffering was directed here, and it is here that our national revival has always taken place.
At the same time, there is a perennial temporary standing to our relationship with the land. Many people mistakenly believe that the connection is between man and the earth. Our faith in dirt and rocks is akin to serving gods foreign to the Jewish faith, especially to God.
Many people miss the true meaning of the Land of Israel to the Jewish people. The Land is a large laboratory in which our mission in the world - to develop a model society, for the benefit of all humankind.
Borders as an end
In Jewish tradition, there is apparently a tension with the absolute stress on borders as a meaning unto themselves.
Therefore, we apparently must read not only the topographical description, but also to read on in the portion learn of despicable murderers and their injustices in this holy land, of the cities of refuge and their solution.
“So ye shall not pollute the land wherein ye are; for blood, it polluteth the land,” warns the Torah, “and no expiation can be made for the land for the blood that is shed therein, but by the blood of him that shed it. (Numbers 35:33)
The double condition: the establishment of God’s earthly “home” in this land also depends on creating a place Him in our hearts.
Conquering the land alone is not enough to ensure God’s presence amongst its inhabitants. Only an honest, humane environment, free of impure bloodshed is the condition for God’s presence to rest amongst the people and the land.
Eretz Yisrael as idol worship
The turning of land, rocks, trees and dirt to an article of faith is a central tenet of the idol worship we are commanded to destroy.
But another approach, according to which our lives in this land depends on our morals and ethical behavior - peace brokers rather than war mongers - is interwoven in every corner of the tapestry that is Jewish culture and belief.
In this week’s haftara (additional reading), we find no mention of the “promised land” or its borders, but rather a sad lamentation of Jeremiah the prophet.
“When you entered, you defiled My land, and made My heritage an abomination” (Jeremiah 2:7)… As the thief is ashamed when he is found, so is the house of Israel ashamed; they, their kings, their princes, and their priests, and their prophets...” (2:27)
On the other hand, the opposite is also clear: “God lives with truth, justice and charity.” (4:2)
The theme continues in the prophesy of Ezekiel, the prophet who warns of exile, who cursed those faithful to the land for its own sake, saying, “'Son of man, they that inhabit those waste places in the land of Israel speak, saying: Abraham was one, and he inherited the land; but we are many; the land is given us for inheritance” (Ezekiel 33:24)
The land is connected to us because of Abraham, but the prophet continues, “Shall you eat with the blood, and lift up your eyes unto your idols, and shed blood; and shall you possess the land?” (33:25)
This does not stop with reasons of hatred of those who destroyed the temple; and today the ideas of a lying, bloodthirsty Torah, a thirst for the war of Gog and Magog (a catastrophic war that will, according to some traditions, will announce the coming of the Messianic age) and of the Jewish sword as an answer for everything.
This is not the way, this is not God’s promise, and this is not a way we will inherit this land.
Only with peace, without bloodshed and by steering well clear of corruption. This is the only way.
It’s a fact - and it’s written. I’m sorry to say, there are too many voices promoting “Land of Israel Judaism,” making the trees and the dirt holy, and leaving aside the true battles.
