Our Avot

Avraham Avinu demonstrated his commitment to Hashem in many ways over several decades. He was thrown into a fiery furnace for his faith, and he brought many people close to avodat Hashem. Surprisingly, the Torah does not describe these activities.

Instead, Sefer Bereishit begins its account of Avraham’s relationship with Hashem with Hashem’s call to him to move to Eretz Yisrael.[1] Judaism begins with Hashem’s directive to the first Jew to move to His land, which He intends to be ours.[2]

The continuation of Sefer Bereishit describes how Eretz Yisrael remained central to Avraham’s descendants, Yitzchak and Yaakov. Hashem prohibited Yitzchak Avinu from leaving Eretz Yisrael.[3] He was holy and needed to stay in the Holy Land.[4] This 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 had promised the land to Avraham and his descendants; clearly, Hashem intended for Yitzchak to remain there.[5]

Yaakov Avinu also assumed that he would live in Eretz Yisrael and was understandably concerned when he was forced to leave to flee from Eisav.[6] When he finally returned to Eretz Yisrael, he hoped he could settle down there.[7] Decades later, when he headed down to Mitzrayim, he intended to merely visit Yosef and then return to Eretz Yisrael.[8]

Hashem informed Yaakov that He wanted his family to move to Mitzrayim because it would be where they would develop as a people.[9] However, it would not be their permanent home; Hashem would eventually return them to Eretz Yisrael.[10]

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.”[11] But, the exile would be temporary – the “fourth generation” would return to Eretz Yisrael.[12]

Yaakov reinforced this point before his death in Bereshit’s final parsha, Parshat Vayechi. Though he died in Mitzrayim, Yaakov identified Eretz Yisrael as our true home by insisting that he be buried there.[13] 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.[14] By doing so, Yosef reinforced their belief in the ultimate return to Eretz Yisrael.

Am Yisrael – Yetziat Mitzrayim and The Return to Eretz Yisrael

Understandably, the return to Eretz Yisrael was the ultimate goal of Yetziat Mitzraim. Hashem presented it this way to Moshe at the burning bush in Parshat Shemot[15] and as the climax of His “lashonot (languages) of redemption” in Parshat Va’era.[16] 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.[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. 

Centrality

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.[18] Conversely, our return to the Land is a sign of Hashem’s reconciliation with us.[19] The Nevi’im foretold the eventual ingathering of the Jewish people to Eretz Yisrael,[20] and the Rishonim saw this return as a sign of redemption.[21] This is why our yearning to return to Eretz Yisrael is central to all of our tefilot.[22]

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;[23] only when we live in Eretz Yisrael is our relationship with Hashem and our ability to fulfill His mitzvot properly complete;[24] only then are we truly considered a national entity.[25] Living in Eretz Yisrael atones for our sins[26] and guarantees us a place in Olam Haba.[27] Chazal even permitted violating (certain) Shabbat prohibitions to purchase land in Eretz Yisrael[28] and granted the right to force a spouse to move there,[29] 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[30] and assumed.

Our Identity and Conversation

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 to it.[31]

We also need to identify ourselves with it and by it. We learn this from Chazal’s[32] 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 identified himself and was always seen as an “Ivri,” someone from Eretz Yisrael.[33] Moshe Rabbeinu, in contrast, was seen by Yitro’s daughters as an “Ish Mitzri.”[34]

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 – 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 focus upon and identification with Eretz Yisrael sustained us through millennia in exile. Our forefathers resisted assimilation into tens of countries by reminding themselves that their true place was in Eretz Yisrael. Though deeply entrenched in exile, each year they proclaimed their faith: “Next year in Yerushalayim.” Though it ended up being many years later, the proclamation reminded and continues to remind generations of Jews of their proper place and identity.

May our appreciation of the centrality of Eretz Yisrael inspire us to continue to focus upon it, identify with it, and endeavor to return to it. May this merit the completion of its and our redemption.

Rav 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.


[1] Bereishit 12:1.

[2] Hashem destined Eretz Yisrael for the Jewish people already from the days of the world’s creation. See Midrash Tanchuma (Re’eh 9) based upon Devarim 32:8-9.

[3] Bereishit 26:2.

[4] Rashi, Bereishit 26:2.

[5] Rashbam, Bereishit 24:7. This explains Avraham’s lengthy description of Hashem and His promise to him in that pasuk.

[6] See Abarvanel, Bereishit 28.

[7] Rashi, Bereishit 37:1.

[8] Bereishit 45:28.

[9]  Bereishit 46:3.

[10] Bereishit 46:4. This was a model for future exiles. Hashem accompanies the Jewish people to all places and, therefore, the Jewish people are guaranteed to be redeemed because Hashem’s Shechinah also requires redemption (Megillah 29a).

[11] Bereishit 15:13.

[12] Bereishit 15:16.

[13] Bereishit 49:29-32.

[14] Bereishit 50:25.

[15] Shemot 3:8,17.

[16] Shemot 6:8.

[17] Shemot 15:17. See Kuzari (2:12), who learns from this pasuk that the Jewish people can only develop properly in Eretz Yisrael.

[18] Vayikra 26:33, Devarim 28:64.

[19] Devarim 30:3-5.

[20] Yeshayahu 11:11-2, 27:12-13, 43:5-6, 56:7-8; Yirmiyahu 16:14-15, 30:1-2, 31:7-16; Yechezkel 11:16-17, 20:34-42; Zecharya 8:8; Amos 9:13-14.

[21] See, for example, Emunot V’deiot of Rabbeinu Saadya Gaon 8:1 and Yeshu’ot Malko, Yoreh Deah 66.

[22] For example, the berachah of Teka B’shofar in Shemoneh Esreh.

[23] Sifri Re’eh 28, Ekev 7.

[24] Tosefta Avodah Zarah 5; Ketuvot 110b.

[25] See Horiyot 3a.

[26] Sifri Ha’azinu 28, Yalkut Shimoni 702.

[27] Ketuvot 110b. See also Sifri Ha’azinu 28.

[28] Gittin 8b.

[29] Mishnah Ketuvot 110b. See also Menachot 44a.

[30] Rav Soloveitchik explains that living in Israel is not counted as an independent mitzvah because it is a prerequisite to many other mitzvot. Presenting it as a mere single mitzvah would have minimized its significance.

[31] Kuzari 2:24. See also Ohr HaChayim, Vayikra 25:25.

[32] Devarim Rabbah 2:8.

[33] Bereishit 39:14, 40:15, and 41:12.

[34] Shemot 2:19.