The National Significance of the Land
BY RABBI MOSHE AVIGDOR AMIEL זצ”ל
In 1901, representatives at the Fifth Zionist Congress in Basel voted to create Keren Kayemet LeYisrael (KKL), to purchase land in Israel for the Zionist movement. Raising money from Jews around the world, KKL bought land across Eretz Yisrael, on which places like Tel Aviv, new neighborhoods in Yerushalayim and countless kibbutzim were established. From its inception, KKL was also instrumental in planting forests and nature reserves, as well as educational initiatives. Today, KKL owns and manages some 13% of all the land of Israel. KKL, through the World Zionist Congress, continues to have a huge influence on education in Israel and around the world.
In 1940, Rabbi Moshe Avigdor Amiel, the Chief Rabbi of Tel Aviv, spoke at an event about the significance of KKL. Rav Amiel was a member of Mizrachi, and his derashot contain powerful religious underpinnings for the Zionist movement (for a full profile of Rav Amiel, see “A Prophet of Truth” in the Tisha B’Av 5784 Edition of HaMizrachi by Rabbi Elie Mischel). In honor of Tu BiShvat, we publish a translation of his words, extolling the religious significance of our national return to our land.
In the Diaspora we did not have cities or villages or settlements, because the settlements were not ours. Instead, we based our public life on the foundation of communities. We had ancient and very important kehillot, communities, and every community had communal funds, keranot, that were considered to be permanent and even eternal. But what came of all these funds? All of them were like dust that scatters, like a fleeting dream. And all of this why? Because in truth, without land we also have no hold on our communities. The land is their foundation. The Sages spoke well when they said that “The tribe of Levi is not called community, for it is written, ‘Behold, I will make you fruitful and multiply you, and I will make of you a community of peoples…’ He who has a possession is designated a ‘community,’ but he who has no possession is not designated a ‘community’” (Horiyot 6b). See how far the matter goes. The tribe of Levi, the most elite of all the tribes, from which came the kohanim who dwelled always in G-d’s mikdash and brought sacrifices to the G-d of Israel and were constantly immersed in Torah and service of G-d – and yet they were not considered a “community” because they did not possess land. This is an important teaching for all those who thought to establish our national life on the foundation of communities and saw this as our unique mission. Reality came and smacked them in the face and confirmed the truth of the Sages’ words, that “He who has a possession is designated a ‘community,’ but he who has no possession is not designated a ‘community.’”
There is no nation in the world that from the beginning of its formation was so connected to the land as our nation. Only Judaism gave the name “Adam” to the first man because he was created from the earth. That is to say, someone without land lacks not just property, but also their fundamental human essence – their connection to “Adam” – making them incomplete as a person. This is especially true for nations: a nation without land is incomplete not just in its national character, but each individual member’s connection to their “Adam” essence is also diminished…
“The Sages decreed that the ‘Eretz HaAmim,’ the lands of the other nations, are considered impure,” and this impurity is not only connected to the land itself but even to the air… and this impurity comes because this is “the land of the nations.” On the one hand there is the ‘Eretz HaAmim,’ and on the other, ‘Eretz Yisrael.’ Eretz HaAmim belongs to all the other nations with the exception of the people of Israel, and so our dwelling there can only be a temporary dwelling. And Eretz Yisrael cannot exist without Eretz, without land. And who is concerned that we should have Eretz, land, in Eretz Yisrael, if not the Keren Kayemet LeYisrael?
We must know that while moveable items are acquired through the acquisition of land (מְטַלְטְלִין נִקְנִין אַגַּב קַרְקַע), land is not acquired through moveable items. This is an iron rule in real life, that the one who owns the land will ultimately acquire the moveable items. This was our mistake in the Diaspora, that we were satisfied with moveable items, while they, the gentiles, had land. And we see that in the end, they acquired our moveable items through their ownership of the land. We will make this very same mistake in Eretz Yisrael if we are satisfied with building cities and glorious homes that rise up to the heavens, but leave the villages and the land to the Arabs. For in the end, they will acquire everything through their ownership of the Land…
There were those who believed that it was our “mission” to be scattered in exile forever, in order to spiritually influence the nations. But what do we see? We did not influence them, but rather they influenced us! Why? Because we are slaves in exile. This is typical: the Sages always referred to the master as the “rav.” “What a slave acquires, his rav acquires.” “The hand of a slave is like the hand of his rav.” The Sages used this word “rav” to emphasize that the master is not merely his slave’s master but also his “rav,” his teacher. The slave is the student! The slave does not only fear his master, but also possesses the awe of a student before his teacher, an awe similar to the “awe of heaven.” It is true – we do have a mission to fulfill, but it can only be fulfilled in Eretz Yisrael, about which is said, “For from Zion shall come forth Torah” (Yishayahu 2:3).
Do we really need to seek proofs from the written Torah and oral Torah to prove that redeeming the Land from the hands of foreigners is a great mitzvah? The Rishonim tell us that logic, sevara, is also from the Torah. When the Gemara seeks proof for the principle that “Anyone making a claim against another person has the burden of proof (הַמּוֹצִיא מֵחֲבֵרוֹ עָלָיו הָרְאָיָה),” it asks “Do we need verses to tell us this? Is it not common sense that if a man has pain he visits the healer?”… Is there any greater pain than the lack of land beneath our feet? Is there any greater disgrace than the disgrace of “Behold and see our disgrace – our inheritance has been turned over to strangers” (Eicha 5:1). And is there any greater healing for this illness than the mitzvah of redeeming our land?…
If in the past we had to warn, “Know what is above you” (Pirkei Avot 2:1), today we must warn, “Know what is beneath you.” Beneath you – the land beneath your feet, “your land, which strangers devour in your presence” (Yishayahu 1:7). She is yearning, begging, to be redeemed.
If we would want to prove this through the words of the Sages, the sharpest teaching is this: “In all the Land of Israel there is no ground more rocky than at Chevron” (Ketubot 112a). Rashi explains there, “It is a rocky area and not appropriate for fruit trees like the rest of the Land, and therefore it was set aside to bury the dead.” Consider that the Me’arat HaMachpelah is holy not only to Israel but to all of the nations of the world. Nevertheless, when we are involved in planting – plowing at the time of plowing, planting at the time of planting and reaping at the time of reaping – this is more precious to G-d than Chevron! And if only the land in Chevron was capable of being planted, this land would not have been set aside even for the graves of our holy forefathers! Rather, we would have sought out a different place for them, a place incapable of being planted.
These words penetrate deeply and show us how great the mitzvah of settling the Land of Israel truly is!
● From “Ezer el Ami, Darka shel Uma”, 117–119.
Translated by Rabbi Elie Mischel.