Dwelling Securely Within the Land

… You will eat your bread to the full, and you will dwell safely in your Land.                         Leviticus 26:5

In your Land you will dwell securely, but you will not dwell securely outside of her.   Midrash Torat Kohanim

Or haḤayyim adds an explanatory comment: the verse stresses “in your Land” to indicate that the entire world will recognize that it is your (Israel’s) Land, and strangers (i.e. gentiles) have no proprietary part of it, thus you will have nothing to fear, and will dwell safely.

It is perfectly obvious that the sine qua non for the nations to recognize that the Land belongs exclusively to Israel is Israel’s own recognition of that fact.

Torah Temima (Rabbi Baruch Epstein 1860–1942) elucidates the Midrash thus: when you are outside the Land, even when you fulfill the Divine will you will not dwell securely. Since the Land is appropriate for sanctity and Divine inspiration, the blessing can take effect only when Israel is within its Land, just as a flower can survive in fertile land, but not if it is uprooted from its proper place. The Midrash infers its comment from the apparently superfluous word “b’Artzechem” (in your Land), for the entire Torah depends upon Israel entering the Land and its being therein.