The Land's Centrality in Torah

            Those who believe the Torah to be God’s words must feel the obligated to reflect on the centrality of the Land of Israel within the Torah’s verses.

            Rabbi Yeruḥam Yehuda Leib Perlman (known as the “The Great [Torah scholar] of Minsk” [1835 – 1914]) wrote: “The Land is mentioned in almost every portion of the Torah and its mitzvot (emphasis mine). The Torah always glorifies and endears the Land while exalting its status, in every possible expression of endearment.”

            Rabbi Meir Simḥa of Dvinsk (1843 – 1926) phrased the point more categorically: “There is no portion of the Torah in which the Land is not mentioned.”

            Rabbi Kook, the first Chief Rabbi of the Holy Land, noted that the Land is central not only in the written Torah, but in the oral Torah as well, “throughout the entire Torah, written and oral, we see how great is love of the Land, its settlement and building it up.”

            Rabbi Perlman adds that it is likely that our Sages’ intention in commenting that “dwelling in the Land is considered the equivalent of the mitzvot of the Torah” [Midrash Sifrei, Deuteronomy 80:29] is to stress that the Land is indeed one of the central themes of the Torah. Therefore, whether dwelling in the Land is an explicit mitzva of the Torah, as is the opinion of Naḥmanides, or a general mitzva, or even “merely” a rabbinic mitzva, “it is clear that it is a great and potent mitzva which is entwined in our beliefs throughout the generations. In practical terms, it is sufficient to note how our Forefathers, our holy men and prophets loved and respected the Land, and how the Sages of the Mishna and Talmud extolled her virtue and respected and glorified her in word and deed, exalting her importance through great hyperbole.”