Two Loaves, a Measure of Barley and the Land

From the Land upon which you live, you shall bring two loaves of bread as a wave offering. They shall be made of two-tenths (of an ephah) of wheat meal, and shall be baked as leavened bread. They are the first-harvest offering to God.                                                         Leviticus 23:17

The two loaves may be brought only from the Land of Israel.                                                          Mishna Menaḥot 8:1

Rabbi Moshe Zuriel quotes Zohar [Parashat Terumah 239b] which sees the two loaves offered on Shavuot as representing the Torah and symbolizing the two components of Torah: written and oral. Since our Sages taught [Breishit Rabba 16b] “there is no Torah comparable to the Torah of the Land of Israel,” it is understandable that the two loaves, symbolizing Torah, may be brought only from the produce of the Land.

We can add to Rabbi Zuriel’s insight the fact that the essence of Torah is the 613 mitzvot, of which 264 can be fulfilled only within the Land. This includes not only the agricultural mitzvot which are dependent upon the Land, but all mitzvot connected to monarchy, Sanhedrin (supreme religious court), the Temple and many others. Thus, it is clear that a Jew who is sincerely interested in fulfilling mitzvot must live in the Holy Land. This point is reflected in the requirement that the two loaves be brought specifically and exclusively from the wheat of the Land.

Taking the point a step further, Naḥmanides (1194-1270), based upon a Midrash, is of the opinion that observance of mitzvot is unique to the Land, and the purpose of observing mitzvot outside Israel is to be familiar with them when one comes to the Land.

The Gaon of Vilna [Aderet Eliyahu Deuteronomy 4:5] comments that all Torah, even those mitzvot which are not dependent upon the Land, was given only for the sake of the Land.

            The Mishna quoted above states that the Omer (an offering of barley, brought on the second day of Pesaḥ) too may be brought only from the produce of the Land. Perhaps this symbolizes the connection between Pesaḥ and the Land, in accordance with the verse: “And He brought out of there, to bring us to the land He promised our fathers, and give it to us.” [Deuteronomy 6:23] Thus, it is possible that the offerings which mark the beginning and end of the period between Israel’s exodus from Egypt and its receiving Torah at Mount Sinai are both directly connected to the Land of Israel, demonstrating that the purpose of the exodus was to bring Israel to Sinai to receive its national constitution, the Torah, and with that constitution to enter its Land.