Speaking of the Land

Rabbi Yoḥanan said: Why did that evil man (Sennacherib) merit the title of the great and noble Asenapper? [Ezra 4:10] Because he did not speak disparagingly of the Land of Israel, as it is written [II Kings 18:32], "Until I come and take you away to a land like your own land..." But Israel spoke with contempt about the Land of Israel.                           Babylonian Talmud, Sanhedrin 94a

Rabbi Yoḥanan teaches that despite his being an evil person, Sennacherib (the Assyrian king who captured all of the Kingdom of Judah except Jerusalem [II Kings 18:13ff]) merited the tremendous respect of the Bible calling him “great and noble” as reward for refraining from speaking ill of the Holy Land. In this way, Sennacherib stands in stark contrast to the generation of the Exodus, which accepted the negative report of the ten spies.

Indeed, the Talmud contrasts Sennacherib and the Israelites, who “spoke with contempt about the Land of Israel” (though the Talmud refers to the ten lost tribes, not to the sin of the spies, nonetheless, the generation of the Exodus too spoke ill of the Land).

Rashi [Sanhedrin 110b] suggests that speaking ill of the Land is the reason the ten tribes lost their share of the World to Come.

Netziv comments that the spies did not lie, and their entire report was factual, yet speaking ill of the Land is forbidden absolutely, even when truth is spoken!

Based upon the Talmudic comment quoted above, Rabbi Simcha BenZion Rabinowitz writes, as a practical halacha:

It is forbidden denigrate the Land of Israel, even concerning its trees and stones, and it is forbidden to say of any other land that it is better than the Land of Israel. [Piskei Teshuvot 156:23:10]

Rabbi Moshe Zuriel [Drishat Ẓiyyon, pp.90-91] notes that the verse quoted by the Talmud seems to indicate that the ten tribes did not assert that other lands are better than the Holy Land, merely that there are lands which are its equal. As such, it seems strange that Sennacherib was rewarded for such comments while the ten tribes were severely punished.

Rabbi Zuriel explains the difference: as Jews, the ten tribes may not consider any other land to be the equal of the Holy Land, but must accept that all other lands are inferior. Based upon his analysis, Rabbi Zuriel adds two points to Rabbi Rabinowitz’ comments (albeit, not as a halachic decision):

¬ it is a mitzva to speak in praise of the Land

¬ one may not consider any other land to be the equal of our Land, all the more so, one may not praise any other land as being better.