Israel's Greatest Guide Book

This Dvar Torah is an applied example of the use of the greatest guide book ever written for Israel.

And the western border you shall have the Great Sea for a border, and this shall be your west border.                 Numbers 34:6

The Torah presents the obvious geographical fact that the Great Sea, the Mediterranean, constitutes the western boundary of the Holy Land.

Our classical commentaries explain that the greatness of the Mediterranean lies not in the fact that it is the largest body of water connected to the Land, but in the fact that it constitutes the Land’s boundary.

The question arises: halachically, how far do Israel’s territorial waters extend?  The Talmud [Gittin 8a] presents a difference of opinion on this matter: The Rabbis say that we draw a line connecting the northwestern (the Mountains of Amnon) and southwestern (the Brook of Egypt) land borders of Israel, whatever is east of that line is part of the Holy Land, west of the line is outside Israel. Rabbi Yehuda (who consistently takes a stronger pro- Land of Israel approach than the Rabbis) says we draw two parallel lines west from the land borders to the ocean , whatever is between those lines  is part of the Land.

Interestingly, if we apply Rabbi Yehuda’s approach to the maximalist opinion as to the location of the northwestern border of the Land, the conclusion will be that the island of Cyprus is part of the Land of Israel. Thus, when the British brought ma’apilim (“illegal” immigrants) to detention camps in Cyprus, they brought them to Israel!