And then I will bring you unto the Land, which I have lifted
up my hand to give it to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and I will give it to you as
a heritage (morasha), I am God. Exodus
6:8
The word morasha appears only one other time in the
Torah: “Moses commanded us a law, an inheritance (morasha) of the
congregation of Jacob.” [Deuteronomy 33:4]
Ignoring the different English translation of the word in
the two verses, it is not surprising that both the Torah and the Land are
referred to as morasha.
My father noted that there is a
distinction between morasha (heritage) and yerusha (inheritance):
whereas inheritance (yerusha) is received automatically without effort
on the heir’s part, heritage (morasha) requires the recipient to exert
himself to acquire it. Just as Torah cannot be achieved without the investment
of time and intellectual effort, the Land, though promised to the Children of
Israel, will be truly acquired only by the investment of time and energy to
settle and develop the Land. It is incumbent upon us to busy ourselves with
settling and developing the Land.
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