Attitude: Torah and the Land

And it shall be when God will bring you into the land of the Canaanite, as He swore unto you and to your fathers, and shall give it  to you.                                      Exodus 13:11  “And give it to you”: It shall be in your eyes as if the Land were given today, and not as an inheritance from your fathers.       Rashi

Rashi makes a similar comment in connection with Torah: “that the words of Torah shall be new to you as if they were given today.” [Exodus 19:1]

Rabbi Yeruḥam Lebovitz writes that the attitude towards Torah as something received in a contemporary manner seems more understandable than applying that attitude towards the Land.

Rabbi Lebovitz notes Rashi’s subtle addition in his comment on the Promised Land: “and not as an inheritance from your fathers,” and explains that there is a tendency to understand the phrase “shall be new to you” on the level of appreciating words of Torah as something new, rather than routine. However, there is an additional level of understanding. While it is clear that if not for our Forefathers, the nation of Israel would not merit its Land, nonetheless, we must merit the Land ourselves. Every Jew, in every generation, must strive to merit personally receiving the Land. We cannot come to the Land merely as if entering our patrimony. Just as our Forefathers did not receive the Land without significant effort on their part, so too we must invest efforts in order to receive the Land. As it is necessary to work diligently in order to receive Torah, so it is with the Land.

            There is a major difference in one’s attitude towards things he receives only as the result of significant effort, versus that which he receives without any effort. It is our striving to merit the Land which will convey the attitude that “it was given today.”