Intent in Living in the Land

          

And you shall take possession of the Land and live in it, since it is to you that I have given the Land to possess it.                                         Numbers 33:53

            This verse is the source for Naḥmanides’ determination that there is an active mitzva to settle the Land of Israel. [Criticism of Maimonides’ Sefer haMitzvot, positive commandments, number 4]

            Sefer Ḥaredim (Rabbi Elazar Azikri, 1533 – 1600) quotes Naḥmanides’ opinion and adds:

Every moment that one is in the Land of Israel he fulfills this positive mitzva, and it is well-known that the essential reward for performing a mitzva is when one fulfills it joyously. Therefore, one who dwells in Israel must be perpetually joyful with this perpetual mitzva.

            We may add the comment of Mishna Berura [60:1] that, ab initio, the act of performing a mitzva is insufficient, it is necessary as well to intend to fulfill the mitzva. Based upon this approach, we who live in Israel are obligated to be aware of the fact that our dwelling in the Land is a mitzva.

            In his book Naḥalat haShem, Rabbi Binyamin Leon writes:

Ab initio, fulfilling mitzvot requires intent, therefore, initially; one who dwells in the Land must have the intent of being in the Land in fulfillment of the mitzva. However, if one is aware, on any level, that he is in Israel specifically because it is the Holy Land, he thereby fulfills this mitzva. On the other hand, one who dwells in Israel with no thought whatsoever of the mitzva … apparently has lost the mitzva. Nonetheless, one who lives in the Land, even without fulfilling the mitzva has achieved a lofty level.

            Therefore, I have decided, bli neder, and with God’s help, to recite the following on a daily basis, until one hundred and twenty years:

May it be Your will, our God and the God of our fathers, that You help me to honor Your holy name and cherish the Land of Israel with all my heart, at all times, at every hour and every moment, to fulfill the mitzva of dwelling in the Land of Israel, as the verse states: “and settle in it” [Numbers 33:53]. May I be perpetually joyful in dwelling within the Land, with great longing for her, as one longs for his mother. [Prayer for Those Who Dwell in Israel, Shela (Rabbi Yeshaya haLevi Horowitz 1558 – 1630)]

May my dwelling in the Holy Land be for the sake of loving and yearning for the Holy Land which God chose … with my thoughts centered on the elevated traits of the Land, and not for any tangible benefit. [Or haḤayyim, commentary on Leviticus 19:23]

I express my appreciation that I have been able to enter the place which Moses and Aaron could not enter. [Based on Babylonian Talmud, Ketubot 112a]

Help me to avoid defiling Your palace with my actions. [Sefer Ḥaredim: Those who come to the Land of Israel and do not pay attention to the fact that they are in the palace of the King, and sin there, of them the verse says “You have defiled My Land and made My inheritance detestable.” (Jeremiah 2:7)]

As You have given me the privilege of dwelling in the Land of the Living [Isaiah 53:8, et al.; translated by Yonatan ben Uziel as the Land of Israel] so too grant me the privilege of inheriting the World to Come. [Based on Babylonian Talmud, Pesaḥim 113a]