The Goodness of the Land and Her Nation

And there was a famine in the Land, aside from the first famine that had been in the days of Abraham, and Isaac went to Abimelech the king of the Philistines, to Gerar.            Genesis 26:1

Rabbi Shimshon Raphael Hirsch notes that “Since the time the Land had been promised to Abraham for his ultimate possession, we see it repeatedly visited by famine” (indeed, the Land suffered famine during the life of each of the Forefathers), and this fact conveys the irony that this Land is destined to “overflow with milk and honey.”

However, explains Rabbi Hirsch:

The blossoming of this Land is not to be dependent merely on the work of man and the favor of nature, but in the first place, on the morality and integrity of its inhabitants. Just as the nation who were to possess it were by a nature a “hard,” obstinate, intractable people, who through the power of Torah became the People of God, so was their Land, in itself hard and unfruitful, subject to famine, and just through the power of that selfsame Torah was to become a Land of abundance and blessing.

That is, the Promised Land as “a Land flowing milk and honey” is not an inherent trait, but is dependent upon the behavior of her sons within her.

Rabbi Hirsch consistently follows this approach. In his commentary on Exodus 3:8, the first time the Torah refers to Israel as a Land flowing milk and honey, Rabbi Hirsch writes:

“Flowing milk and honey” does not seem to describe a land that develops this abundance in accordance with natural fertility, but a land that does so under special conditions (emphasis in the original). The Land of Israel … can blossom and flourish only when “The eyes of the Lord your God are always upon it, from the beginning of the year to the end of the year.” [Deuteronomy 11:12] It is a Land which makes it necessary for its inhabitants to be good.

In truth, Or haḤayyim preceded Rabbi Hirsch (by about a century) when he wrote [commentary on Leviticus 20:24] that when Israel will inherit its Land, “(God) will make it flow milk and honey at a greater level than it had before.” As well, in times of the Land’s destruction, when her sons are not within her, the Land “will no longer flow milk and honey, as those who know the Land report in our times, through our sins.”

That is, the quality of the Land as flowing milk and honey depends upon the presence of her children within her, as per the approach of Rabbi Hirsch. (We can note an apparent difference in nuance between the approach of Or haḤayyim that the Land “will flow milk and honey at a greater level than it had before” and that of Rabbi Hirsch that the Land does not inherently flow milk and honey. However, this does not alter the essential point.)

            Rabbi Hirsch’s contemporary, Malbim [commentary on Exodus 3:8], also writes  that the Land will flow milk and honey with the arrival within her of the Israelites, while the Land did not flow milk and honey when the Canaanites controlled her.

            Meshech Ḥochma [commentary on Deuteronomy 6:3], too, presents the same concept as Rabbi Hirsch and writes:

The blessing of the Land of Israel is dependent upon the choices made by her sons, when they listen to God’s voice, then the Land will flow milk and honey.

Based upon this approach, the Israelites’ presence within the Land is the basic condition for the Land flowing milk and honey. However, it is not a sufficient condition. The second necessary condition is fulfilling mitzvot within her.

The famine in Abraham’s days was one of the ten Divine tests he had to face. Midrash Aggada on our verse teaches that the famine in Isaac’s days was a test for him, and as Abraham succeeded in his test, so too Isaac succeeded in his:

This famine was to test Isaac to determine if he would complain or not, and he withstood the test and did not complain.

Naḥmanides’ approach, followed by most, if not all, commentators, is that the experiences of the Forefathers are signs for their children. Thus, the contemporary lesson of the famines is that we, the descendants of Abraham and Isaac, must understand that the goodness of the Land of Israel (not only on the agricultural level, but on all levels) depends upon us, upon our presence within the Land and our fulfillment of mitzvot within her.

This  Dvar Torah is dedicated to Gloria’s memory. Gloria understood the connection between the nation of Israel and its Land and she both benefitted from and contributed to the goodness of the Land.