The Land of Israel
Why live in Israel?
The land of Israel is truly extraordinary in ways that defy the perceptions of our limited human minds.
The Torah is absolutely replete with praise for the land of Israel and details about its uniquely positive attributes.
For brevity, we’ll focus on just a small fraction of the land’s special glory.
More Revealed Divine Providence
Just as the Creator willed there to be processes by which material things move and interact (the so-called “laws of nature”), He willed that there by processes by which creations are governed. These processes begin in lofty upper dimensions of existence to which we do not have access to and then descend innumerable levels until their impact is felt in our world.
In the popular imagination, an “angel” looks like a person with wings flying around in white clothing. The truth is far different.
To avoid the false popular connotations of the word “angel,” let us use the Torah’s word: malach. A malach is a spiritual entity with instructions from the Creator to perform certain a mission or task.
Each land or nation is under the supervision of a particular malach, and that malach operates at the command and behest of the Creator with the resources the Creator provides it.
While the Creator may choose to circumvent the malach’s supervision and directly interface with creations, usually things simply operate as per the malach’s prerogative.
The land of Israel is different. As the Torah says (Devarim 11:10-12):
For the land to which you are coming to inherit it is not like the land of Egypt which you left, where you plant your seeds and it is watered at your feet like a vegetable garden. For the land to which you are crossing to inherit it is a land of mountains and valleys that receives water via rain. A land whose welfare HaShem your G-d seeks; the eyes of HaShem your G-d are upon it from the beginning of the year until the end of the year.”
The land of Egypt is watered by the Nile river. The Nile river basin is predictably watered by the river that HaShem is creating, directing, and sustaining at every moment. Therefore, people in Egypt did not have to worry much about having enough water for their crops.
Whether they behaved rightly or wrongly, the Egyptians pretty much had the water they needed for agriculture.
However, the land of Israel relies upon rain. And HaShem only grants rain in response to the merit (or lack thereof) of the people living there.
Thus, the Jewish people receive direct feedback from HaShem via rain. Good behavior equals plentiful rain. Bad behavior equals sparse rain. And prayer becomes central as we request of the Omnipresent to bless us with rain.
Furthermore, “the eyes of HaShem your G-d are upon [the land] from the beginning of the year until the end of the year.”
That is to say, the land enjoys direct Divine Providence and Intervention without a malach getting in the way.
HaShem is much more directly involved in what happens for each individual creation in Israel than with creations in other lands.
People living in Israel can often recount times when HaShem directly intervened for them in the most unusual ways.
The miracles that HaShem does for us in war are great examples of the special revelation His will in the land.
In recent times, we have seen incredible examples of vivid divine intervention with the foiling of literally hundreds of terrorist attacks, with very few terrorist attacks succeeding. For example, the Foreign Ministry of Israel reports that in September 2022 alone, 254 terrorist attacks occurred. Two people were killed and 14 were injured. While nothing can take away from the tragedy of each death and injury, we have to have tremendous gratitude when we consider how many more people could have died, and how many terrorist attacks got stopped.
Compare that to the United States. While the definition of “mass shooting” is subject to debate, the Gun Violence Archive counted 648 mass shootings in 2022.
Divine providence manifests not only in the foiling of the plots of our evil foes, but also in the much less dramatic flow of daily life.
For example, you may realize that you need to make a particular purchase and find that what you need just so happens to be on sale for a truly limited time only.
Or, you may receive a bonus or commission just when you needed it most.
Or, the perfect business deal may come your way.
A nice example was the creation of this website. I had been planning to make this website for at least two years. When I finally got around to looking for a domain, it happened to be that this domain (bayitsrael.com) was available on auction. And nobody was bidding for it! I secured this domain for the minimum reserve price.
Many more examples can be found in the retelling of how my wife and I bought our apartment in Israel.
While divine providence is active everywhere in the world, it is much more commonly experienced here in Israel.
Divine Connection
There is a mitzvah (“commandment”) for Jews to live in Israel. What this means is that at every moment you live in the land, you perform a sacred act of divine connection that:
- Is Eternal
- Connects you to the Infinite
- Envelopes you in divine light
- Sanctifies you and uplifts you
- Yields great reward in Olam HaNeshamot and Olam Haba (the World of Souls and the World to come… phases that occur after death)
- Draws down bounty and blessing to all Jews and the entire world
When you perform the will of HaShem by doing a mitzvah, you become like an extension of HaShem, just as your limbs are an extension of you doing your will as you direct it to walk/talk/move etc.
Not only is your presence in Israel a mitzvah, but anything you do to live here (including the work you do) becomes part of your mitzvah. Even mundane acts become eternal merits.
There’s More!
Entire books have been written on the topic of the greatness of living in the land of Israel, but I will suffice with a quick list of other benefits of living here:
- Living here atones for sins
- Living here gives one the merit of inheriting the World to Come
- Prayers are more readily answered in Israel
- In Israel it is easier to attain Ruach HaKodesh (divine inspiration) and Nevuah (prophecy, which will soon return to the Jewish people)
- Living here helps one grow spiritually
The sages teach that every time you walk “dalet amot” (four cubits – approximately 48 cm) in the land of Israel, you perform a mitzvah. A person asked Rav Chaim Kanievsky if this applies while driving, and he said “yes.” That means if you drive for one kilometer, you perform 2,083.33 mitzvot! Each mitzvah comes with incredible eternal reward. Think about that the next time you ponder high car prices in Israel.
“… With These Houses and Apartments!”
I will conclude with the wisdom of the wonderous spiritual master, Rebbe Nachman of Breslov, as translated/recorded in the book “Crossing the Narrow Bridge” by Rabbi Chaim Kramer of the Breslov Research Institute (P 374-375):
Rebbe Nachman said: “Whoever wants to be a Jew – which means going from level to level – can only succeed through the Land of Israel. When he wins the battle and arrives in the Holy Land, he is then called a might warrior.” … [Later, his student] Reb Nosson asked him, “What did you mean when you said that the Land of Israel is so great that this is the main victory?” The Rebbe answered, “I mean this Israel – with these houses and apartments!”
He wanted every Jew who wished to be a true Jew, to go to the Land of Israel. Even if one encounters many difficulties, many great and seemingly insurmountable barriers, one must make every effort to get there. Rebbe Nachman then talked about the tremendous obstacles and great dangers he faced during his pilgrimage to the Holy Land.”
Rebbe Nachman taught that when a person sets out to do accomplish something of spiritual import, he often faces all kinds of obstacles and difficulties. The purpose of these obstacles and difficulties is to increase one’s resolve to obtain that which he seeks. For the greater something is, the more ratzon (will) one must have in order to be able to receive it. Thus, the obstacles are there in order to help you.
And so, when one considers the great obstacles involved in buying a home in Israel, one must realize that without the obstacles, one would not truly be able to acquire that which he seeks.
To quote “Crossing the Narrow Bridge” further (P 387):
A person might step off the plane in Israel expecting to be inundated by a rush of spirituality. Rebbe Nachman taught differently. “From the way the Torah extolls the virtue of the Land of Israel, we might conclude that the Holly Land is not part of this physical world at all.” Rebbe Nachman said that this is not so. “The Holy Land, as great as it truly is, is still part of the physical reality… Even so, the level of its spiritual greatness is beyond imagination. Its holiness is the very epitome of holiness” (Likutey Moharan II, 116).