What makes the land holy?

Torah study

RABBI FRED GREENE
D'varim, Deuteronomy 1:1-3:22

• Moses begins his final words of instruction to the Children of Israel.
  
• Moses reiterates that the Land of Israel was allocated to the Israelite tribes.
  
• God refuses to allow Moses to enter the Promised Land.
  

Then Adonai said to me: You will be passing through the territory of your kinsmen, the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir. ... I will not give you of their land so much as a foot can tread on; I have given the hill country of Seir as a possession to Esau. (Deuteronomy 2:4-5)

• With regard to the commandment to conquer the Land of Israel, the obligation is imposed on us and we are enjoined to enter a state of war in order to fulfill it. ... This is a special precept and as such is on par with all the rest of the Torah. (Zvi Yehuda Kook)
  
• The fact that "you were strangers in the land of Egypt" is no adequate motivation for "not oppressing or vexing the stranger." (Exodus 22:20) On the contrary, how often do we find that the slave or exile who gains power ... finds compensation for his former sufferings by giving free reign to his tyrannical instincts when he has the opportunity to lord it over others? (Nehama Leibowitz)
  
• The Land of Israel has been sanctified by the words of the prophets, by the suffering of a whole people, by the tears and prayers of thousands of years. ... The State of Israel is not only a place of refuge for the survivors of the holocaust (sic) but also a tabernacle for the rebirth of faith and justice, for the renewal of souls, for the cultivation of knowledge of the words of the Divine. (A. J. Heschel)
  
• The State of Israel will be open for Jewish immigration and for the Ingathering of the Exiles. ... (It) will ensure complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion, race, or sex ... (It) will safeguard the holy places of all religions. (Israel's Declaration of Independence, May 14, 1948)
  

1. What are the differences among the views expressed by Zvi Yehuda Kook, Nehama Leibowitz and A. J. Heschel?
   
2. What kind of Jewish state did the founders of Israel envision?
   

Those of us who are committed to a secure, prosperous Israel ache each day that the conflict with the Palestinians persists. Despite the anger we might feel toward the Palestinians, this Torah portion reminds us that God did indeed promise land to other nations in the region beside Israel.

While we stand in solidarity with Israel, we must resist the temptation to demonize the Palestinian people en masse because of the sins of their leaders and the terrorists who live among them.

Our focal passage illustrates God's desire for integrity and peace among peoples. Israel was given a land to build and to make holy, but only when God's presence lies therein.

This portion reminds us that no matter what the original boundaries of Eretz Yisrael (The Land of Israel) were, Israel needs to be righteous; and her neighbors, despite their conflicts with Israel, are entitled to their own land.