This Land is My Land
            A Breslov Perspective on the Holy Land

        "In the beginning, God created the Heavens and the earth" (Genesis 1:1). Why does the Torah begin with the story of Creation? For if the nations say to you, "You are thieves, you stole our Land," tell them that God created the entire world and it belongs to Him. To whomever He wishes, He will give it. He gave you [the nations] the Land. But then He took it from you and gave it to us (Rashi, loc. cit.).

        Reb Noson of Breslov asks, "And if I say this to the nations they'll accept it?"

        To put this in contemporary terms, imagine we are sitting in the General Assembly of the United Nations. Yasir Arafat steps up to the podium and demands the area he calls Palestine, saying it belongs to the Palestinian people. The ambassadors of the Arab and Moslem countries: Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Libya, Algeria, Sudan Afghanistan, Iran,
Indonesia, United Arab Emirates, Yemen and all the other peace loving countries of the Middle East stand up and second the motion.

        It is now the turn of the Israeli ambassador, the representative of the Jewish nation, to answer this claim. He stands up and says, "My dear friends! Honored ambassadors and representatives! The Bible says that the Land, at one time, could have been yours. But now, it is ours. God took it from you and gave it to us. And if you don't believe me—look! Rashi says so!"

        Can anyone imagine how big that reply would go over in the UN General Assembly? "Nu," asks Reb Noson, "so what is Rashi telling us?"

        Reb Noson answers that Rashi is not addressing the nations. He is talking to us, the Jewish nation. He is telling us that if we are being battered, slandered and attacked from all sides, then the answer to every question is our faith. Do we believe that God created the world and it is all His? Then if we do, that is our answer—to ourselves. We need only answer to ourselves
the constant barrage of attack. For if we truly believe it, then the nations will see our steadfast faith and understand the answer by themselves, that it is God Who gave us the Land and their claim is worthless (Likutey Halakhot, Shomer Sakhar 4:1)

Copyright © 2001, Breslov Research Institute

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Essay #2 - Parshat Shelach 5761


When God first created the world, He gave possession of the Holy Land to the nation of Kanaan. Afterwards He give the Land to the Jews. If the Land was indeed meant for the Jews, why wasn't it given to them first? For what purpose was it first entrusted to Kanaan and then to the Jews? Or, in contemporary terms, why did God allow the nomadic Palestinians, who came here just a century ago, to settle and thereby stake a claim? Why isn't *our* millennia-long historical connection enough to convince everyone about the truth of the matter?

When God created the world, He did not immediately give the Torah. Twenty-six generations passed before that event. Since Torah is the vitality of the world, with what was the world sustained until it was given? The answer is, it was sustained from God's Treasury of Unearned Gifts. This treasury was made to sustain a person even if he is far from God and has no merit to receive blessing. Had the Torah been given immediately, Torah law would have immediately demanded punishment for each transgression. The early generations were idolaters and committed other terrible sins as well. They would have been totally destroyed (as nearly happened during the Flood). Therefore, God delayed giving the Torah and designed the world with the ability to exist through His Treasury of Unearned Gifts. The Torah and the Holy Land are synonymous, for the main fulfillment of Torah can only take place in the Holy Land.

Kanaan's prior possession of the Holy Land is for the same reason as the delayed giving of the Torah. Had God given the Jews the Holy Land right from the beginning of creation, Torah Law would have demanded punishment for disobeying and they would have had to been immediately expelled. That would have given the Other Side, the forces of evil, possession of the Land. However, since the Land was inhabited initially by idolaters, its sanctity was hidden and sustained through God's treasury. The sanctity of the Land was revealed when the Jews took possession of the Land, in the days of Joshua.

We, today, are also able to take possession of the Land. What is preventing us?  The sanctity that was concealed when the Land was in the hands of Kanaan, was first revealed by our patriarch Abraham. However, it took until Joshua's days for the sanctity to be fully revealed, a matter of some 400 years! The Land's beauty and sanctity still exist, waiting for *us* to reveal them in their fullness. Our ancestors displayed patience enough for us, too. There is no need for us to wait 400 years to do so. What is preventing us?

Our faith, or our lack of it, that the Land is truly ours. It is our Land, because it is God's Promised Land, which He promised to us. If we believe in the promise, we will be fortunate to see Him fulfill it (see "Likutey Halakhot, Milah" 3:2).

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The following question was raised after last week's essay. We will try to answer it at length in the future, God willing. For the moment we provide the following.

The Question:
Precisely which land did God promise us, on what terms, and with what boundaries?  We can't simply say that God gave us all the land we can take "by any means necessary" - for then our dispossession by the same means is presumably just as legitimate...But the idea that God has placed his stamp of  approval, in advance, on whatever borders a series of secular Israeli governments are able to maintain, by military means, with massive U.S. aid, is implausible, to say the least.

The concise answer:
God promised us the Holy Land, the boundaries of which are given in the Bible (Numbers 34:1-15). The Bible also mentions there the land on the east bank of the Jordan River, which was conquered by the tribes of Reuven, Gad and Menasheh. In Genesis (15:18-21) God promises the Land to Abraham. This Land includes not only the territory of the seven Kanaanite nations, but
the land of three nations beyond the Kanaanite border, as well. Today, the land of these three nations comprises the area of Trans-Jordan, southern Syria and parts of Iraq, as is written, "From the brook of Egypt (Wadi el Arish) to the Euphrates River." As Rashi comments, this area will be given to us in the Future. The subject of these borders and their significance is discussed at length in "Mashiach: Who? What? Why? How? Where? And When?," Chapter 25 (Breslov Research Institute, 1994).

At present none of this is applicable. Rebbe Nachman once said, "Mashiach will conquer the entire world without firing a shot!" Thus, terms like "land," "boundaries," "secular governments," "US arms," "military means," are not relevant to the promise. They have no bearing upon Rashi's commentary, "If the nations say you have taken our Land…" (Genesis 1:1). It was, is, and always will be our Land, since it was promised to Abraham. Yet even Abraham did not possess it, for as we see, he had to purchase a burial place for Sarah (Genesis 23)! God gave the Land to the Jews physically only after the Exodus. They were taken from the Land when they were exiled and returned to it during  the Second Commonwealth, the era of the Second Temple. And they were exiled from it again after the destruction of that Temple.

We still await our return. We are presently, thank God, in the Land. But we are still in exile. Mashiach has not yet come. Therefore, the nations will continue to attack us - verbally as well as physically - claiming that the Land is theirs, not ours. From their point of view, the statement "by any means necessary" has complete legitimacy. If we are the stronger, we sit in the land; if they conquer, then they're the boss. However, neither Rashi nor Reb Noson address this issue. They are talking about a Holy Land, the Holy Land that God gave to us, as a Jewish Nation. From when it was promised to Abraham, it has never been out of our possession, even though it has too long been out of reach.

As of this writing the Land still hasn't been put back in our reach either. It WILL BE, definitely, when we strengthen our faith and recognize that the world belongs to God. The Land is His and He will give it to whomever He wants. That will take place when Mashiach conquers the world by means of the "gentle weapon" of prayer, not military might. One need only take account of the terrible tragedies that have befallen us in this year (5761/'00-'01) alone, to understand that the military option has not lived up to its promise. Why? Because, unfortunately, there are many who fail to believe that the Land is really theirs. Why fight for something you don't believe in? This itself proves Reb Noson's point, that it is the lack of our faith that allows the nations to keep pressing for the Land. The proof is in the Torah reading of this week (Parshat Shelach). God promised the Land to the Jews, but the spies went and slandered it. "It's not for us," they said. Truth be told, not only did they blew their mission and status, with their own words and deeds they lost the Land to themselves!

Let's not make that mistake. It is up to us to strengthen our faith and our prayers, so that the truth soon be revealed, that it is our Land, and that we be privileged to see with our own eyes the redemption of Zion and
Jerusalem. This is alluded to in this week's Torah reading (Numbers 15:17-21), "When you come to the Land, take off the *challah* offering...." Reb Noson writes that the word Challah is similar to vayeChaL, "He prayed."
If you want to get to the Land, then pray for it (see "Likutey Halakhot, Pidyon Bekhor" 5:27).

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Essay #3, June 18, 2001, Parshat Korach, 2001

Someone asked about our focus upon Creation and the Land in the first two essays. Quite frankly, Rebbe Nachman left us a legacy that could fill an entire book, and maybe several, just on the topic of the Creation and its application to our possession of the Holy Land. However, our intention is not to focus upon a single idea, but the general topic of what the Jewish connection to the Holy Land is; why it is not just a historical, or emotional connection, but a very real, integral part of all of us.

Obviously, the place to start establishing our connection to the Holy Land is where and when it all began. Thus, the story of Creation is the right place to start with. But even more importantly, if we lack faith in the fact that Creation took place, then what is it that makes our connection to the Holy Land special? How are we to know if the Land is holy? And, of course, what right would we have to say that the Land is ours? Therefore,
the main reason we began these essays with the story of Creation is to establish that we must have faith—in God, in His Torah and the fact that the Land is ours by His decree and only by His decree. Otherwise, anyone
and everyone can stake their claim, which is what they are doing anyway!  Besides, as the Rebbe always teaches, Creation is not history. It is an ongoing process, for each day the world is recreated anew. So we can
take advantage of Creation to stake our rightful claim, today, to our heritage.

This week, however, we will move onto a new topic. What is it about the Holy Land that makes it a central theme of the world wide media? The coverage she receives is far beyond that which her neighbors receive, even though they have greater populations and oil income; more tanks, artillery and aircraft; chemical and biological weapons; and pose quite a serious threat to world stability.

Any position of power—in government, in business, in sports, and so on—becomes central to the focus of the media of that particular topic. For example, there was a time when everyone in high finance would watch what
was happening with GM (General Motors) and they pretty much still do. The “fallout effect” of what happens with GM has such serious implications, that even the lower echelons of finance, even the poor person, is directly or indirectly affected by what takes place in GM. The same is true of the corridors of power, whether in Washington, London, Bonn or Tokyo. The greater the power, the more the media focus upon those corridors.

The Kabbalists equate the Holy Land with Malkhut, Kingship, the power of God that reflects His Majesty and Authority. We thus find that when Joshua entered the Land to conquer it, he battled no fewer than thirty-one kings, who claimed their kingdoms in the Holy Land. This does sound kind of weird. Knowing how large an area the Holy Land is—about the size of New Jersey—where was there room for thirty-one kings to stake out kingdoms?!

Rashi explains that the Land was so desirable that each king in the surrounding area would stake a claim to a plot of the Holy Land and build his own palace there (similar to the rich and famous buying property in the
Hamptons or Palm Beach, Florida; Joshua 7:21). Now why was this? Since the Land itself reflects God’s majesty and power, it became the focus of all the kings of that time. So it has been throughout history. The Holy Land was never far from anyone’s mind and over the centuries many a bloody war has been fought for its possession.

But why would the Holy Land be so attractive? As the Kabbalists explain, Malkhut (the Holy Land) receives its sustenance from a level known as Tiferet (Beauty). This “beauty” is the Torah, the source of the sanctity of
the Land. And Torah itself is also an authority, for she is the law of the Jewish Nation. 

Now, when the Torah is accepted and able to transmit her bounty further, her authority and beauty are transferred to the Land. Those who receive that bounty receive the nobility, majesty, authority and beauty of the Torah, the reflected powers of God. Rebbe Nachman takes this a step further and teaches that when the people have it right - when Torah is the accepted authority and therefore the power to direct the nation is vested in those whose leadership reflects God’s Malkhut - then the Land itself, having received the blessings transmitted from Above, not only has the beauty and power to give forth incredible physical crops, but it also contributes to the spiritual, emotional and financial growth and  development of its inhabitants. The people who dwell there will be people of great stature and nobility (Likutey Moharan I, 61:1-3). 

This is as the Talmud teaches, "The Land is true to its rightful owners. When its rightful inhabitants dwell in the Land, then the Land will give forth its fruit. If not, not" (Ketuvot 112a). One need only compare the produce grown by the Land’s rightful owners to that grown by those who claim ownership. And, as Rebbe Nachman teaches, the "fruit of the Land" is also its people.

The Talmud teaches, "Even if one cannot see, his mazal (fortune) sees" (Megillah 3a). Even if the person cannot see exactly what’s really happening, his mazal and intellect tell him that something unique is happening. This is why the Land is so attractive, why everyone wants “their share” of it. This is why it is such a focal point for the media, for the world, why everyone sticks their nose in its affairs. For the Land is attractive and holds its attractions, it holds the key to power, majesty and nobility. It reflects the awesome might of  “GM”—God’s Malkhut.

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