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Chapter 3

The Mitzva of Settling the Land

ג - מצוות ישוב הארץ

In this chapter (21)
  1. 1. A National Mitzva
  2. 2. The Individual’s Share in the Collective Mitzva
  3. 3. The Individual Mitzva to Live in the Land
  4. 4. Conquering the Land and Pikuaḥ Nefesh
  5. 5. The State of Israel
  6. 6. The Halakhic Status of the Mitzva
  7. 7. A Dispute Between Spouses
  8. 8. Honoring Parents and Settling the Land
  9. 9. Leaving the Land for an Important Need or a Trip
  10. 10. Love of the Land
  11. 11. The Mitzva to Praise the Land and the Prohibition of Speaking Ill of It
  12. 12. Settling the Land by Planting Trees and Developing the Economy
  13. 13. Gradual Fulfillment of the Mitzva of Settling the Land up to Its Borders
  14. 14. The Southern Borders – Naḥal Mitzrayim and Nehar Mitzrayim
  15. 15. The Northern Borders – Hor Ha-har
  16. 16. The Eastern Border of the Land as a Whole
  17. 17. The Mitzvot Dependent on the Land
  18. 18. The Condition of the Nation Determines the Obligation of the Mitzvot
  19. 19. The Different Borders of the Land Regarding the Obligation of the Mitzvot
  20. 20. The Process of Restoring the Obligation of the Mitzvot
  21. 21. Dividing the Land Among the Tribes
3:1

A National Mitzva

מצווה לאומית

The mitzva of settling the Land consists of two parts: a collective mitzva and an individual mitzva. The collective mitzva is incumbent upon the Jewish people as a whole, and its essence is the conquest and settlement of the Land by the nation of Israel. The individual mitzva obligates each and every Jew to live in the Land and to take part in its settlement. We will first discuss the first part, namely, the mitzva incumbent upon the nation as a whole to conquer the Land, to rule over it, and to settle it. Thus wrote Ramban (Hashmatot to Sefer Ha-mitzvot, positive mitzva 4): “We were commanded to inherit the Land which God, may He be exalted, gave to our forefathers, to Avraham, Yitzḥak, and Yaakov, and not to abandon it to any other nation or to desolation, as it is stated (Bamidbar 33:53-54): ‘You shall take possession of the Land and settle in it, for I have given you the Land to possess it. And you shall inherit the Land…’”

When we examine his words carefully, we find that there are two aspects to the collective mitzva of settling the Land. The first is that the Land be under Jewish sovereignty and not under foreign rule. However, with the conquest of the Land the mitzva is not yet complete, and the second aspect must be added: actually settling the entire Land, so that it does not remain desolate. Clearly, urban settlement and the building of houses alone are not enough, since then parts of the Land would remain desolate. Rather, the mitzva is to make all the desolate areas of the Land flourish, so that the blessing of each place is revealed in the best possible way.

Ramban emphasized that this mitzva applies in all generations: in every generation Israel is commanded to inherit the Land and settle it, and not only at the time of the conquest of the Land after the Exodus from Egypt. However, for many generations we were in a state of ones (circumstances beyond our control), for we were in exile, in body and in spirit, and could not fulfill the mitzva. By God’s kindness, in recent generations God has begun to cause our salvation to sprout, our situation has changed, and we are able to fulfill the mitzva.¹

Notes (1)
  1. These foundations were thoroughly explained, orally and in writing, by our teacher and master Rabbi Tzvi Yehuda Ha-Kohen Kook zt"l, for example in his essay “Le-Mitzvot Ha-aretz” (Le-Netivot Yisrael, Beit El edition, vol. 1, pp. 160-164). He first explained the great importance of the mitzva: it is the only one that overrides a shevut, for the Sages permitted buying a house in Eretz Yisrael from a non-Jew on Shabbat, as explained in Gittin 8b and Bava Kamma 80b, and in Tosafot there. This is a great thing, for because of the severity of Shabbat the Sages made a protective fence and decreed that the blowing of the shofar and the taking of the lulav be cancelled when Rosh Ha-shana or the first day of Sukkot falls on Shabbat, even though these are Torah mitzvot (see also Pesaḥim 92a and Rambam 6:6). Yet for the sake of settling the Land, the Sages set aside their own words and permitted the prohibition of shevut, whose source is an asmakhta; and according to the Semag, amira le-nokhri (instructing a non-Jew) is forbidden by Torah law, see there. He further added, regarding those who cast doubt on the binding force of the mitzva, that concerning what is brought in Tosafot, Ketubot 110b, in the name of R. Ḥayim, that “it does not apply nowadays,” the Maharit (YD 28) and many other great Aḥaronim (see Gilyon Maharsha, Ketubot there, and Ḥatam Sofer, YD 234) already determined that some mistaken student wrote it. In the responsa of the Rivash (387), he wrote that the mitzva of settling Eretz Yisrael is not a mitzva for its time only, but a mitzva that is fulfilled forever, and a mitzva and benefit for all of Israel. The Tashbetz (3:288) wrote the same. The Ratzya added that one cannot separate the two aspects of the mitzva, namely, collective sovereignty and individual residence, and both are permanent mitzvot. He proved that the mitzva is from the Torah, for it is inconceivable that the Sages would permit buying a house in Eretz Yisrael on Shabbat and transgressing a shevut for the sake of a rabbinic mitzva. Furthermore, they said of the mitzva of settling the Land that it is equivalent to all the mitzvot, and it is inconceivable to say this of a rabbinic mitzva (and even after the Destruction the mitzva is a Torah obligation, for these words of the Sages were said after the destruction of the Second Temple). As for the fact that Rambam did not count it among the 613 mitzvot, this is not because it is below the level of the other mitzvot, but because it is above their ordinary level; therefore it is not counted in their detailed enumeration, as he established in his Shorashim to Sefer Ha-mitzvot, that it is not proper to count commands that encompass the entire Torah, and as he wrote in mitzva 153. Similarly, Em Ha-banim Semeiḥa (ch. 3, sections 7-10) wrote at length that Rambam did not count the mitzva of settling the Land because it is an all-encompassing mitzva, as he wrote in his Shorashim; and many others wrote likewise. Some explain that Rambam included the mitzva of settling the Land within other mitzvot, such as “You shall utterly destroy them” (Devarim 20:17; Avnei Nezer, YD 454:6); in the mitzva to recite Birkat Ha-aretz in Birkat Ha-mazon (Rabbi Yisraeli); in the mitzva of appointing a king (Rabbi Lior); in the sanctification of the new month (Mashmia Shalom); in the prohibition of returning to Egypt (Mitzvot Hashem); and in the prohibition of handing over a slave to his master abroad (Rabbi Ezra Batzri). In any event, it is clear that according to Rambam there is a great mitzva to live in the Land and to guard it, as he wrote in Hilkhot Melakhim 5:9-12; Ishut 13:20, that a spouse is compelled to move to the Land; and in Hilkhot Avadim 8:9; and in Hilkhot Avoda Zara 10:4, regarding the prohibition of lo teḥanem, and ibid. 6, regarding the prohibition “they shall not dwell in your land.” Some say that according to Rambam this is a rabbinic mitzva (Rashbash and Pe’at Ha-shulḥan), and according to the Megilat Esther, Rambam holds that there is no mitzva to move to the Land nowadays. However, these positions cannot be reconciled with the words of the Sages and the halakhot mentioned above. See the book Naḥalat Yaakov by Rabbi Zisberg, pp. 201-246. And see below, at the end of the book, Rabbi Rabinovitch’s explanation of Rambam’s view.
    In any event, the prevalent view among the Rishonim and Aḥaronim is that the mitzva of settling the Land applies nowadays, in accordance with the words and definitions of Ramban, as explained in Pitḥei Teshuva, EH 75:6. So too my teacher the Ratzya used to say that not a single posek among the Rishonim and Aḥaronim explicitly disagrees with Ramban in practice. (He also said that not a single halakha is cited in the Shulḥan Arukh in the name of the Megilat Esther.) Thus wrote the Mabit 1:139; Radbaz 2:115; Responsa Me’il Tzedaka 26; Responsa Maharam Alshikh 35, 88; Maharshakh 3:35; Maharit 2:20; Shelah, Sha’ar Ha-otiyot, letter kuf; Ḥida, Yosef Ometz 52; Bei’ur Ha-Gra, YD 267:161; Pe’at Ha-shulḥan 1, sk 14; Responsa Maharam Galanti 67; Ḥatam Sofer, YD 233-234; Mor U-ketzi’a 306; Maharam Schick; Sefer Ḥaredim, ch. 1 of the mitzvot dependent on the Land; Minḥat Ḥinukh (at the end of the book, on the positive mitzvot that Ramban counted, 4); Responsa Penei Moshe 1:5 and 27; Zera Avraham 56; Petaḥ Ha-devir 3:248; Sedei Ha-aretz, EH 11; Responsa Maḥazeh Avraham 2; Rabbi Kalischer in his book Derishat Tziyon; Rabbi Mohilever; Rabbi Yitzḥak Elḥanan of Kovno; the Aderet; Ḥeshek Shlomo (their words are cited in the book Shivat Tziyon); Yeshu’ot Malko, YD 66; the Netziv; Arukh Ha-shulḥan, YD 267:129-130; Nefesh Ḥaya; Ḥafetz Ḥayim in Sefer Ha-mitzvot Ha-katzar, negative mitzva 192; Rabbi Ḥayim Palagi; Or Same’aḥ; Ḥazon Ish, Shevi’it 24:1, and Letter 175; Ḥelkat Yaakov; and others (from Naḥalat Yaakov, p. 67; see there for more sources).
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