YOU SHALL NOT MAKE
IDOLS FOR YOURSELVES, OR SET UP FOR YOURSELVES CARVED IMAGES OR PILLARS, OR
PLACE FIGURED STONES IN YOUR LAND TO WORSHIP UPON, FOR I THE LORD AM YOUR GOD.
YOU SHALL KEEP MY SABBATHS AND VENERATE MY SANCTUARY, MINE, THE LORD'S.

 (Vayikra 26:1-2)

THE
SANCTITY OF LIFE IS BOUND UP WITH

COVENANT
AND REMEMBRANCE, NOT WITH DEAD STONES

"Venerate My sanctuary" – this refers to the Jubilee year, for it is written
"It shall be holy for you."

 (Ibn Ezra, ibid., ibid.)

The sign which reminds us of My supervision everywhere, is "my
Sabbaths"; the place which sanctifies all your life, in order that my
Holy Presence dwell among you, is "My sanctuary" – The
Sanctuary of My Torah. Therefore, "You shall keep my Sabbaths and
venerate My sanctuary, Mine, the Lord's." Not by statue nor by
monument; God's supervision is symbolized by the Sabbaths of the Lord. The
Sabbaths of the Lord are the Sabbath of Creation and the Sabbaths of the Land –
Shabbat, Shmitta, and Jubilee. By teaching the idea of God, they shape all our
lives as human beings and as citizens; they demonstrate our submission to God
by major acts of offering and thanks. The Sabbaths of the Lord – in a broader
context – include the festivals of the Lord. They are times of coming together,
in order to remind us of God's supervision. All these Sabbaths of the Lord are
a sign for us, covenant and appointed time; they are not hewn from lifeless
stone, but they are signs of recognition, covenant and remembrance,
woven from the living materials of our actions. They remind us of the
supervision of the Lord – not by virtue of themselves – but through their
shaping influence upon our behavior. By submission and sanctification of all
our lives, they join us and appoint us to the Lord.

 (Rabbi
Shimshon Rafael Hirsch, ibid., ibid.)

Parashat Behar: Leviticus 25:23

"And the land shall not be sold in perpetuity; for the land is
Mine; for you are strangers and residents with Me."

The Land of Israel: Mine or Thine?

Shira Leibowitz Schmidt
and Tirza Leibowitz

Shira Leibowitz Schmidt: The complexity of our
relationship to the Land of Israel, Eretz Yisrael, has elicited much
discussion over the generations. Some insight into how past and current
commentators understood this relationship can be gained by looking at the terse
comments of Rabbi Ovadia Seforno (Italy,1475-1550) on a verse from Parashat
Behar. Seforno's comments form the basis of an intriguing discussion by Rabbi
Elazar Menachem Mann Shach, z"l. who passed away in Bene Brak on 16
Cheshvan in the fall of this year. He stood at the helm of the traditional
yeshiva world in Israel for the past few decades.

Seforno's comments revolve around the verse
in Behar that concludes a section of the laws of the Sabbatical and Jubilee
years. The verse we will be analyzing seems to contradict a verse that appears
in Psalms 115 that is part of the Hallel. Juxtaposing the two verses makes it
easier to see the contradiction.

(a)    
Leviticus 25:23: "The land [ha-aretz] shall not be
sold in perpetuity; for the land [ha-aretz] is Mine; for you are
strangers and residents with Me."

(b)   
Psalm 115:16: "The heavens are the heavens of the L-rd;
but He has given the land [ha-aretz] to mankind."

 According to the verse in our Parashah from Leviticus, the
land is Mine, i.e. G-d's, while according to the Psalm, it is mankind's. Is the
land G-d's or mankind's? Is it Mine or thine?

Seforno addresses this question by first
differentiating between the two different meanings of the word "ha-aretz".
That word appears twice in our verse (25:23) from Behar. The first time it
appears, it refers back to the cultivated lands [hakarka haneevad] about
which we were just instructed in Behar vis-a-vis the Sabbatical and Jubilee
years: "The land shall not be sold in perpetuity." However, the
second time the word "ha-aretz" appears in our verse
["for the land is Mine"] Seforno comments that this is a reference to
the Land of Israel [which he terms Galil, probably referring to the
parts of the Land of Israel west of the Jordan river.] "This is G-d's
Land" comments Seforno. But this raises another problem: If the Land of
Israel "belongs" to G-d, how can we understand the statement from
Psalms that "He has given the land to mankind"?

Seforno resolves the seeming contradiction
between the phrase in our Parashah "The land is Mine" and the
phrase from the Psalm "He has given the land to mankind." Seforno
explains that the Land of Israel is not included in the generalization in the
Psalm that the land was given to mankind. While other countries were allocated
to various nations of the world, the Land of Israel was not given to Jews in
perpetuity, and we are only "strangers and residents" [gerim
v'toshavim], two terms that appear in the end of the verse. G-d is the true
Owner of the Land. [See annotated Seforno published by Mosad HaRav Kook].

It is this explanation of Seforno that Rav
Shach elaborated on in a discussion of Parashat Behar nine years ago at the
Ponovitz Yeshiva in Iyyar (5753/1993) [See the collection of R. Shach's works,
edited by I. Bergman, Sefer MeRosh Amana]. "The Seforno explains
that Eretz Yisrael is not included in the passage in Psalms 'the land
was given to mankind' because the latter verse refers to the divisions of the
lands of the earth among various nations, with the exception of the Land of
Israel, which remains in perpetuity the possession of G-d."

R. Shach was aware that this view gives rise
to another contradiction which he refers to in his continuation. Since the Land
of Israel was given to Abraham, it is our inheritance. So how
could Seforno say that the Land of Israel is an exception to the rule? For
example the following statements in Genesis seem to belie what Seforno is
saying. G-d promises Abraham, "Unto your seed I will give this Land"
(12:7) and Jacob recalls the promise to him "I will give this Land to your
seed after you for an everlasting possession." (48:4). Rav Shach
recognized this paradox, and continued, "It seems there is a puzzling
contradiction because the Land was given to our forefather Abraham and we
inherited it from our ancestors. Since this is so, why does Seforno say that
the verse [from Psalms] does not refer to the giving of the Land of Israel to
the people of Israel?"

Rav Shach answered the question he raised by
pointing out that "our ownership of the Land of Israel is not
absolute because it does not belong to us the way the other lands belong to
their nations." In contrast, "our hold on the Land of Israel is
conditional and depends upon our behavior. It is indeed our inheritance, but
our right to actualize our ownership is gained solely observing Torah and
mitzvot. Holding on to the Land by conquering it with force alone does not
guarantee that we will remain here." In other words, France belongs to
French people, Thailand belongs to Thais, the Tahiti Islands to Tahitians. But
our relationship to our Land is different, it is conditional.

To
buttress his contention, R. Shach cited the verses that we say daily in the
Shema, "If you will obey… then your days will be lengthened on the
Land… " but, Heaven forbid, "If your heart be seduced and you turn
away… you will swiftly be banished from the good Land that the L-rd gives
you." (Deut. 11)

This issue of the temporary versus the
permanent was a theme R. Shach often returned to, in the context of the
conditional nature our relationship to the Land. He emphasized the transitory
nature of our residency here (or indeed anywhere), and the fact that our right
to the Land depends upon mitzvah observance and Torah study. He was well aware
of contemporary geo-political issues and was outspoken in his warnings about
being overconfident in our dealings with our neighbors. For example, at a
dedication of the Bet HaMidrash of Vishnitz he addressed this issue (in
Sivan 5743). The temporary and conditional aspect of our claim to the Land was
highlighted in his elaboration of the first verse of Genesis 18, Parashat
Yayera, where Abraham is described as sitting at the entrance to his
tent. [v'hu yoshev petah ha-ohel]. R. Shach pointed out that
wherever we have been in the Diaspora, we have been on edge, "at the
entrance to the tent", bags packed, and ready, if necessary, to flee. We
were never really "inside" (i.e.permanently secure in) the tent
because we feared being subject to rejection and ejection. We have been transients.

At this point R. Shach referred to the
examples of the expulsion from Spain and the Holocaust and based his analysis
on the explanation of R. Meir Simha Hacohen of Dvinsk, the Or Sameah, in his
Torah commentary Meshekh Hokhma). The Meshekh Hokhma wrote a
lengthy explanation of the verse from Parashat Behukotai: "When they are
in the land of enemies, I will not reject them, neither will I abhor them, to
destroy them utterly and to break My covenant with them" (Lev.26:44). In
elaborating on the cycle of Jews settling in a Diaspora country, becoming
comfortable, then being rudely and cruelly ejected, R. Meir Simha Hacohen wrote
that Jews "mistakenly think that Berlin is Jerusalem." (Note: R. Meir
Simha died in 1926!!)

Rav Shach then applied this observation of R.
Meir Simha to our situation. "Here, too, in the Land of Israel, we are not
yet at home!" This statement sounds daring, but must be understood in
terms of his metaphysical conception of the ephemeral versus the permanent.

What he was referring to is that we are still
awaiting redemption, geulah. "While we are surrounded by people who
hate us and want to destroy us, Jewish victims are dying daily" (this was
in 1983!). "We have not yet reached a state of permanence in our Land,
while we are surrounded by enemies. The only true feeling of permanence is when
we are in the bet hamidrash, in the study hall. Establishing additional
settlements in the Shomron will not guarantee our existence, and will not add
to our security. The opposite is true, it will only increase the hatred of our
enemies."

In the discussion of the verse from Behar,
"the Land is Mine", R. Shach exphasized our special kind of
"ownership" of the Land of Israel, a conditional ownership. It may be
that the Land is promised to us as an "everlasting possession", but
only on the condition that we keep our part of the covenant. Then in his
discussion of Abraham's "sitting at the entrance to the tent", he
elaborated on a different aspect of this conditional, dependent relationship:
the danger in the illusion that we have already come home and settled
permanently here. He warned against exaggerated over-confidence in military
solutions and against aggravating our geopolitical situation by antagonizing
the neighboring peoples.

Nevertheless he was cautiously optimistic.
Had he not been hopeful and committed to rebuilding his life here in the Land
of Israel, he would not have chosen to come here when he fled Europe in 1939.
At that time it was feared that Rommel and the German army would conquer
Mandatory Palestine. Despite warnings by colleagues not to come here, and
entreaties to go to the United States, he insisted on coming on aliyah to Eretz
Yisrael. His discussion of the verse in Behar "for the Land is
Mine" closed on a hopeful note, by pointing out that if our possession of
the Land of Israel is dependent on our commitment to Torah observance and
especially to study, "then we have a heavy responsibility towards klal
Yisrael, to the people of Israel. But even a small minority, if it is
dedicated to Torah and mitzvot, can save the entire people."

Our possession of the Land of Israel is
eternal in its potential; but we have to actualize this potential through
mitzvot, and not through might alone.

Tirza Leibowitz: One cannot ignore the underlying
non-Zionist posture of Rav Shach's words. Completely absent is any recognition
of the hold we presently have on the Land – partial and tenuous as it may be –
that was achieved by the Zionist enterprise, i.e. political and military
endeavors that resulted in our achieving national Jewish sovereignty in the
Land of Israel. Rav Shach returns us to the limited status familiar to us from
centuries in galut, when he says (further on in his essay) "a truly
Jewish understanding of our situation would acknowledge that we have no permanence
here in our Land surrounded as we are by enemies. The only permanence we have
is in the bet midrash, the study hall!" And what to you seems a
hopeful conclusion in his derasha is, in my opinion, a form of
supercilious noblesse oblige: "A small minority… dedicated to
Torah and mitzvot… can save the entire people." The majority, it seems,
do not have any merits; only the minority (the scholars?)

Shira Leibowitz Schmidt: Granted that the
"minority" Rav Shach refers to and addresses are his own community.
But that does not invalidate the sociological truth that a minority – from any
sector – can effect change far above and beyond its size and numbers. That is
why I find his words encouraging to the moderate religious-Zionist sector,
which is probably a minority today. One way to influence the majority is to
cooperate with sectors other than your own . In this case, it might be wise to
try to build coalitions with the community of Rav Shach, z"l. We should be
wary of falling into the "label trap" – the tendency to put a label
on people (e.g. right/left; Zionist/ non-Zionist/anti-Zionist; etc.) In a
eulogy that Rav Yehuda Amital wrote in memory of Rav Shach, Rav Amital states
that there is "a paradox: there is no one who brought the ultra-Orthodox
world closer to the State and its institutions than Rav Shach" (Alon
Shvut Graduates' Journal Nissan 5762).

Therefore it behooves us to abstain from
labeling people. The labels "Zionist" or "non-Zionist" are
not relevant.

Tirza Leibowitz: I wonder how many followers Rav Shach has
who take seriously his warning that "establishing additional settlements
in the Shomron will not guarantee our existence, and will not add to our
security. The opposite is true, it will only increase the hatred of our
enemies." There is a large sector of the public that does not agree with
that view, but sees our situation in terms of "Land of Israel-inalienable
ownership-military might-Divine promise-eternity." I will grant that, at
least theoretically, Rav Shach's approach does represent a clear break with
that sector. Thus Rav Shach's worldview is the antithesis of the messianic
religious view of our connection to the Land and serves as a counterbalance to
that latter approach. In my view, his warning about the danger of the illusion
that our presence in the Land is guaranteed solely by physical might far, far
outweighs the question whether or not he recognizes the contribution of
Zionism. Thus for the Zionists among us, we would do well to give a hearing to
what he has said.

Shira Leibowitz Schmidt is a translator and a lecturer in English as a
Foreign Language.

Tirza Leibowitz, her daughter, is an attorney for Bizchut, The Israel
Human Rights Center for People with Disabilities, and is a facilitator at Bet
Midrash Elul.

"FOR THE EARTH IS MINE"

Do not be upset [at having to return the land at the Jubilee] – for it is not yours.

                                     (Rashi, Vayikra
25:23)

He admonished not to sell land as a permanent sale, for He said: "The
land shall not be sold beyond reclaim".

 (From
Rambam, Sefer Hamitzvoth, Negative Mitzvah 227)

"The land shall observe a Sabbath of the Lord." – the
land shall be free of human labor during the seventh year… "In the
seventh year the land shall have a Sabbath of complete rest"… therefore
did the Torah command this law, that all kinds of rule and mastery by man shall
be free of working the land, in order that man contemplate that there is no
complete mastery and rule, except by the Master of All, Blessed Be He.

 (Rabeinu
Bechayey, Vayikra 25:2)

"At the end of seven years" – the Shmitta year
brings Hakhel and peace, for since there will be no planting or growth,
the poor of his people will eat, because he is not permitted to hold the
produce of the seventh year as a householder, and this is without doubt the
cause of peace, because all quarrels derive from "What's mine is
mine," "this one says all of it is mine," and all
this is not so during the seventh year, for not all are equal in matters of
"rise up and act", but in matters of "sit, and refrain from action",
all are equal, and this is indeed the meaning of peace…

 (Kli Yakar, Devarim
31:12)

GREAT IS PEACE

Said Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi: Great is peace, for peace is to the land
as is yeast to the dough. Had not The Holy One, Blessed Be He, given peace to
the land, the sword and wild animals would have bereaved man. What is the
source for this? It is written "And I will bring peace to the
land" – and 'the land' means Eretz Yisrael.

 (Tractate Derekh Eretz Zutta, Chap.
Hashalom 1)

Should you say: There's food and there's drink – yet if there is no
peace, there is nothing?! Said the Torah: "I shall bring peace to the
land" – thus teaching us that peace outweighs everything. And so does
it say: "I… make peace and create woe" – teaching that peace
outweighs everything.

(Sifra, Bechukotai, 1)

 "I will bring
peace to the land" – Scripture continues to explain how you sit in
security, for even though it may not be necessary to leave the land for the
sake of sustenance, there is no proof that you may not have to travel from
place to place in order to guard over the land. Regarding this, the Torah says
that not because of civil war – for there will peace in the land – nor for the
sake of war with the nations… "the sword will pass through your
land" – you will not be accustomed to wielding the sword.

 (Haamek
Davar, Vayikra 26:6)

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