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In "The Mitzvah of Eretz Yisrael," Rav Shlomo Katz takes us deep into the heart and soul of one of Judaism's most profound and debated mitzvot. What does it really mean to conquer, dwell, and truly live in the land of Israel today? Is it merely about physical settlement, or is there a deeper spiritual conquest at play? Drawing on Torah sources, Chassidic insights, and practical halacha, we’ll explore questions like: How central is living in Eretz Yisrael to fulfilling our Jewish destiny? Can the mitzvah be achieved spiritually outside the land? What is our role in actively building and nurturing the land given to us by Hashem? Join us as we journey to reveal the extraordinary dimensions of this holy mitzvah.
יישר כוח. Good morning everyone, בוקר טוב לכולם. A few years ago, there was a beautiful Thursday night, I think it was a Thursday night gathering in the hotel right across from the Israel Center. Is it the Dan Panorama? On קרן היסוד, that hotel there? משהו כזה.
It was a meeting between Rabbi Riskin and Rabbi Bravender, our two ראשי ישיבה. And it was the first time they had gotten together after many years, and it was a beautiful discussion about, I think it was about discussing 40 years or 50 years of being in ארץ ישראל, however long it was. It was a really incredible evening. One of the questions that was asked was, something along the notes of, along the lines of, what didn't they tell you before you made עלייה about ארץ ישראל? What didn't they tell you? So this is Rabbi Bravender made עלייה in the mid, I think the mid-60s.
He came a long, long time ago. He came before Rabbi Riskin. So he said a line there that stuck with me. He said, you know, in בני עקיבא they spoke about עלייה, they spoke about ארץ ישראל, but they never told us that not everyone is Jewish in ארץ ישראל.
And they never even spoke to us about what the, what the יחס is, what the, what the relationship is with all the, with all the, you know, the non-Jewish people as well. They never spoke to us about it. And Rabbi Bravender has a very, his his sensitivity is just something that I, you know, we always learn from to such a great extent. But the Torah tells us, you know, how to implement this sensitivity.
And this question of what do we do when we come back to ארץ ישראל after all these years, and it's not just like, oh, we're all leaving because now you guys are home. Apparently that wasn't the memo, that hasn't happened yet exactly, right?So the שאלה is, what do we do? Now the חזון, the vision, obviously, is that we come here to establish מלכות השם. There's no other reason why we're here. There's no other reason why we're here.
We're not here to celebrate democracy. It happens to be that's how the משטר works. That's not the goal, never was, בעזרת השם, never will be. And whoever gets stuck into that gets stuck into a lot of other problems as well.
We came back for one reason: to shine, to be ourselves, and to establish the monarchy of the מלכות of השם in the world. So the שאלה is, until we get to that state that everyone's on board with that, how do you act? What do you do? Now of course, this is a trigger. You could just look at your faces. Everyone here looks so different like, uh oh.
Where's he going now, you know? Where's he going now? What's gonna come out now? I'm just going to read three פסוקים, if that's okay. Because there's two מניין, there's two main things that we're going to be discussing in the next few weeks. Two different פסוקים will help us understand, there's two איסורים that we have on those that live in ארץ ישראל. Non-Jewish people who live in ארץ ישראל.
One of them is like this. There's an איסור כללי, there's a general איסור, that says like this: לֹא תִכְרֹת לָהֶם וְלֵאלֹהֵיהֶם בְּרִית. לֹא יֵשְׁבוּ בְּאַרְצְךָ פֶּן יַחֲטִיאוּ אֹתְךָ לִי, כִּי תַעֲבֹד אֶת אֱלֹהֵיהֶם, כִּי יִהְיֶה לְךָ לְמוֹקֵשׁ. That means you don't establish, and we're going to explain, not today, but we're going to explain later on who is this referring to that you don't make a covenant with.
Because if you do, you'll end up serving their gods and they'll be for you a מוקש. A מוקש is a mine, right? A mine is beneath the ground that explodes once you step on it before you even realize it. The second איסור is a איסור פרטי. It's an individual איסור that says like this for every individual: to not sell land to non-Jewish people.
So that they don't, you don't give them a חנייה בארץ. So you don't give them, you know, like a, literally קרקע here in ארץ ישראל. Like it says, לֹא תִכְרֹת לָהֶם בְּרִית וְלֹא תְחָנֵּם. תְחָנֵּם is the word that's used for selling, selling קרקע to non-Jewish people.
וְלֹא תִתְחַתֵּן בָּם, you don't assimilate, בסדר? כִּי יָסִיר אֶת בִּנְךָ מֵאַחֲרַי וְעָבְדוּ אֱלֹהִים אֲחֵרִים, because by the next generation, they're going to be ending up serving different gods. Now the מחלוקת is, and this is what we're going to continue on Sunday, the מחלוקת is when the Torah spoke about not making a ברית or not selling land and all these other things, who was the Torah referring to, and who is it referring to today? That is the real שאלה of today. That's the עיקר שאלה. So בעזרת השם, that's what we're going to be continuing Sunday morning.
Everyone should have a beautiful שבת. And everyone, I want to say יישר כוח to everyone that's been coming to the מניינים, אשריכם. It's been so beautiful, and let's keep on going stronger and stronger. And you're all invited to come and learn, eat, dine, sing, and get close to השם with us in the other room in a few minutes.