A Personal Connection to the Land of Israel

Zionism isn’t solely a political movement that stands for specific principles – it is also an ideology that is built on the Jewish people developing a strong personal and individual connection to the land of Israel. As the national homeland of the Jewish people, the land of Israel is more than just a place to live for the Jewish people, it is the heart and soul of the Jewish nation. The connection between a Zionist Jew and Eretz Yisrael is a bond that extends past a mere political viewpoint.

There are six levels of personal connection between the Jewish people and the land of Israel that can be identified. Some of these levels appeal to all Jewish Zionists but some Jews will only feel a connection to a few of the levels. Every Jew develops their own connection to Eretz Yisrael; that connection is personal and can’t be dictated by someone else.

The father of modern political Zionism, Dr. Theodore Herzl believed that antisemitism was an eternal problem that couldn’t be ended by having the gentiles and Arabs stop hating the Jews. It would only be the creation of a Jewish state that could protect the Jewish people from antisemitism. As Herzl wrote, “We have sincerely tried everywhere to merge with the national communities in which we live, seeking only to preserve the faith of our fathers. It is not permitted us. In vain are we loyal patriots, sometimes superloyal; in vain do we make the same sacrifices of life and property as our fellow citizens; in vain do we strive to enhance the fame of our native lands in the arts and sciences, or her wealth by trade and commerce. In our native lands where we have lived for centuries we are still decried as aliens, often by men whose ancestors had not yet come at a time when Jewish sighs had long been heard in the country …” The most basic connection the Jewish people have to the land of Israel is its role as a refuge for the Jewish people from antisemitism.

Herzl wrote about the land of Israel as the historic homeland of the Jewish people. “If anyone thinks that Jews can steal into the land of their fathers, he is deceiving either himself or others. Nowhere is the coming of Jews so promptly noted as in the historic home of the Jews, for the very reason that it is the historic home…we wish to give the Jews a Homeland. Not by dragging them ruthlessly out of their sustaining soil, but rather by removing them carefully, roots and all, to a better terrain.” The land of Israel being the Jewish people’s national homeland is the second connection Jews feel to the land of Israel.

American President Abraham Lincoln talked about the national rights of a people to its land. President Lincoln said, “A nation may be said to consist of its territory, its people and its laws. The territory is the only part which is of certain durability. Laws change, people die, the land remains.” Herzl connected the national right of all people to the land of Israel and the Jewish people. Herzl wrote, “Let sovereignty be granted us over a portion of the earth’s surface large enough to satisfy our rightful requirements as a nation. The rest we shall manage for ourselves.” The third connection between the land of Israel and the Jewish people is the rights of the Jewish nation to their land, the land of Israel.

Most of the Jews alive today do not live by the laws of traditional Halachah. For those that do live their lives by Halachah, the opportunity to fulfill more mitzvot is a great benefit. Those that feel an association with Halachah feel an additional three levels of connection to the land of Israel. Of the many considerations of where a person should live, many Jews who live their lives by Halachah choose to live in Israel because of the opportunity to fulfill mitzvot that can only be done in the land of Israel. The opportunity to fulfill mitzvot that can only be fulfilled in the land of Israel is the fourth level of connection Jews feel to the land of Israel.

The Mishna of Keilim quotes a teaching of the Sages which they began with a question, “There are ten grades of sanctity: the land of Israel is more sanctified than all other lands. What is the nature of the land’s sanctity? That the wheat of the omer, the first fruits and the two loaves for the Temple are brought from the land of Israel, which cannot be brought from any of the other lands.” The sanctity of the land of Israel stems from the mitzvot that can be done uniquely in the land of Israel. Jews who look to cling to the sanctified will connect to the land of Israel because it is the most sanctified land in the world.

There is a teaching in the Talmud, “Hashem irrigates Eretz Yisrael Himself, and the rest of the world by a representative.” In his commentary on the homiletic portions of the Talmud, the Rashba wrote, “Eretz [Yisrael] is called God’s treasure, and God’s “will” is within it. Eretz Yisrael, the chosen land, was given to Bnei Yisrael, the chosen people. Hashem did not give the land over to mazal or a sar of the nations, for Hashem has put His portion in us. The events in Eretz Yisrael are not directed by an angel or representative; all of the events occurring in Eretz Yisrael are always under the providence of Hashem Himself.”

According to the Rashba the uniqueness of the land is that it is Hashem’s chosen land. We cannot, in our limited knowledge, possibly understand why Hashem chose this land over all other lands, but we can explain the quality that separates the land of Israel from other lands. God relates to the land through specific providence, rather than general providence as He does in other lands. General providence is what we call nature, i.e. the regular set patterns under which the world operates. While created by Hashem, he does not dictate every individual act of nature. When specific Divine Providence operates, the subject of this providence is related to directly by Hashem. The last connection between the land of Israel and the Jewish people focuses on the land as the only place in the world where all events are always under the providence of Hashem Himself.

The first and most basic tenet of Zionism is that there is a fundamental connection between the Jewish people and the land of Israel. The connection between the Jewish people and the land of Israel is complex and multifaceted. Depending on a person’s outlook and how they measure connections is the way they’ll understand the relationship between the land of Israel and the Jewish people, but the connection between the Jewish people and the land of Israel is undeniable.