THE SMALL, MIGHTY LAND

“Is it not a strange fate that we should suffer so much fear and doubt for so small a thing? So small a thing!” (The Lord of The Rings, The Fellowship of The Ring, Book II, Chapter X).

These words spoken by the warrior Boromir to the Hobbit Frodo refer to the One Ring of the Dark Lord, Sauron. It is a tiny item of jewellery and yet the fate of Middle Earth, Tolkien’s imaginary world, rests upon it. If the ring is destroyed, all will be safe but should it fall into the hands of the enemy, there will be destruction and desolation.

Whenever I see this quote, I think of the Land of Israel. It is a tiny country, so small that on most maps the name of the country does not fit inside its borders. The total area of Israel is approximately 20,770 square kilometers, only slightly larger than the Kruger National Park which has an area of 19,485 square kilometers.  It is “so small a thing” and yet we “suffer so much fear and doubt” because of it. In the words of Gollum, describing the aforementioned Ring, Israel is “precious”. The Torah praises it often: “For Hashem, your God, is bringing you to a good land: a land with streams of water, of springs and underground water coming forth in valley and mountain; a land of wheat, barley, grape, fig, and pomegranate; a land of oil-olives and date-honey; a land where you will eat bread without poverty – you will lack nothing there; a land whose stones are iron and from whose mountains you will mine copper” (Devarim 8:7-9). Hashem takes a special interest in the land of Israel (Devarim 11:12), “A Land that Hashem, your God, seeks out; the eyes of Hashem, your God, are always upon it, from the beginning of the year to year’s end.”

Israel is an enigma. It consists of earth, rock, water and vegetation like any country, and yet its crops are holy. It is sacred, and yet nations have committed very profane acts within it. It is difficult to conquer and even more difficult to hold on to. In the parashiyot we are currently studying, God promises that this land –Canaan – will be the inheritance of Abraham’s descendants. Abraham himself did not own it, other than one small field with a cave that he purchased from Ephron the Hittite as a burial plot for Sarah. About this field, and two other pieces of land in Israel, the Midrash (Bereishit Rabbah 79:7) commented: “Rabbi Yudan bar Simon said, “This is one of three places that the nations of the world cannot claim are in the possession of the Jewish people through theft. They are the cave of Machpelah, the [site of] the Temple and the burial place of Yoseph. In reference to the cave of Machpelah, the verse (Bereishit 23:16) states, “And Avraham listened to Efron; and Avraham weighed to Efron the silver, which he had spoken of in the hearing of the sons of Chet, four hundred shekels of silver, current money with the merchant.” In reference to the [site of] the Temple, the verse (Chronicles I 21:25) states, “So David gave to Ornan for the place six hundred shekels of gold by weight.” In reference to the burial place of Yoseph, the verse (Bereishit 33:19) states, “And he (Yaakov) bought the piece of land on which he had pitched his tent, at the hand of the children of Chamor, Shechem’s father, for a hundred pieces of money.”

The Tanach goes out of its way to describe in detail these three real estate transactions. In each case, the name of the buyer and seller and purchase price are clearly recorded. The commentaries on the Midrash (citing the Eshed HaNechalim) explain that each purchaser paid the full price intentionally, even though in two of the cases the land was offered as a gift, so that there would be no ‘come-back’ in the future.  Avraham, Yaakov and King David did not want anyone to come forward at some later stage and claim that they had occupied the land illegally. 

The irony, of course, is that of all places in Israel, these are the most contested. The town of Chevron in general and the Tomb of the Patriarchs in particular have been at the centre of much controversy and conflict since even before the founding of the State of Israel. The burial site of Yoseph in Shechem (modern-day Nablus) was vandalised and badly damaged in the year 2000 during the second Intifada. As recently as 2015, the tomb was firebombed. Jews are only allowed there if they receive special permits. And finally, the Temple Mount is controlled by an Islamic body called the Waqf and although Jews are permitted to visit there, they are forbidden to pray at the holy site. These three sites represent the concepts of burial, livelihood and Divine Worship. In each case, we are told that the piece of land did not come free indicating that we, too, should be prepared to sacrifice time and money to acquire these three ‘necessities.’

During the upheaval of the First World War, the Yeshiva of Radin, Lithuania, was exiled and forced to relocate several times. When the institution was in the city of Snovesk, the Rosh Yeshiva, Rabbi Tzvi Hirsch Levinson, passed away. He was the son-in-law of the famous Chofetz Chaim. The Jewish citizens of Snovesk had such great admiration for the holy Chofetz Chaim that they offered him the most prestigious plot in the cemetery free of charge to bury his dear son-in-law. Rabbi Kagan refused and insisted on paying the full price. He cited as a reason for his insistence the fact that the Torah went out of its way to tell us that Avraham refused to take the cave of Machpelah as a gift from Efron. This passage, explained the Chofetz Chaim, demonstrates how important it is for a Jew to purchase his eternal resting place rather than try to get it for a discount price or gratis. (Chofetz Chaim Hachadash al HaTorah, Bereishit 23:9).

The plot in Shechem, which eventually became Yoseph’s resting place, was initially purchased by Yaakov for his flocks. Of all the patriarchs, Yaakov is the one who teaches us the importance of honest labour (see Bereishit 31:41). He refused to take any gifts and insisted on supporting his family “with his own two hands.”  The purchase of this field was a further means of providing a livelihood for his wives and children. The sages emphasised the value of honest work when they stated (Pesachim 113a), “Skin a carcass in the market place and take a wage, rather than sit idle and say, “I am a Cohen!” or “I am an important person and I despise such labour!”

The future site of the Temple was purchased by King David from the Jebusite chieftain Ornan for a large sum. What was originally a threshing floor became the epicentre of Jewish worship – and David did not want it to come to the Nation of Israel for free. The Zohar (Parshat Terumah 126a) makes a fascinating comment on the verse (Shmot 25:2), “Speak to the Children of Israel that they bring Me an offering [a monetary gift for the construction of the Tabernacle]: of every man whose heart prompts him to give you shall take My offering”: “He who wants to perform a mitzvah or draw close to the Holy One, Blessed is He, must not do so without paying. On the contrary, he must spend an amount commensurate with his wealth…”

Lee, Chani Merryl & Naomi join me in wishing you Shabbat Shalom. Rabbi Liebenberg.

This week’s YouTube message: https://youtu.be/tA2teoFJMOE?si=AQXT4rdVoDtiwfFq

*Tuesday 10 & Wednesday 11 November – Rosh Chodesh Kislev

Kislev contains the Festival of Chanukah which begins on the 25^th day of the month and continues for eight days, ending in the month of Tevet. The Molad (appearance of the new moon) for Kislev is on Monday 9 November, at 22h27 and 3 chalakim (a chelek, literally a “portion”, is a Talmudic measure of time equal to one-eighteenth of a minute, or 3 and 1/3 seconds).