By Yossi Kahana
In this week's Torah portion, Eikev, Moses continues his last speech to the People of Israel. He speaks about the Land of Israel, which the Jews are about to enter.
“For the L-rd your G-d is bringing you to a good land, a land with brooks of water, fountains and depths, that emerge in valleys and mountains, a land of wheat and barley, vines and figs and pomegranates, a land of oil-producing olives and honey, a land in which you will eat bread without scarcity, you will lack nothing in it, a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose mountains you will hew copper. And you will eat and be sated, and you shall bless the L-rd, your G-d, for the good land He has given you. Beware that you do not forget the L-rd, your G-d…” (8:7-11)
In these verses, the word "land" is repeated seven times, emphasizing the bounty of the land and the natural resources with which it is blessed. His words are painting a wonderful picture with abundant sources of water, with streams flowing from the valleys and mountains, as well as the fertility of the green verdant land, its golden grains, and the metallic resources embedded in the ground. Israel, a "land of mountains and valleys," is fed by the rain, unlike the land of Egypt where water came from the Nile.
Our Sages teach that every Jew possesses a portion of Eretz Yisrael, the Land of Israel. The converse is also true. The land possesses a portion of every Jew. The Torah states, “The land cannot be permanently sold, for the land is Mine” (Lev. 25:23). The special bond between the land of Israel and the Jewish people is enforced by a Divine right that may never be annulled. No form of acquisition, whether by purchase or conquest, can cancel a Jew’s rights to his portion in the Land. And certainly nothing has the power to revoke the rights of the entire Jewish people to their holy inheritance.
For this is “a land which G-d… seeks out; the eyes of G-d are always upon it, from the beginning of the year until the end of the year.” And just as G-d seeks out the land, so do we. Jewish National Fund works diligently each and every day to ensure that the land of Israel is that wonderful painting that Moses described. Jewish National Fund is the caretaker of the land of Israel, on behalf of its owners—Jewish people everywhere.
Shabbat Shalom,
Yossi
