Israel vs Torah

Moshe Ben-Chaim

 

Question:

If morasha is mentioned only twice in the torah and the first mention is in regards to the land of canaan and then the torah..why is the strength of the land overlooked and not put on the same level as the torah?

 

Response:

It should be noted that the main difference between the land of Israel and the Torah is that the former is a means for fulfilling the latter. The Torah informs man of the ideas and commands to live by, whereas the land is merely a secured locale to perform these commands. As the Torah points out, should we forsake the Torah, Hashem will cause the land to vomit us out. The land of Israel serves no purpose of itself, rather, it realizes its goal with the inhabitant's fulfillment of the Torah's ideals.

According to halacha, Jewish law, one is permitted to live outside the land for various reasons. Those reasons include if his livelihood is not in the land, or if his teacher is not in the land. From the fact that one may follow his teacher outside of Israel, we learn that man's goal is to perfect himself through study and the performance of the commands, not merely living in a country. Had dwelling in Israel been on par with Torah study, we would have no right to leave for study. Being that this is not the case, the law follows the idea that study is above all, as we say in prayer every morning, "Talmud Torah c'neged culam", "Learning Torah outweighs all other (performances)". Settling the land is for the very reason of offering a single, sovereign country which follows the Torah, and no other system.

 

Your observation that "morasha" is limited to the land and Torah is a good one, and requires further investigation.