When the people of Israel are in exile, the land will not accept any other nation, but will wait for us in its desolation until we return to it * When the time for redemption arrives, the Land of Israel begins to yield its fruits generously in anticipation of Israel’s gathering within it * Blessed are the Jews who chose to immigrate to the Land of Israel, settle it, and fight for the establishment and defense of the state * The commandment to be fruitful and multiply depends on settling the land, meaning maintaining a developed society economically, socially, scientifically, and morally * It is a commandment for older parents, rabbis, and educators to create an atmosphere that encourages childbirth
The Desolation of the Land in Exile
Among the punishments that will befall Israel if they do not engage in Torah and fulfill the commandments, the most severe is exile, and all that it entails. However, within this, it is said: “I will make the land desolate, and your enemies who dwell in it shall be astonished… Your land shall be a desolation and your cities a ruin” (Leviticus 26:32-33). Our Sages said: “This is a good measure so that Israel will not say, ‘Since we have been exiled from our land, now the enemies come and find comfort in it.'” Therefore, it is said, “and your enemies who dwell in it shall be astonished,” even the enemies who come afterwards will not find comfort in it (Sifra, ibid). These words of our Sages are quoted by Rashi and many commentators, for indeed, within the curses there is a small consolation, that the land will not accept any other people, but will wait for us in its desolation, until we return to it.
At the Time of Redemption
But when the time for redemption arrives, the Land of Israel begins to yield its fruits generously in anticipation of Israel’s gathering within it. As Rabbi Abba said: “There is no clearer sign of the end than this, as it is said: ‘But you, O mountains of Israel, shall shoot forth your branches, and yield your fruit to My people Israel; for they will soon be coming'” (Ezekiel 36:8) (Sanhedrin 98a).
Indeed, this is what happened. The Land of Israel, which was flowing with milk and honey, became more desolate than all the surrounding lands, and when Israel began to return to it, in the days of the First Aliyah, it gradually began to emerge from its desolation. Agriculture and the economy began to develop gradually, but the masses of the House of Israel delayed in returning, and meanwhile, Arabs from all around flocked to it to enjoy the prosperity brought by the Jews who had immigrated to the land.
Thus, our confrontation with the Arab enemy became more difficult. Although Israel has a prior right to enjoy the fruits of the Land of Israel, when they do not come to enjoy this right, they have no sufficiently strong claim to prevent hostile foreigners from enjoying its fruits. As the Torah says: “I will not drive them out from before you in one year, lest the land become desolate and the wild beasts multiply against you. Little by little I will drive them out from before you, until you have increased and possess the land” (Exodus 23:29-30). And it is also said: “The Lord your God will clear away these nations before you little by little. You may not make an end of them at once, lest the wild beasts grow too numerous for you” (Deuteronomy 7:22).
One Who Begins a Mitzvah and Does Not Complete It
Our Sages said: “Anyone who begins a mitzvah and does not complete it, buries his wife and two children (in Pesikta Zutarta: ‘they lower him from his greatness’); from whom do you learn this? From Judah.” Who said to his brothers when they sat down to break bread: “Are we killing and blessing?!” As it is said: “What profit is it if we kill our brother and conceal his blood? Come, let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and let not our hand be upon him, for he is our brother, our own flesh. And his brothers listened to him” (Genesis 37:26-27). “If he had told them to return him to his father, they would have listened to him, but he began the mitzvah and did not complete it,” and his punishment was that he buried his wife and two children, and his brothers lowered him down from his greatness. “Therefore, one who begins a mitzvah should complete it entirely” (Tanchuma Ekev 6).
The Sad Result
About 120 years ago, at the time of the establishment of the Zionist movement, the Jewish people numbered about 11 million souls. The Arabs who lived within the biblical borders of the Land of Israel, including Lebanon, Syria, and Iraq, numbered slightly more than five million. On both sides of the Jordan, about half a million Arabs lived. There was then an opportunity for the Jewish people to return to the land and settle it in its length and breadth, and to be fruitful and multiply in it. However, most of our people remained in exile and underwent terrible troubles, until the Holocaust. At the same time, despair over the revival of the nation in its land led to a cessation of proliferation, and extensive assimilation.
As a result, there are currently about 15 million declared Jews worldwide, of whom about seven million live in the Land of Israel. In contrast, about five million Arabs live in the Western Bank of the Jordan, and in the Eastern Bank of the Jordan under the Kingdom of Jordan – 11 million. And about two million Palestinian refugees who claim that their fathers lived in the Land of Israel (one or two generations).
It Can Be Fixed
Just as Judah repented by being willing to sacrifice himself to save Benjamin and return him to his father, and in the trial with Tamar, despite the enormous shame, he admitted and said: “She is more righteous than I” (Genesis 38:26). He merited to establish with Tamar a more glorious family, and he merited and rose to unparalleled greatness, that from his descendants came the lineage of the House of David. In the place where penitents stand, even the completely righteous do not stand (Berachot 34b).
The Answer for Our Days
Blessed are the Jews who chose to immigrate to the Land of Israel, to settle it, and to fight for the establishment and defense of the state. They are the penitents through whom, despite the difficulties, the people of Israel are gradually being redeemed. But still, there is a long way ahead of us, and we must continue to repent: to be fruitful and multiply, to continue building the land, to work for the necessary correction in the army, to educate all the children of Israel to love the Torah, the people, and the land, to encourage immigration and its absorption in the best, and most respectable way.
The Blessing of “Be Fruitful and Multiply” and Settling the Land
In these difficult days of a war of attrition, with a crisis of judicial, military, and political leadership, there is a need to continue to progress by encouraging young people to fulfill the commandments of marriage and being fruitful and multiplying, as the commandments of settling the land and Israel’s security depend on this.
Indeed, even the commandment to be fruitful and multiply depends on settling the land, meaning maintaining a developed society economically, socially, scientifically, and morally. This includes the responsibility of parents to support their children and provide them with education in Torah, along with derech eretz (worldly occupation). As brought in the Mishnah: “Rabban Gamaliel, son of Rabbi Judah HaNasi, says: Beautiful is the study of Torah with derch eretz, for the toil of both of them makes sin forgotten, and all Torah that is not accompanied by work will eventually cease and lead to sin” (Avot 2:2). And also: “Rabbi Judah says: Anyone who does not teach his son a trade, it is as if he teaches him banditry” (Kiddushin 29a). And so ruled Rambam (Maimonides): “Anyone who sets in his heart to engage in Torah and not do work and be supported by charity, behold, this person has profaned the Name and disgraced the Torah and extinguished the light of religion… And they further commanded and said: Love work and hate lordship, and all Torah that is not accompanied by work will eventually cease and lead to sin, and in the end, this person will rob from others” (De’ot 3:10).
The Borders of the Land in Torah Portion ‘Masei’
The borders of the land in the Torah portion ‘Masei’ include only the western bank of the Jordan. This apparently poses a difficulty, for the eastern bank of the Jordan also belongs to the Land of Israel, and it was already conquered by Moses. However, Israel did not have enough people to settle the entire land, and therefore God commanded Israel to inherit first the main part of the land, and after they multiply, they will gradually inherit the entire land (Ramban). Indeed, after the sons of Reuben and Gad asked to inherit the eastern bank of the Jordan, their request was accepted. Once again, we learn that settling the land depends on the multiplication of Israel.
The Promise of the Land and the Promise of Childbirth
And so it was said to our forefathers, that the commandments of settling the land and proliferating are intertwined and dependent on one another. To Abraham our forefather, it was said: “Lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward, for all the land that you see I will give to you and to your offspring forever. I will make your offspring as the dust of the earth, so that if one can count the dust of the earth, so that if one can count the dust of the earth, your offspring also can be counted” (Genesis 13:14-16). And so it was said to him after the trial of the Binding of Isaac: “I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven, and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies” (Genesis 22:17).
And so it was said to Isaac our forefather: “I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and will give to your offspring all these lands, and in your offspring, all the nations of the earth shall be blessed” (Genesis 26:4).
And so it was said to Jacob our forefather in Bethel before he left for Haran (Genesis 28:13-14): “The land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring. Your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south, and in you and your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed.” And so it was said to him after he returned from Haran to the land: “I am God Almighty: be fruitful and multiply. A nation and a company of nations shall come from you, and kings shall come from your own body. The land that I gave to Abraham and Isaac I will give to you, and I will give the land to your offspring after you” (Genesis 35:11-12).
Redemption by Virtue of Faith and Childbearing
Troubles can stifle the will to live, and thus bring annihilation to people, families, and nations. This is what was expected to happen to Israel who were enslaved in Egypt. For this purpose, the Egyptians intensified their yoke on the children of Israel with hard and exhausting labor, from dawn to dusk, and decreed that they should not return to their homes, but sleep in the fields. However, our Sages said: “By virtue of the righteous women of that generation – Israel was redeemed from Egypt” (Sotah 11b). By virtue of their faith in life, in the love they had for their husbands, in the destiny awaiting the people of Israel, they clung to their husbands, and would come to them in the fields, and make them happy, and thus they merited to be very fruitful, and multiply. “But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied, and the more they spread abroad” (Exodus 1:12).
Our Sages said: “Just as Israel was redeemed from Egypt by virtue of being fruitful and multiplying, so too, they will be redeemed in the future by virtue of being fruitful and multiplying. How do you know this? Know that this is so, for Israel will not be redeemed unless they are fruitful and multiply, and fill the whole world, as it is said: For you shall spread abroad to the right and to the left, and your offspring will possess the nations, and will people the desolate cities” (Isaiah 54:3) (Eliyahu Zuta 14).
Creating an Encouraging Atmosphere
It is a duty for older parents, rabbis, and educators to create an atmosphere that encourages childbearing that exalts families who merit to raise many children, and provide them with excellent education.
Often, young men and women deliberate whether it’s the right time to start getting to know a potential spouse for marriage. In many families, there’s a dilemma about whether to expand the family, whether it’s a good time for another pregnancy. An encouraging atmosphere enhances the desire to marry and have children.
Beautiful stories about matchmaking and weddings that grew out of the heroism of war, and touching stories about couples who had children as a continuation of brothers and friends who were killed for the sanctification of God’s name, can contribute to this. May God bless us, and add to us a thousand times over.
This article appears in the ‘Besheva’ newspaper and was translated from Hebrew.
