Eretz-Israel 001

1:
In this series of shiurim we shall be studying the views of the sages of the Talmud and the midrashim regarding the Jewish people and Eretz-Israel – both from their aggadic and their halakhic points of view. We shall rely not only on the views of the sages of Eretz-Israel but also on those of the sages living outside Eretz-Israel, particularly in Babylon.

2:
According to tradition the Torah contains 613 separate mitzvot. This is stated in our sources on several occasions. For instance:

It thus seems that there was an ancient tradition that the Torah contained 613 mitzvot and this tradition is quoted by Rabbi Simlai. Rabbi Simlai was a sage of Eretz-Israel who flourished during the early and middle decades of the 3rd century CE. He was a student of Rabbi Yehudah, who was, in turn, the grandson of Rabbi Yehudah the President of the Sanhedrin who was the compiler of the Mishnah. Rabbi Simlai was a proficient teacher of Aggadah and he was also one of the earliest polemicists against emergent Christianity: apparently he engaged the Christian sage Origen in a debate about the Trinity. He gives no indication of the provenance of his teaching about 613 commandments. It is possible that his intention was entirely aggadic and his purpose was to teach that the Torah encompasses everything: the whole of a person's body and every day of his year. Be that as it may, his teaching has been accepted literally. Ravi Hamnona suggests an aggadah-like provenance for the teaching of Rabbi Simlai. Rav Hamnona was an Amora in Babylon. He was a much younger contemporary of Rabbi Simlai. His aggadic explanation is based on a famous verse in the Torah:

Each letter of the Hebrew alphabet also has a numerical value, and the numerical value of the Hebrew word 'Torah' is 611. Thus Rav Hamnona teaches that we should understand the verse as saying that "Moses commanded us 611". That leaves, of course, two mitzvot unaccounted for. He explains that Moses did not command the first two of the Ten Commandments: these were commanded directly by God, who speaks in the first person:

3:
Of course, the identification of those 613 mitzvot is by no means easy. A truly valiant effort was made by one of Israel's greatest sages, Rambam, Moses Maimonides [1135-1204]. He had determined that he was going to compile an encyclopedia of halakhah to be called Mishneh Torah which would, of course, be based on the 613 mitzvot of the Torah. As a preparatory work he compiled a book called Sefer ha-Mitzvot, the Book of the Mitzvot, in which he attempts to identify each of the 613 mitzvot. In a very long preface he describes his methodology: how he will identify what is a mitzvah and what is not; then, in the body of his book, he enumerates first the positive commandments ("thou shalt") and then the negative commandments ("thou shalt not"). In each case he briefly describes the mitzvah and identifies where in the Talmud the details of the mitzvah are to be found.

4:
Rambam's book was received warmly but not without criticism. The greatest of his critics was Ramban, Moses Nachmanides [1194-1270]. Every halakhic edition of Rambam's Sefer ha-Mitzvot comes together with the criticisms of Ramban – "Mitzvot which the rabbi forgot [to include]". Ramban [his name is traditionally accented on the last syllable] had the greatest of respect for Rambam [his name is traditionally accented on the first syllable], but his criticisms are trenchant and detailed. We will detail here one such criticism, one which is relevant to our discussion. Ramban is of the opinion that there are several mitzvot which are not included at all in Sefer ha-Mitzvot. He enumerates them and explains his reasoning:

5:
This is very strong language. Of course, one may well ask how it is possible that a writer so meticulous as Rambam could have made such an egregious error as to omit so important a mitzvah. It seems to me that we can safely assume that Rambam did not 'forget' this mitzvah: he simply thought that the command to conquer and settle the land was one directed to the generation of the conquest under Joshua and was not a continuing command for all time. (Certainly, the verses that Ramban quotes to bolster his argument do seem to be directed at that generation only.) However, in a commentary on Sefer ha-Mitzvot a much later sage, Isaac de León, suggests that the reason why Rambam omitted this mitzvah is because he was of the opinion that it was not a practical mitzvah for his day and age, but one that would only become operative [again] in the messianic age. This is a very weak argument: after all, in his great compendium, Mishneh Torah, Rambam included several commandments that apply only to the messianic king and a re-established Sanhedrin.

6:
Thus it seems that Rambam was of the opinion that there was no commandment to settle the Land of Israel – at least, not for all time – whereas Ramban did think that there was such a mitzvah. One thing is clear. The sages of the Talmud and the midrashim had no hesitation in assuming that the people of Israel has a duty and a privilege to settle the land of Israel and to live in it. God says to Israel:

On that verse the sages have said:

To be continued.