Eretz-Israel 004

נושא: EI

Bet Midrash Virtuali

BET MIDRASH VIRTUALI

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16:
We continue our study of the passage from the Tosefta [Avodah Zarah 5:2]. In the previous shiur we learned that Rabbi Shim'on ben-Yoĥai had a very strict view of the religious duty that a Jew has to reside in Eretz-Israel. Even when the economic situation was extremely bad (in the aftermath of the Bar-Kokhba revolt against the Romans) he refused to recognise the legitimacy of seeking a better fortune outside Eretz-Israel. We learned that it was his opinion that even if the cost of living had quadrupled one must continue to live in Eretz-Israel and we also learned how he warned his students that anyone who seeks his fortune outside Eretz-Israel is forfeiting his share in the world to come!

17:
Rabbi Shim'on now backs up his teaching with a midrash:

Elimelekh was prominent in his generation and was a communal leader. Because he went abroad he and his sons died of starvation while all Israel were maintained on their lands.

The story as told in the first chapter of the book of Ruth is familiar: there was a famine in Eretz-Israel so Elimelekh took his wife Naomi and his two sons to seek a better life across the River Jordan in Moab (in what is today the Kingdom of Jordan). There his two sons married Moabite women. The biblical record [Ruth 1:3-5] states quite laconically that

Elimelekh, Naomi's husband, died… Then those two – Maĥlon and Khilion – also died; so the woman was left without her two sons and without her husband.

We should note that the bible does not say why or how Elimelekh died, nor why or how his two sons died. The midrash of Rabbi Shim'on provides its own explanation: they died because they left Eretz-Israel. But Rabbi Shim'on rams home his teaching even more: not only did they die, he says, but they died of starvation – another detail which is not found in the biblical account. They left Eretz-Israel because of famine and they died abroad because of famine. But Rabbi Shim'on seeks to show that their death was also an example of God's strict justice. We learn in the Gemara [Sanhedrin 90a] that

When God measures out justice it is always 'measure for measure'.

This means that there is always a correlation between the punishment that God metes out and the wrongdoing that caused the punishment. In the case of Elimelekh and his sons the correlation is emphasized by Rabbi Shim'on in his midrash: they left Eretz-Israel because of famine and died abroad of starvation while those who remained behind were sustained on their lands. When Naomi eventually returns to Bethlehem with Ruth the bible [Ruth 1:19] tells us that

The whole town buzzed [with amazement] over them.

Rabbi Shim'on explains that

This teaches that the whole town was maintained while he and his sons died of starvation.

18:
The passage in the Tosefta now continues with a teaching that is very bold indeed. In the book of Genesis we learn how Jacob had to flee from Canaan (later to be called Eretz-Israel) to escape the wrath of his twin brother Esau. Well known is the dream he had at Bethel in which he saw angels going up and coming down on a celestial ladder. When he awoke the following morning he made a pact with God:

If God remains with me, if He protects me on this journey that I am making, and gives me bread to eat and clothing to wear, and if I return safe to my father's house, the Lord shall be my God. [Genesis 28:20-21]

What does Jacob mean when he says that if God restores him safely home again he will be his God? It sounds as if this implies that if God does not keep his part of the bargain he will not be Jacob's God! The Tosefta explains this by reference to another biblical passage [Leviticus 25:38]:

I am your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, to give you the land of Canaan, to be your God.

It is here that the Tosefta offers its bold explanation:

As long as you are in the land of Canaan I am your Deity but if you are not in the land of Canaan I am not your Deity!

Thus, what Jacob said was that if God restores him safely to his home God will once again be his Deity, which he cannot be as long as he is outside Eretz-Israel. This is an amazing claim. The Tosefta now seeks to bolster this bold claim by quoting from the book of Joshua [Joshua 2:24:]:

God has delivered the whole land into our power.

The Tosefta now draws a rather problematic conclusion:

Can you imagine that Israel conquers the land without God? So [what the verse means is that] as long as they [the Jewish people] are in it it is considered to be completely conquered; if they are not in it it is not conquered.

19:
The Tosefta brings yet another instance from the bible, this time concerning David. When David was a fugitive from King Saul he tried to plead with the king not to exile him from his land:

But why does my lord continue to pursue his servant? What have I done, and what wrong am I guilty of ? Now let my lord the king hear his servant out. If God has incited you against me, let Him be appeased by an offering; but if it is men, may they be accursed by God! For they have driven me out today, so that I cannot have a share in God's possession, but am told, 'Go and worship other gods.' [1 Samuel 26:18-19]

David says to Saul that if wicked people have persuaded the king to exile him it is the equivalent of them saying that he should worship other gods. The Tosefta now continues:

Can you imagine that King David would worship idols? David was explaining that anyone who leaves Eretz-Israel during a time of peace and goes abroad it is as if he is worshipping idols.

20:
As we have mentioned a couple of times the opinion of Rabbi Shim'on bar-Yoĥai is extreme among the sages; but, on the other hand, he was perhaps the most prominent of the sages of his generation and his name and fame live on to this day, especially among those for whom Jewish mysticism ('Kabbalah') is a way of life. In our next shiur, after Passover, we shall, God willing, study less extreme views on this subject.

To be continued.

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