I truly support Israel, but in this day and age it is difficult to do so, with so much dissent in the news and on the streets. Where in the Torah does it state that the land of Israel belongs to the Jews? Does the Torah delineate borders?

 I truly support Israel, but in this day and age it is difficult to do so, with so much dissent in the news and on the streets. Where in the Torah does it state that the land of Israel belongs to the Jews? Does the Torah delineate borders?

 

 

            Thank you so much for your question on a critically important topic for the modern day Jew, our relationship to Israel. There are the facts, which answer your questions, and then there is the deeper question and answer, about how to support a State when its policies are not always in line with your beliefs or convictions. So first to the practical, fact based question at hand. 

Yes. According to the Torah the land is given to the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and eventually the Israelites.  The promise is first made to Abraham (Genesis 15:18-21) and then once again to Isaac his son and finally to Isaac’s son Jacob (Genesis 28:13), Abraham’s grandson. The “promised land” was described in terms of the territory from the River of Egypt to the Euphrates (Exodus 23:31). This verse of Exodus is the most precise of the Torah’s geographical borders. However, references to the land with different borders are made throughout the Torah and even in the Christian Bible. For instance in Deuteronomy 1:8 the Torah once again reiterates the Biblical promise of land when it states, “see, I have given you this land. Go in and take possession of the land that the LORD swore he would give to your fathers—to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob—and to their descendants after them.”

However, as we know from the wisdom of our tradition issues like Israel are much more complex than a series of quotations. Certainly the Torah gives us a sense of the unique holy quality of the land in Israel. There is no specification (fortunately or unfortunately) of governmental control of the land or rules about the kind of State, which would exist in the land of Canaan. Instead the Torah’s promise outlines the sense of centrality and wholeness of the land. As such we in the modern day Jewish world run into the challenge of confronting question as much about statehood, government and law as about the land itself. I will leave arguments about borders for another question. It is the larger challenge about supporting a place, the land and its government, which we love and feel connected to when its policies often diverge and at times even completely contradict our own views, our moral compass and even our religious view point, which is at he heart of your genuine concern and question.

It is here in the question of criticism and discomfort where we turn to the Rabbis for guidance. We are taught throughout Rabbinic literature of the concept “Makhloket L’Shem Shamayim -dispute for the sake of heaven”. It is in this concept where the rabbis outline the ability to contradict the actions of others, even those who are leaders within our own community. It is in fact the reason for the contradiction, conflict that is important, that is “for the sake of heaven” for the purpose of bettering each other and our community in service to God.

The rabbis understand under the umbrella of any group or community there will inevitably be disputes, disagreements about how the community should be built and how it should function. Certainly, the State of Israel and its government exemplify this – there is no clear certainty about the best way to run any country. Therefore, though I would say it is important to support the State of Israel as a Jew in the modern world, this does not mean removing all discomfort, dispute or uncertainty about particular policies. In fact given the rabbis understanding of “dispute for the sake of heaven” if our intention in the end is to help create and grow Israel at its best – a country, strong and secure but also living up to our ideals as a people and a tradition then it is our obligation to analyze and understand Israel’s policies to make sure we know why the government might have done something and at times it is acceptable to express our disappointment in the way the government metes out policy. We must always find ways to support Israel and her people but this support does not negate our ability to criticize or express our discomfort at particular policies her government upholds – we simply must do so l’shem shamayim for the sake of heaven, for the sake of a better Israel, a better Jewish people and a better world.

 

Question:  “I truly support Israel, but in this day and age it is difficult to do so, with so much dissent in the news and on the streets.  Where in the Torah does it state that the land of Israel belongs to the Jews?  Does the Torah delineate borders?”

 

In any discussion regarding Israel and her borders, it is important – as you have asked – to consider what the Torah says about the borders of the ancient land of Israel.  It is equally important to consider the ways in which history shaped those borders, and how one should employ ‘wise land usage’ of that territory for bringing peace to Israel and the Middle East.

 

The Torah makes a number of statements regarding the borders, and disposition of the territory, that comprised the so-called “Promised Land”.  In Genesis 12, God directs Abram (later Abraham) to take his family and go to a land that God would show him.  At that point, the narrative does not specifically identify the borders of the land.  After he settles in Canaan (in chapter 13), God instructs Abram to ‘look to the four compass points’ and indicates that as far as Abram can see, those are the boundaries of the land.  God also commands Abram to walk the length and breadth of the land intended for the Israelite people.  And Abram eventually settles, for the moment, in Hebron.

 

Finally, in Genesis 15, we learn the original Biblical limits of the land.  Following the performance of a mystical sacrificial ritual to create the situation for sealing a covenant, there is a description of what God promises to Abram.  “To your descendants I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates: the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites, Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites and Jebusites.”

 

Other, later Torah references reaffirm these generally drawn borders of the land of Israel.  Most of the descriptions identify this land as an “inheritance”.  See, for example, this passage from Deuteronomy 4:37-38.  “Because God loved your ancestors, God chose their descendants after them, brought you out of Egypt by God’s Presence and his great strength, in order that you would drive out before you nations greater and stronger than you, and to bring you into their land to give it to you for your inheritance, as it is today”.

 

For those individuals – Jews and Christians – who consider the Torah as the absolute and eternal word of God, these borders and the land they encompass are immutable.  For some (not all) Israelis who live on the West Bank, the occupied territories are the eternal possession and inheritance of the Jewish people, and they should never be given over to any other sovereign entity.  They belong exclusively and forever to the Jewish people.

 

However, for others, who see the Torah as either only a dim reflection of the Israelite historical record or as a mixture of ancient legends and a post-exilic (post-500 BCE) vision of a governing model of the Israelite Priestly family, the land is perceived differently.  And especially these days, they understand that territorial compromise may serve to help guarantee peace between parties who have been warring with one another for more than one hundred years.

 

The borders of the biblically defined land of Israel shifted according to the currents of history, the tenor of the times, and/or the true power or intention of the host nation that tolerated Jews in their midst.  Jews may have lived continuously in the land of Israel for many years, but from the Babylonian exile until 1948 CE, they were never in real control of their land (as defined by the Torah).

 

There is no consensus among Jews as to the eventual disposition of this land.  And, as you obviously know, much of the controversy about Israeli and Palestinian claims to the land are focused on interpretations of ancient and contemporary history and claims based on the biblical narrative.

 

The “dissent in the news and on the streets” is a result of the inability of the Israelis and Palestinians to come to an agreement on the borders of the land.  It is not difficult to support Israel even through these trying times, but I would assert that it is through the values of Judaism, and not by simple adherence to the biblical story of our people, that our approach to territorial division should be made.  But that begins an answer to another potential question that someone may ask on Jewish Values Online.