The Ramban's Prophecy: Why the Land of Israel Remained Desolate for Centuries

In Parashat Bechukotai, the Torah describes the devastation that would one day befall the Land of Israel during the Jewish exile: "I Myself will lay the land desolate, so that your enemies who dwell in it shall be astonished... Your land shall become desolate, and your cities shall lie in ruins." (Leviticus 26:32–33)

The Ramban (Nachmanides) offers a remarkable commentary on these verses:

"'Your enemies who dwell in it shall be astonished' — this is actually good news among all the prophecies of exile. It means that our land will not readily accept our enemies. This is a great proof and a promise to us, for nowhere else in the inhabited world is there a land that was once so fertile, spacious, and populated, yet remained so desolate. Ever since we were exiled from it, no nation or people has been able to settle it successfully. Many have tried to cultivate and populate it, but none have succeeded."

A Land Waiting for Its People

The Ramban explains that although the Land of Israel was once prosperous, fertile, and thriving, it became desolate after the Jewish people were exiled. Despite being conquered repeatedly over the centuries, no occupying nation succeeded in restoring it to its former vitality.

Far from viewing this as merely another curse, the Ramban sees it as a remarkable promise. The land's inability to flourish under foreign rule would serve as an enduring sign that it ultimately belongs to the Jewish people and awaits their return.

The Ramban Witnesses the Prophecy

The Ramban did not write these words from afar.

In his own lifetime, the Land of Israel endured tremendous devastation under successive waves of conquerors, including the Crusaders, Muslim rulers, Tatars, Mongols, and Mamluks. Their invasions left Jerusalem largely destroyed and virtually devoid of Jewish life.

Longing to fulfill the mitzvah of living in the Holy Land before his death, the Ramban left behind his family and community. At the age of seventy-two, after a long and perilous journey, he arrived at the port of Acre.

Soon afterward, he traveled to Jerusalem, where he was heartbroken by what he found.

The city lay in ruins. So few Jews remained that he could not even gather a minyan of ten men for communal prayer.

A Letter from Jerusalem

In a moving letter to his son, the Ramban described the desolation he witnessed: "What can I tell you about the condition of the land? Great is its abandonment, and greater still is its desolation. In general, the holier the place, the more devastated it is. Jerusalem is more desolate than all the rest..."

These words provide a firsthand account of the fulfillment of the Torah's prophecy centuries after it was written.

A Promise Hidden Within the Desolation

The Ramban teaches that the desolation of the Land of Israel during the centuries of exile was not merely a tragedy — it was also a source of hope.

The fact that no empire succeeded in permanently settling or restoring the land demonstrated the fulfillment of Hashem's promise: "I Myself will lay the land desolate, so that your enemies who dwell in it shall be astonished... Your land shall become desolate, and your cities shall lie in ruins."

For the Ramban, this was not simply evidence of exile; it was evidence that the land was patiently waiting for its rightful children to return.

May we merit to witness the complete ingathering of the exiles, the rebuilding of Jerusalem, and the final redemption, speedily in our days.