Parashat Matot-Masei
Is Living in the Land of Israel a Biblical Commandment?
Discover why Nachmanides considered settling the Land of Israel a positive Torah commandment and how he fulfilled this mitzvah by leaving Spain for the Holy Land
- Yonatan HaLevi
- | Updated
In this week's Torah portion, Parashat Masei, the Torah states: "You shall take possession of the land and settle in it, for I have given the land to you to possess it." (Numbers 33:53)
Nachmanides (the Ramban) explains:
"In my opinion, this is a positive commandment. God commands them to dwell in the land and inherit it because He has given it to them. They are not to reject the inheritance of the Lord. If they were to consider conquering and settling in another land, such as Shinar or Assyria, instead, they would be transgressing God's command.
This is also the basis for the strong emphasis our Sages placed on the mitzvah of living in the Land of Israel and on the prohibition against leaving it. For this reason, the Talmud rules that if a wife refuses to move with her husband to the Land of Israel, or if a husband refuses to move with his wife, the one refusing is regarded as being in rebellion. It is in this verse that we are commanded regarding this mitzvah, for it constitutes a positive commandment.
The Torah repeats this command in many places, such as: 'Come and possess the land' (Deuteronomy 1:8)."
This disagreement is also reflected in the enumeration of the 613 mitzvot. While Maimonides (the Rambam) does not count settling the Land of Israel as one of the 613 positive commandments, Nachmanides (the Ramban) explicitly includes it among them.
Rabbi Yehuda Margolin, in his book At the Foot of the Ramban, explains that the Ramban not only taught this interpretation but lived by it. In a sermon delivered on Rosh Hashanah after arriving in the Land of Israel, he described with profound emotion how the fulfillment of this mitzvah compelled him, late in life, to leave Spain, abandon his home and family, and journey to the Land of Israel, which at the time was largely desolate.
In his own moving words, he said: "This is what brought me out of my country and uprooted me from my place. I left my home, I abandoned my inheritance. I became like a raven to my sons and cruel to my daughters."
