Shabbos Parashas Mattot-Maasei - 5775

Shabbos Parashas Mattot-Maasei - 5775

Rabbi Hal Miller

You shall take possession of the land and you shall settle in it, for to you have I

given the land to possess it. [Bamidbar 33:53]

Our verse has at least three parts, "you shall take possession", "you shall settle in it",

and "to you I have given the land to possess it". At first glance, all three sound similar.

What is our verse telling us?

Ramban says that the entire verse is one, that it constitutes one of the 613 mitzvos of

the Torah. We could ask why Ramban spends so much time making this point, but

the answer is a couple verses earlier. In [33:51] it says, "When you pass over the Jordan

into the land of Canaan." This preliminary could be read as limiting the commands in

our verse to just that one instance in history, as opposed to for all times. Ramban,

applying the fact that the 613 mitzvos are meant to apply in all times, even though many

are temporarily suspended due to our exile, is ensuring that we know that the directive

to take the land is an actual mitzva.

Rashi sees our verse as proof of why the Torah begins with the Creation, instead of the

story of the Jewish people. Only G-d can assign portions of land to whomever He wishes,

because He created it, and it is His to assign out. Thus, instead of one of the 613 mitzvos,

we can understand this as a directive of the people of that time to fulfill His wishes.

In many places, the Torah tells us that this particular land is given to us, for all time, and

that we must be careful not to fall into sin, soiling the land's sanctity. The Gemora in Ketubos

says that we should always live in the land, and never leave it.

Sforno and others look at the verse as being an ordered progression, take possession, then

settle. He says that we must take possession by wiping out the idol-worshipers, and only

then will our children inherit the land as a legacy. Rav Hirsch adds that, "Hence you cannot

dispense with the first preliminary condition under which G-d hands the land over to you."

Rashi further points out that the verse preceding ours says that we must drive out all the

inhabitants and destroy their idols. Given that, why would our verse tell us to take

possession, unless that had some meaning other than drive out and destroy? While to

Ramban, the mitzvah is to settle in the land, to Rashi, the mitzvah is to drive the others

out. Dwelling in the land, according to Rashi, is a promised reward for carrying out the

cleansing of the soil.

There are those, even today, who say that we have no command to live in the land, that

this mitzva applied to Moshe, Yehoshua, and David. Others, such as the Chasam

Sofer, ask how it could be that the directive could only apply to those generations, most

of whom were not there at the time of Moshe receiving this command, and not apply to

others as well. If it was right for David and Solomon, it must be that the command applies

to generations other than the people of the Desert, at least under some set of circumstances,

meaning whenever conditions allow.

Today, conditions do allow for Jews to live in the land. Thus, this mitzva must apply,

and we all should take whatever steps are necessary to make that a reality.