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Parshat Lech Lecha
By: Rabbi Moshe Goodman, Kollel Ohr Shlomo, Hebron

בס"ד

לשכנו תדרשו

Seeking the Holy Presence in Our Holy Land 

"וַיֶּאֱהַ֣ל אַבְרָ֗ם וַיָּבֹ֪א וַיֵּ֪שֶׁב בְּאֵלֹנֵ֥י מַמְרֵ֖א אֲשֶׁ֣ר בְּחֶבְר֑וֹן וַיִּֽבֶן־שָׁ֥ם מִזְבֵּ֖חַ לַֽה'"

"Fathers of the world! Beloved of above! How can you rest in your tombs, while we, descendants of your offspring captive in hope are wearied and have found no rest, pray unto the Almighty!" (Prayer at Maarat HaMachpela)

Hebron is, as seen in our title quote, both the first place in the Holy Land settled by our first Father Avraham, and is, of course, his last place of rest. If one carefully examines the verses about Avraham before Hebron, one sees that Avraham went to various places in the Holy Land, but the first time the term 'vayeshev' - 'to settle' - is used is none other but Hebron, the roots of our People's connection to the Holy Land. If so, what is the primary definition of 'settling the Land' that sets it apart from traveling, building altars, and other important activities that Avraham did before? Rashi in parshat Tazria explains that the the verb 'vayeshev' refers to staying a considerable amount of time, but, with this said, we are still left with questions such as what is considered a considerable amount of time and/or does the mindset of the individual influence this concept of 'staying'.

To answer these questions let us examine the halachic definition of settlement in context of the keeping of a second day of yom tov in the Diaspora. Although some poskim differ, the main accepted custom is that the individual's mindset does influence his/her status as being 'settlers of the Land of Israel', who observe one day of yom tov or 'settlers of the Diaspora', who observe two days of yom tov. Nevertheless, many poskim have written that the individual's mindset is not the only criteria, and if one lives in a specific location for more than a year, even if he intends to go back from where he came, he must obey the customs of the location he presently resides. This said, 'Nahalat Yakov' suggests that we may say that the criteria for a 2^nd day of yom tov, i.e being considered a 'settler (noun) of the Land',  may be different than the criteria for committing the mitzvah of 'settling (verb) the Land', which may be solely dependent on the person's motives regardless of time-frame. Nevertheless, according to the Hasam Sofer it comes forth that even among those who intend to permanently settle the Land there are numbers of levels that are dependent on the time-frame one actually settled in the Land, ranging from 1 day, to 30 days - upon which it is said 'one is relieved of all sin', to 12 months or more - upon which one is called a 'son of the Land'.

In truth, our entire People, regardless of where they live, are all called 'sons to HaShem' (Deut.  14, 1), while the settlers of the Land of HaShem's Holy Presence accentuate this identity by becoming 'sons of the Holy Land', 'sons of the Holy Presence', as 'sons' who have returned, after close to two thousand years, to the 'table of our Father in Heaven' (see Brachot 3a).     

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Real Stories from the Holy Land #94:

"Several decades ago my parents were friends with  family A which moved to Kiryat Arba. About 2 years ago my husband and I almost bought a house in Kiryat Arba, but the deal was laid off just before it was finalized, so the next year we bought a different house very nearby the first. It 'turned out' that the daughter of family A bought the house we almost bought and became a good friend of mine. Only after becoming friends for several months, did I discover that she was no other than the daughter of my parent's friends many years before, hundreds of kilometers away." (M.H.G)    

Sources: Piskei Tshuvot 496, 6, see 'Nahalat Yakov' at length p. 646-648 

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