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“Blessed are You HaShem our God Master of the Universe Who has enlivened us, sustained us, and allowed us to reach this time.” The blessing of 'Sheheyianu', by principle, may be said on the purchase of a house in addition to other matters called for in halacha. That said, some poskim are somewhat skeptical about saying this blessing on the purchase of a house. Even so, in regard to a house in the Land of Israel it is proper even according to these opinions to at least prepare a meal for family and/or friends to praise HaShem on His kindness and bless Shehianu on a new fruit with the intention to, in addition, bless HaShem on the house one has purchased.

This ruling is partially based on  the ruling of the Magen Avraham who ascertains that only in the Land of Israel is the ceremony of 'hanukat habayit' – dedicating a house – considered a 'mitzva feast' (seudat mitzvah). This assertion can be based on the Rambam's ruling based on the Yerushalmi Sotah (8, 4) that only if one builds a house in the Land of Israel does one return from battle, as the verses in Dvarim Parshat Shoftim stipulate. There the Torah states that before battle all the soldiers are told that if any of them has built/bought a house or planted a vineyard within the past year he is to go back to his home and not go out to battle.

Here we should note that according to our Sages and halacha this law of 'returning from battle' applies only in an optional battle to increase the borders of Israel, and not in a mandatory/'mitzva' battle to save the lives of Israel, to defeat Amalek, etc. in which these people are not exempt from battle.

The Yerushalmi infers from superfluous terms in these verses that only if someone has built/bought a house or planted a vineyard/5 fruit-bearing trees (Rambam) in the Land of Israel, which is considered a mitzva, does one return from battle to commit this mitzva. From these laws pertaining to returning from battle in order to commit the mitzva of settling the Land, we can learn yet more valuable lessons on what is considered a significant enough investment in the settlement of the Land of Israel in order to prefer this investment over going out to battle.

This said, we also find that our Sages interpreted the concepts of 'house' and 'vineyard' in more general terms, not only in the halachic context of returning from battle, but also as generally signifying a place to live ('house') and livelihood ('vineyard'). Thus, in this way one who supports housing and livelihood in the Land of Israel can also be considered to have invested significantly to this important mitzvah/value of settling the Land considered equivalent to all mitzvot of the Torah (Sifri Ekev). Of course, this is definitely true of Hebron, the first Jewish settlement of antiquity and the settlement-frontier of our future. 

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Real Stories from the Holy Land #126

"Since I became a bar-mitzva, I have never missed praying with a minyan, thank God. One night, I came back from a wedding at 3am, and I remembered that I had still not prayed Maariv. I went to a shteiblach ('minyan factory') but no-one was there to pray at this hour, so I went to the 'Zichron Moshe' neighborhood shul (in Jerusalem) which is known to have minyans till dawn. However, waiting a long while, even in 'Zichron Moshe' there was no-one to pray with. I started learning the parshat hashavua Vayetze from which our Sages learn that Yakov our Father enacted the Maariv prayer. Moved by this, I began to pray that HaShem grant me to pray properly with a minyan in Yakov's merit. After 13 minutes, 7 minutes before dawn (the last time to pray Maariv - in winter about 5:30 am) suddenly 4 people showed up to pray Maariv, a fifth person came by a cab from 'Shuafat' which was a 1/4 hour ride away, (with me 6 Jews actually praying as needed by halacha). Then we added 3 people who 'happened' to be in the shul (and already prayed) and the tenth man just came to pray Shacharit. So I prayed the most moving Maariv of my life…" Y.R

Sources: Rambam Mlachim veMlhamot, 7, 13, Magen Avraham 568, 5