There are teachings of Chazal that seeming contradict each other. It says in the Mishnah that “Torah study is equal to all the mitzvos put together.” Torah learning is the most important thing.
On the other hand, the Gemara discusses which is greater, learning or deeds, and it concludes that “Learning is greater because it brings one to do deeds.” So the benefit of Torah learning is in that it brings us to perform good deeds, to do mitzvos. This points to mitzvah observance as being the most important thing. That which brings a person to mitzvah observance has the greatest value. Along the same lines, Chazal say that “the goal of wisdom is teshuvah and good deeds.”
But if the goal is teshuvah and good deeds, why did they say that “learning is greater”?
The answer is that our avodas Hashem is mainly about developing a relationship with Hakadosh Baruch Hu. Whatever it is we may be doing or involved in, we need to remember Hashem and bring Him into the goal and purpose of it. Hashem created the whole world so we will recognize Him and fear Him. So we will feel that we are standing before the King. So we will fulfill רבת אלקים לי טוב ואני ק – “For me, closeness to G-d is the greatest good.”
Sefer Nefesh Hachayim explains how great Torah learning is, and that learning Torah lishmah means learning it for its own sake, for the sake of the learning itself. However, the goal of learning Torah lishmah is so that by attaching ourselves to Torah, we will attain a strong attachment to the Giver of the Torah. This is what it says there:
A person should intend to attach himself, by his learning, to the Torah, to Hakadosh Baruch Hu. That is, to attach himself with all his strength to the word of Hashem, to Torah study, and he is thereby truly attached to Hashem, so to speak. Because Hashem and His Will are one, as it says in the Zohar. Every law and every halachah in the holy Torah is His Will....
Chazal are presenting us with the proper way to reach the goal of closeness to Hashem. One way is direct and practical. By doing good deeds, a person can attain closeness to Hashem. This what Chazal meant when they said that good deeds are greater. However, the Gemara comes to the conclusion that only by means of Torah learning can a person attain this goal. Thus they said that learning is greater. Because it is the greatest means by which a person draws close to Hakadosh Baruch Hu.
Attachment to Hashem is found more in Torah than in all the practical mitzvos. If not for learning, one would not come to good deeds. It is impossible to draw close to Hakadosh Baruch Hu without Torah learning. The goal of closeness and attachment to Hakadosh Baruch Hu can be attained only by putting effort into Torah study. This is what gives practical mitzvah observance its power.
Now let’s get back to the subject, which is Eretz Yisrael. We can understand the point through a metaphor. Let’s say a person gives a blessing to his friend that he should “build a bayis ne’eman b’Yisrael.” What is he saying? Does he mean that the house is the most important thing? What about shalom bayis? What about the furniture and appliances in the house? What about health and parnassah? Why does he emphasize the house?
Because everything is included in “bayis ne’eman.” When he says the word “house,” he means everything that comprises it and goes along with it.
It’s the same with Eretz Yisrael. It is the “house” that holds within it all the virtues of Torah and mitzvos. Just as a house is where one lives practically, including deeds that require privacy, so Eretz Yisrael is the place where the life of Torah and mitzvos takes place, the life of attachment to Hakadosh Baruch Hu. Our attachment and closeness to Hashem are an intimate matter. They require a “house.” That’s Eretz Yisrael.
And that’s what Hashem was saying to Moshe Rabbeinu. The time has come to save the Jewish people and take them out of the slavery of Egypt and bring them up to a “good and spacious land.” When we get to Eretz Yisrael, we will be able to live a full Torah life. We will dwell there together as one family in one house, so to speak, and there will be perfect deveikus between Klal Yisrael and Hakadosh Baruch Hu. “And this is the sign for you,” this is the sign that such wonderful deveikus is possible. The proof is, “You shall serve G-d on this mountain.”
The Giving of the Torah, which is the reality of a life of wonderful attachment and closeness to Hashem, is the sign of the goal of connection and deveikus between the Jewish people and Hashem.
This is why the Avos, too, were promised Eretz Yisrael. Because the goal of it all is to live together with Hashem. That requires a “house” to live in, which is Eretz Yisrael. However, the actual connection and deveikus comes through Torah and mitzvos, of course. Eretz Yisrael without this is nothing. It’s like an empty four walls.
Sefiras Ha’omer counts from the Omer offering to the new grain offering. The Omer was of barley. Barley is animal fodder. The new grain offering on Shavu’os was of wheat. Wheat is human food. The count-up from animal fodder to human food is the spiritual growth and progression from a natural, animalistic state to a spiritual state. Only humans have the capacity for spirituality and attachment to Hakadosh Baruch Hu. Between Pesach and Shavu’os we grow into the spirituality that we were created for. It is the state of deveikus to Hakadosh Baruch Hu.
