Rashi (Bereishis 1:1):
R. Yitzchak said: [G-d] need not have begun the Torah but from “This month shall be for you” because it is the first commandment that Israel was commanded. What is the reason that [G-d] began with the book of Genesis? Because [He wished to convey the message of the verse] He told his people the power of His acts in order to give them the estate of nations.” So that if the nations of the world will say to Israel, “You are bandits, for you conquered the lands of the seven nations,” Israel will say to them, “The whole earth belongs to the Holy One, Blessed be He. He created it, and He gave it to the one found proper in His eyes. By His will, He gave it to them, and by His will, He took it from them and gave it to us.”
R. Yitzchak’s comment highlights a most striking and jarring contrast. On the one hand, “Of all lands, Eretz Yisroel alone is holy,” it is the choicest of lands. Eretz Yisroel is the focal point for divine providence. “A land that Hashem, your G-d, seeks out; the eyes of Hashem, your G-d, are always upon it...”
On the other hand, the seven nations were abominable and loathsome. “When Hashem, your G-d, will cut down the nations... beware for yourself lest you be attracted after them...and lest you seek out their gods...you shall not do so because...they have done to their gods everything that is an abomination of Hashem, that He hates...” In fact, these nations were so thoroughly corrupt and singularly wicked that the Torah singles them out for eradication: “You shall not allow any person from the cities of these peoples that Hashem, your G-d, gives you as an inheritance, to live.”
What are we to glean from the fact that Eretz Yisroel was originally given to the seven nations?
This jarring contrast was intended to foreshadow a fundamental historical pattern—indeed, a veritable law of history—and metaphysical truth. Sanctity arouses violent opposition. Ruminating in a historical context, one might have theorized that morally debased and religiously corrupt people would simply ignore sacred sites. Such sites lie beyond their ken and orbit of interests. However, this has never been the case. On the contrary, those people(s) who constitute and represent forces of evil and impurity are perversely drawn to holy sites. They seek to suppress sanctity by gaining sovereignty over such sacred places from those who would safeguard their sanctity. Thus, for example, Titus, of all of his conquests, singled out the conquest of Jerusalem to be celebrated by the construction of the Roman Arch of Triumph.
This historical pattern continues unabated in present times. Current Palestinian nationalism did not exist while East Jerusalem, including Har Habayis, was occupied by Jordan. Palestinian nationalism is a response to Jewish sovereignty over these sacred sites.
The initial giving of Eretz Yisroel to the seven nations foreshadowed this historical pattern and metaphysical reality. Precisely because of its sanctity, Eretz Yisroel would arouse the forces of evil and become the focal point in the struggle between Good and Evil.
RABBI MAYER TWERSKY
