The daughters of Tzelafchad the son of Chepher, the son of Gilead, the son of Machir, the son of Manasseh, of the families of Manasseh the son of Yosef, came forward...(Bamidbar 27:1) A very significant portion of the parshas Pinchas is dedicated to the chapter of the daughters of Tzlafchad’s request to receive an inheritance of the Land. The Torah in the verse above traces Tzelafchad’s lineage all the way to Yosef. Why? Quoting the words of our sages, Rashi explains that the Torah wants to show to us that Yosef and the daughters of Tzelafchad had something very precious in common:
יוסף חבב את הארץ, שנאמר (בראשית נ כה) והעליתם את עצמותי וגו', ובנותיו חבבו את הארץ, שנאמר (במדבר כז, ד) תנה לנו אחוזה.
Yoseph חבב (cherished) the Land, as it says, “and you shall bring up my bones...” (Shemos 13:19), and daughters of Tzelafchad חבבו (cherished) the Land, as it says, “Allow us to have a portion in the Land”.
Why did our sages chose the word חיבה in this case? Why didn’t the sages simply say אהבו את הארץ (they loved the Land)? What is the difference between את הארץ לאהוב and את הארץ לחבב.
Based on the cases where these words are used, it appears that לאהוב (to love) means to have a feeling of emotional pleasure from understanding the virtue of whatever the person is loving. לחבב means to do something that reflects your love. The praise of Yosef and the daughters of Tzlafchad is that they didn’t just love the Eretz Yisroel, they expressed that love through an action. Yosef asked to buried there. Daughters of Tzlafchad asked to have an inheritance in the land. (A similar example of the word לחבב is found in Rashi’s commentary on parshas Bo. The Torah says that when we came out from Egypt we carried the leftovers of the matzah and marror on our shoulders. Why? Rashi says: מחבבים היו את המצוה. We didn’t just love the mitzvos of matza and marror. We expressed that love through an action - carrying the matza and marror on our shoulders.)
You might be asking yourself right now, if the Torah praises Yosef and daughters of Tzlafchad so much because they were את הארץ מחבב, how can I be את הארץ מחבב? One practical way to be את הארץ מחבב is to speak positively about Eretz Yisroel.
The Ben Ish Chai is teaching that from the story that’s told in Gemorah Kesuvos (112b) we learn a person should guard his mouth and tongue from expressing any negative speech about the air, weather, produce or structures of Eretz Yisroel.
