THE THREE PRINCIPLES FOR DIVIDING THE LAND
Our holy land, the Land of Israel, “a land which Havayah your God seeks it, the eyes of Havayah your God are upon it, from the beginning of the year to year’s end,” was divided between all the Jews, each and every one of us, based on three principles.
The first principle is found in our parashah, “the land will be divided by a lottery” (ץרָאֵלָחֵל יָרֹגוּ בְךַא). The lottery is above and beyond reason. It corresponds to serving God with simple faith and complete self-nullification to God, who is the Master of His will. The task of succumbing to this principle is placed upon the root and essence of the Divine soul that dwells within every Jew.
The second principle is, “According to Havayah” (י הויִּל פַע'), which Rashi explains refers to Ru’ach HaKodesh (the holy spirit) residing within the High Priest when he wears the Urim and Thumim. This principle corresponds first and foremost to the sefirah of knowledge (da’at) which unites and includes all ten inner faculties of the soul from wisdom—which is also referred to as the wellspring, from which the Ru’ach HaKodesh is drawn—to kingdom—also referred to as lower wisdom. Dividing the land based on this principle is meant to rectify the character attributes (the emotional and habitual sefirot: from loving-kindness to foundation), which all depend on knowledge, as in the verse, “Even without knowledge, the soul is not good.”
The third principle, dividing the land based on rational considerations, is also found in our parashah, “You must give a larger inheritance to the large [tribe] and you must give a smaller inheritance to a smaller [tribe].” In our service of God, this principle reflects the requirement that, “You shall refrain from evil, but do good.” In other words, every individual has a different “lot” in life, each based on the particular mission his or her soul is required to complete, “to the large... a larger, and to the smaller.” To properly rectify one’s “lot,” one needs to engage life and his character through both pillars of “refraining from evil” and “doing good.”
To summarize, the three methods employed to divide the land can be seen as a super-rational reason behind the division, an inspired reason, and a rational reason, which can also be described as division based on simple faith, on Ru’ach HaKodesh, and on rationality.
THE THREE PERFECTIONS
The foundation of our survival as the eternal people, the people chosen by God as His inheritance (as it were) in this world is our adherence to the three perfections, which are interdependent: the perfection of Torah, the perfection of the people, and the perfection of the Land. All three are as hinted to by the gematria that “Torah, people, Land” (ץרֶם אָה עָרוּת) equals 1012 and the value of “one” (דָחֶא), when the letter alef is considered equal to 1000 (the word for thousand in Hebrew is spelled just like the name of the letter alef: ףֶלָף אֶלֶא).
One of the most prominent principles pertaining to those things that are holy is hitkallelut (inter-inclusion), meaning that when there are several aspects and levels that are connected together, it is necessary that each one be found and revealed in its counterpart. When considering the division of the Land of Israel in the physical sense (and likewise in the service of God in both spiritual and physical rectification, as mentioned above), all three perfections—Torah, people, and Land—are found to correspond to the three methods for division.
TORAH, PEOPLE, AND LAND IN THE DIVISION OF THE LAND OF ISRAEL
The division according to a lottery is the aspect of “land within the land” represents a level of choice, which is super-rational, akin to Adam choosing Eve as his mate and then explaining his choice with the words, “this time [she is] bone of my bones, etc.” —meaning that the lottery revealed the essential connection between each parcel of land and the particular soul of a Jew that is essentially and super-rationally connected to that parcel.
The division according to Ru’ach HaKodesh corresponds to the aspect of people within the Land, a concept captured in the words, “I will pour out My spirit... and your sons and daughters shall prophesy....” God’s spirit is included in the parcel of land that goes to each individual and only by dwelling and developing that parcel can each individual reach his ultimate perfection and complete his or her mission in life, a state that is akin to prophecy.
The division according to reason—“to the many, etc., and to the few, etc.”—corresponds to the aspect of Torah within the Land. The Torah’s is what sets a person’s reason straight. Torah is what refines the intellect of the natural soul. By the intellect of the Divine soul strengthened by the power of studying the Torah (that emerged from wisdom), our rational mind is clarified and cleansed.
TORAH, PEOPLE, AND LAND IN OUR CONNECTION WITH THE LAND OF ISRAEL
We find the same structure of three reasons regarding our connection to the holy soil of our Land When addressing this issue, the Lubavitcher Rebbe mentioned three reasons that we are obligated, with full strength and might, to never hand over any part of the whole Land of Israel, including the Sinai, “until the River of Egypt.”
First, for reasons of our security—piku’ach nefesh. This ruling applies equally to Jewish places of settlement both in the Land of Israel and in the Diaspora, but it is especially relevant to a settlement located on a frontier. The legal ruling is that even if enemies attack us because of “straw and chaff,” we must go out in force against them with weapons, even on Shabbat (as ruled in the Shulchan Aruch). With regard to any settlement in the Land of Israel, this reason is the aspect of Torah within the land.
Second, for reasons of gratitude for the gift given to us by the Creator, which in our generation is a gift given through open miracles, when the few defeated the many. A miracle does not occur without reason. To return such a gift, God forbid, borders on denial of the personal Divine Providence God has shown us. This reason is the aspect of “people within the land”—the gift of the God of Israel to the people of Israel, a gift from a father to a son.
Thirdly, we must hold on to every inch of land because of the sanctity of the Land of Israel, and the necessity of its wholeness. This reason is the aspect of “land within the land” and the aspect of the supernatural lottery, as explained above.
These same three “reasons” apply to the issue of the presence of non-Jews in our holy land (in all those parts of the land currently held in our hands until God will broaden our borders to the borders promised to Abraham). The Torah commands us, “Do not show them favor,” which the sages explain means “do not give them possession of [or even rest on] the Land”) and “They shall not dwell in your land.”
First, for reasons of security, etc. (as the Rebbe said that in the Old City of Jerusalem there now dwell such and such tens of thousands of “terrorists,” and no one pays attention, etc. And so is the case in every place in the Land), and in order that the verse not be fulfilled: “And if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you, it shall come to pass that those whom you let remain of them shall be thorns in your eyes and pricks in your sides, and they shall harass you....” This is the aspect of “Torah within the land” as above. This reason is based on straight rational thought.
Second, for the reason of “gratitude” to God who gave us our Holy Land so that we be able to live up to His aspiration that we be for Him a treasured people by to meriting to attain through our living in the Land Divine inspiration. The spiritual (or even, God forbid, physical) “assimilation” that results from the presence of non-Jews among us corrupts (be it consciously or subconsciously) our spirit, especially the spirit of the youth, and influences us to be “like all the nations,” God forbid. To drive this point in, the Torah warns us, “They shall not dwell in your land lest they make you sin against Me,” “and they will make your sons go astray after their gods”—this is the aspect of “people within the land.”
Finally, for the reason of the very fulfillment of the commandment not to give dwelling and settlement to non-Jews in the land, as the clear ruling of our teacher the Rambam: that it is forbidden to allow to dwell in the land (even temporary dwelling or passage for trade) anyone who is not a ger toshav (i.e., a resident alien). This status cannot be conferred upon a non-Jew except at a time when the Jubilee is practiced, and consequently, today it is forbidden to allow any non-Jew to remain in the land. This is the aspect of “land within the land” (as the necessity of the wholeness of the land from its own side). This reason especially depends on simple faith (the aspect of lot), that so it must be and so it is possible.
(based on Malchut Yisra’el volume 1, pp. 227-232)
