At first the Bas Ayin’s family had a hard time adjusting to the new climate and harsh conditions in Eretz Yisroel, but he did his best to help them adjust and accept the hardships with love.
While the Rebbetzin complained about the flat dry pitas, she was unused to baking from the coarse flour that she had to hand-grind herself, the Avritsher Rav’s reaction was the exact opposite. The Bas Ayin was delighted to eat such bread. Again and again he would excitedly recite the pasuk, “And it shall be when you consume the bread of the Land,” repeating it with happiness and joy! So saying, he would break bread and joyfully share it with all those around. The members of his household and his followers later testified that they had never eaten such tasty bread as those pitas that the Avritsher Rav handed out himself that the Rebbetzin had baked.
The Avritsher Rav was in fact so delighted to be able to eat the bread of Eretz Yisrael that one year when there was a severe drought and the local populace was forced to use imported grain from Chutz Lo’oretz, the Bas Ayin refused to eat any bread that was baked with such grain. He justified his actions based on the following argument:
It says in Vayikra 25:20: “What shall we eat during the seventh year?” Why would they worry about a shortage or lack of food for observing Shemitta, when they could easily have solved the problem by importing grain from Chutz Lo’oretz? Rather, the answer lies with the end of the very same pasuk: “because we shall not be able to plant or reap and gather our own grain.” The emphasis is placed on “our own grain.” What shall we do if we lack our own grain from Eretz Yisrael? This then is a clear proof straight from the Torah, concluded the Avritsher Rav, that the primary objective is to eat from the produce of Eretz Yisrael.
