It’s our eternal ancestral heritage, our home
This week’s Torah portions, the third and final “double parshiot” of sefer Vayikra, is Behar-Bechukotai. Being in the Land of Israel, I’d like to focus on Parshat Behar, which deals with shmita and yoveland the concept of redemption of land known as geulat haaretz.
In Behar it says, “The Land shall not be sold in perpetuity for the Land is Mine, for you are sojourners and residents with Me.” Hashem is telling us and the whole world that the Land is His, we merely reside here. And that helps us understand the importance and wisdom of the first Rashi in the Torah (Bereishit 1:1) that explains why the Torah starts with maaseh bereishit (the Creation of the Universe) and not the first mitzvah to the Jewish people (to set the calendar).
That Hashem created the entire world and gave this Land, first to some other nations, and then to us, the Jewish people. This is the reason Eretz Yisrael is, as our parsha tells us eretz achuzatchem (Vayikra 25:24) — the land of your (our) ancestral heritage, andachuzat olam, an eternal possession. This is the message the rest of the world must hear: It is ours because Hashem GAVE IT TO US — all of it, from the (Jordan) River to the (Mediterranean) Sea.
The word achuza in various forms appears throughout the Tanach. It means estate or possession coming from the word “achaz,” to grasp, to hold on to the land, and the land also has a hold on him, an attachment to the owner.
It is used many times in Behar, but it is also used in sefer Bereishit in Parshat Chayeii Sarah when Avraham Avinu wants to purchase the land to bury his beloved Sarah. He asks of the inhabitants to sell him the land — “Tenu li achuzat kever imachem v’ekbera miti mil’phanai (Grant me an estate for a burial site with you, that I may bury my dead from before me.”
Notice that Avraham, who wandered from place to place, when it comes time to bury Sarah he wants an “achuzat kever,” not just a burial plot but an estate, a possession, an inheritance, “l’dor dor,” from generation to generation. That is why all the patriarchs and matriarchs will return and be buried in that achuzat kever in the Meaarat HaMachpela in Hevron.
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Later in Parshat Vayechi, Yaacov turns to Yosef and his two sons Ephraim and Menashe and says to them, Hashem promised me earlier (recorded in parshat Vayetze)at Luz-Beit El, which is identified in tradition as Har Hamoriyah: Hashem “said to me … V’natati et haaretz hazot l’zaracha acharecha achuzat olam (And I will give this land to your offspring after you as an eternal possession.”
Achuzat Olam, eternal possession, the same term used in our parsha: Ki achuzat olam hu lahem (Vayikra, 25:34).
And what land was given to Yosef and his descendants? A double portion — specifically the city of Shechem, the first place that Avraham Avinu made an altar when he entered the land of Canaan, as noted in Parshat Lech Lecha.
At that very spot, we are told that “Hashem appeared to Avram and said, ‘to your offspring I will give this land,’ so he built an altar there to Hashem, Who appeared to him” (Bereishit 12:7) — followed several chapters later with the mitzvah of brit milah and the prediction of the birth of Yitzchak with whom Hashem will keep his covenant, His brit, and the promise of “And I will give to you and to your offspring after you, the land of your sojourns, the whole of the land of Canaan, as an achuzat olam (everlasting possession), and I shall be a G-d to them.”
And finally, and most importantly, there is the city of Yerushalayim, Jerusalem. We know Jerusalem is not mentioned explicitly in the Torah; only later, when David Hamelech made it the capital of his kingdom after seven years of ruling from Hevron, did Yerushalayim become the official capital of a United Israel. King David finalized this by purchasing the land in Yerushalayim for a future Beit Hamikdash, as it records in sefer Shmuel and the Book of Chronicles).
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Though the words achuzat olam are not used regarding Yerushalayim, we see its many connections to Hevron and Shechem, where all of Israel is called achuzat olam, an eternal possession.
As we said before, Yaacov is promised at Luz-Beit El, all of Eretz Yisrael as an Achuzat Olam. This Beit El is identified as Har Hamoriya, the site of Akedat Yitzchak, which is the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, the site of the future Beit Hamikdash. That area is called Beit Elokim by Yaacov, preceded by visions of Angels. That is the SAME area, clearly known as Yerushalayim at the time of King David, when he purchased the area for an altar, and where the future Beit Hamikdash will be built, which was also preceded by the appearance of an angel and was called Beit Hashem Elokim by David Hamelech (sefer Divrei Hayamim1 22:1). Thus we see Yerushalayim , which is Luz- Beit El- Har Hamoriyah, is the very place where Hashem promises Yaacov all of the Land of Israel to him and his descendants as an achuzat olam!
And Hevron too is connected to Yerushalayim. The gematria of Hevron is 266, the same as the gematria of HaMoriah. Furthermore, the Mishna in Yoma confirms the close connection between Hevron and Yerushalayim. It asks, “when is the time for the slaughtering of the morning sacrifices at the temple in Jerusalem?” And answers, “When the eastern sky seen in Jerusalem is lit up even to Hevron.”
Finally, as is well known, all three — Hevron, Shechem and Yerushalayim — were purchased by Avraham, Yaakov and David respectively for money, in front of witnesses. We’ve got the proof and the deeds in our Tanach!
One last point. Twice in Behar it says Hashem gave us this land:
•Haaretz asher ani noten lachem (the Land that I give you)
•La’tet lachem et eretz Canaan (to give you the land of Canaan)
Hashem gave us this Land. All of it. In addition to that, parts of it were also bought and paid for. This message must be spread throughout the world. It is ours. We’re staying. We are not going anywhere.
Dr. Alan A. Mazurek is a retired neurologist, living in Great Neck, Jerusalem and Florida. He is a former chairman of the ZOA.
Write: Columnist@TheJewishStar.com
