Living in Israel? You Have Been Granted a Wonderful Mitzvah. Everything You Wanted to Know About the Mitzvah of Settling the Land of Israel

The Talmud in Berachot states: "Hashem gave three good gifts to Israel, and He gave them only through suffering, and these are: Torah, the Land of Israel, and the World to Come." Here are 10 facts about the preciousness of the mitzvah of settling the Land of Israel.

1. The 'Pele Yoetz' writes: "One who dwells in the Land of Israel should constantly rejoice in his continuous mitzvah, and all suffering should be insignificant in his eyes due to his love for it." (Entry 'Land of Israel')

2. The 'Charedim' wrote: "And the sufferings of the Land of Israel, whether from nations or illnesses – they are an altar of atonement." (Section on commandments dependent on the Land).

3. The author of the 'Charedim' explains his words: In the final letters of the verse: "And it shall be when you come to the land which Hashem gives to you as an inheritance," the word "naka" (crippled) is formed – from the language of deduction. "And the explanation of this matter," writes Rabbi Elazar Azkari, "is that through the troubles in the Land of Israel, sins are diminished and reduced, and the people dwelling in it have their iniquity forgiven, as it is written: 'And He will atone for His land and His people.' And specifically for minor sins that people repent and regret, these sufferings purify, and at the time of death one enters directly into the Garden of Eden."

4. In 'Kol HaTor', it is also explained that suffering in the Land of Israel deducts from the sufferings of the birth pangs of the Messiah.

5. In 'Ahavat Yehonatan' it is explained that the sufferings of the Land of Israel, when accepted with love, rectify the failures that the people of Israel had regarding their connection to the Land of Israel throughout history. These are his words: "When they will endure many troubles, and nevertheless will not abandon Hashem and their inheritance – the Holy Land, may it be rebuilt and established speedily in our days, this is the essence of their repentance, for repentance must be in the same place and with the same deed. And their main sin during the time of the Temple – was their descent to Egypt, as the verse states: 'Woe to those who go down to Egypt,' and from this developed great sins, and therefore their future salvation will be that they will not abandon their inheritance."

6. The author of the 'Charedim' elaborates further on the magnitude of the obligation to cherish the Land: "Every Jewish person must cherish the Land of Israel and come to it from the ends of the earth – with great longing like a son to his mother's embrace, for the beginning of our sin that established weeping for generations was because we rejected it, as it is said: 'And they rejected the desirable land.' And in the redemption of our souls, it will soon be, as it is written: 'For Your servants desired its stones and favored its dust,' and there it says: 'You will arise and have mercy on Zion.'"

7. The author of the 'Charedim' adds further: "Therefore, the Amoraim would kiss its dust and stones upon coming to it, and how good and pleasant it is to sing a song of friendship which Rabbi Yehuda Halevi established for it – with great love, beginning with the song: 'Holy Land, precious and delightful,' so we plead to Hashem that He not cast us away from it."

8. And what about those dwelling outside the Land? The author of the 'Charedim' writes: "Even those near and far who are outside it, it is fitting for them to yearn for it."

9. The Vilna Gaon was known for his tremendous love for the Holy Land. In his commentary on the Shulchan Aruch, he wrote that the mitzvah to settle the Land applies even today. The Vilna Gaon himself attempted to journey to the Land, but during his journey, he was forced to turn back. How precious the Land was in his eyes can be learned from the letter he sent to his family while on his way to the Land of Israel: "And I, praise to God, am traveling to the Holy Land that everyone yearns to see, the desire of all Israel and the delight of Hashem." ('Alim LiTerufah')

10. The disciples of the Vilna Gaon, who ascended to the Land of Israel at the instruction of their great teacher, wrote in a letter sent from the Holy Land: "Indeed, how glorious is dwelling in the good Land, and truly how wonderful is the love of our Land, truly how beautiful is the holiness of the splendor of its dwelling and its ways, its praise and its exaltedness, its tranquility and its perfection, the goodness of its dust and stones, the goodness of its produce and its fruits and vegetables, the goodness of the merit of its air, the goodness of attaining its Torah, the goodness of its many mitzvot, the goodness of the purity of its sanctities, the goodness of the ways of its four cubits, saving people and bringing them to life in the World to Come, atoning for the deceased in its resting places, a land that gives life first in its revival, the Torah praised it with the blessing of its praises, the Torah exalted it with the abundance of its exaltedness, and who can glorify the greatness of the glory of the queen in all her aspects." It is worth noting that the disciples of the Vilna Gaon lived in the Holy Land with self-sacrifice. During their time, there were harsh decrees from the Arab government, many plagues and diseases, and even the earthquake in Safed, which killed thousands of them.