The Land Is Holy: What Bechukotai Teaches About Israel’s Spiritual Nature

Parshat Bechukotai begins with the prohibition against stone monuments and engraved stones, continues with the laws of Shemittah (the Sabbatical Year) and Yovel (the Jubilee), and concludes with the terrifying curses that will befall Israel if they sin.

What connects these three sections, and why do they appear at the end of the Book of Vayikra?

From Personal Holiness to the Holiness of the Land

The Book of Vayikra teaches the commandments of holiness. Beyond the moral duty to be good, honest, and obedient to God, there is also a higher calling — to sanctify the material world.

A person must learn to govern desire, to restrain the body from indulging in everything available to it. Through this self-control, a person becomes holy — elevated above instinct, and living with divine purpose.

As the book concludes, the Torah introduces an even higher level of holiness: the holiness of the Land of Israel.

Just as a holy person influences his surroundings, and when he rises spiritually his home too becomes a place of holiness, so too the Land of Israel, the home of the Jewish people, possesses intrinsic sanctity.

It must remain pure of anything that defiles holiness. Not only must the idols and pagan altars of Canaan be destroyed, but even objects once used for God’s service — such as standing stones (matzevot), which were permitted and even built by the patriarchs are now forbidden, because they later became associated with idolatrous practices.

Similarly, an even mashchit — a special stone used for bowing before God, is prohibited. The land must be cleansed of every trace of impurity or imitation of pagan worship.

The Deeper Meaning of Shemittah and Yovel

The laws of Shemittah (the Sabbatical Year) and Yovel (the Jubilee) certainly promote social justice:

• Debts are canceled.

• Slaves go free.

• The fruits of the fields are open to all.

Beneath this social dimension lies a deeper spiritual message: ​“For the land is Mine,” says the Lord. The land does not belong to us. God allows us to dwell in it, but it remains His sanctuary — a physical manifestation of divine presence: “The place of Your dwelling You have prepared, O Lord — a sanctuary, O Lord, which Your hands have established.” (Shemot 15:17)

The Land of Israel is not mere real estate; it is a sacred space and a dwelling of the Divine. We are therefore not to behave as if we are its owners.

When the Land Rejects Its Inhabitants

If the people of Israel fail to observe the Sabbatical year, the Torah says the land will “vomit them out.”

This is not punishment in the simple sense, but a spiritual consequence. Someone who enters a holy place without understanding how to behave cannot remain there.

The Land of Israel receives its inhabitants only when they recognize its sanctity and when they treat it as a place where the Divine Presence rests.

We can dwell in it only so long as we guard its holiness.