The Land of Israel: A Historical Tapestry of Stillness and Hope

In the Torah portion Bechukotai, there are severe curses that describe what will happen to the people of Israel if they sin and abandon Hashem. But the aim of these curses is not vengeance; rather, it is to guide the people toward self-correction. It is stated within the curses: "I will make the land desolate, so that your enemies who settle on it shall be desolate as well." The fact that the foes could not successfully settle the land, which remained largely barren, is not a curse for us—instead, it is a testament to eventual redemption. The Children of Israel would not have been able to return if the land was occupied by others. Yet, after thousands of years, numerous conquests, and wars over this land, no one established a permanent presence. Unlike other nations, it simply remained largely uninhabited and unsuited for settlement.

The Ramban visited the land at the beginning of the millennium and wrote: "You will not find an inhabited land that is as good and spacious as it once was and now empty, for since we left, no nation or tongue has been able to resettle it successfully" (Ramban's commentary on the Torah, Leviticus 26:15).

The renowned writer Mark Twain, who visited the land in the 19th century after nearly a thousand years, described it as "a desolate country whose soil is rich enough, but is given over wholly to weeds—a silent mournful expanse. There was hardly a tree or a shrub anywhere. Even imagination couldn't grace it with life. The land of Israel lies in sackcloth and ashes, under the shadow of a curse that has withered its fields..."

In 1888, English scholar Sir John William Dawson stated: "To this day no nation has succeeded in establishing itself as such in the Land of Israel. No national unity or spirit has taken root there. An assorted collection of inadequate tribes have held the land like mere tenants, not as owners, seemingly awaiting the rightful heirs to own it permanently."

In 1695, Rolandy, a geographer, cartographer, and philologist, wrote in his book "A Tour of Palestine" about the land being mostly empty. The few inhabitants were concentrated in cities such as Jerusalem, Akko, Safed, Jaffa, Tiberias, and Gaza.

The English scholar John McGregor, who traveled through the Land of Israel in 1868 and documented his journey in "Rob Roy on the Jordan" (Hebrew edition, Ministry of Defense Press, 1982), also described the emptiness of the land and walking for tens of kilometers without seeing a soul.

Archaeologist Charles Warren, around 1882, wrote: "The land that was once a land flowing with milk and honey remains in its desolation. Few would deny that the Land of Israel lies under the chains of a curse" (Jerusalem of Down Below, p. 287).

That same year, the first Aliyah began. Jews started coming to the land, draining its swamps, and cultivating its soil. Even though the promised redemption had not yet fully materialized, the Land of Israel, which didn't yield its produce to adversaries, began giving plentifully to its children, reigniting hope for their redemption.