Why is a Land so Important to Judaism?
Why is a piece of land so important to Judaism?
The very first commandment to Abraham, the first Jew, was "Go from your land, from your birthplace, and from your father's house, to the land that I will show you”. As soon as Abraham reached the land of Cannan, G-d told him, "To your offspring, I will give this land". At the conclusion of the portion we read about the covenant G-d made with Abraham, the covenant of circumcision, “This is My covenant, which you shall observe between Me and between you and between your seed after you, that every male among you be circumcised". The covenant of circumcision is related to the covenant of the land: "And I will establish My covenant between Me and between you and between your seed after you throughout their generations as an everlasting covenant, to be to you for a God and to your seed after you. And I will give you and your seed after you the land of your sojournings, the entire land of Canaan for an everlasting possession, and I will be to them for a God".
Why is the land so important to Judaism? And why is the promise of the land related to the covenant of circumcision?
Abraham was the first Jew, the first to discover the one G-d through the power of his own curiosity and intellectual inquiry. Abraham "called in the name of Hashem", taught people about monotheism. But the story of Abraham and the story of Judaism is more than a story about faith and more than a story about living a holy lifestyle. The story of Abraham, and the purpose of Judaism is to connect heaven and earth, to infuse the physical world with holiness.
Circumcision, "My covenant shall be in your flesh as an everlasting covenant", represents the primary purpose of Judaism, not to transcend and connect to the heavens for their own sake, but rather the connection to G-d should permeate and change the physical body. And this is why the land is critical. The land of Israel, the Holy Land, where the soil itself is holy, like circumcision, symbolizes the goal and purpose of Judaism: sanctify every part of this physical earth.
As summarized so beautifully in the new edition of the Chumash, elucidated by Rabbi Yanki Tauber:
Indeed, if there is a common thread to the themes of Lech Lecha, it is this: the imperative to concretize spiritual ideals as actual, physical realities. Hence the emphasis on the land - a defined physical space - as the ground for the actualization of Israel's covenant with God. Hence the emphasis and the need for physical progeny for Abraham and Sarah - much of our Parsha revolves around the anticipation of this physical child - although Abraham and Sarah produced spiritual offsprings by the thousands. Hence the emphasis on the material wealth Abraham and Sarah extracted from Egypt, and the material wealth their children would extract from that same place 400 years later. Hence Abraham's identity change from "exalted father" to "father of multitudes". Hence the communication of Lech Lecha in Abraham circumcision - the ultimate physical Mitzvah.
Adapted from the teachings of the Rebbe, Vayere 1991