Every Mitzvah Embedded in the Land

The foundation of observing all of the mitzvot, from the standpoint of their inner significance and their objective, is only [authentic] in the Land (Eretz Chefetz 3:1).

The category of mitzvot known as Mitzvot Hateluyot Ba’aretz (‘laws which are dependent on the Land’), such as taking tithes and shemitta, are clearly rooted in the Land of Israel. Outside the Land of Israel such mitzvot are simply not relevant.

Strikingly, Rav Kook makes the bold assertion that every mitzvah, all 613, are also embedded in the Land of Israel. Rav Kook is not the first to make this suggestion. Indeed, this notion is championed by some of the most eminent of sages.

Rashi, commenting on a well known verse found in Kriat Shema (Devarim 11:18) writes: “Even after you will go into exile, be distinguished through performance of commandments; for example, put on tefillin and make mezuzot so that they should not be new to you when you will return.” Apparently, mitzvot in the main do not contain their full value when observed outside of the Land. Rashi states that we observe them only so that they will not be lost and will be readily accessible upon the return to the Holy Land.

This same notion is echoed by the Ramban in numerous comments on the Torah. In his first statement on the topic he contends that Avraham, through his Divine inspiration, was able to intuit the Torah - however, Avraham only obeyed Torah law when he was situated in the Land of Israel. The first Jew, Avraham, perceived with ruach hakodesh that the laws of the Torah are associated with the Holy Land, and nowhere else.

Perhaps we can better understand the significance of the uniqueness of observing mitzvot in the Land by recognizing the premise that the Land of Israel was chosen by God as his home in this earthly world. The Ramban asserts that when the Torah uses the language, “God of Heaven and God of Land”, (Bereshit 24:3) it means to say that the Land of Israel is where God’s presence is most revealed. Elaborating on this idea the Ramban quotes the Talmudic dictum: “One who lives outside of Eretz Yisrael is as if he has no God” (Ketubot 110b).

In a similar vein, Rav Kook, in his classic work Shabbat Haaretz, opens his work with a verse from Tanach and a comment on the verse from the Zohar:

“Who is like Your people Israel, a unique nation on earth?” (2 Samuel 7:23)

‘“Who is like your people Israel, a unique nation on earth”. When they are united with the land, they are called a unique nation, but not when they are separate from it.’ (Zohar, Vayikra 93b)

In choosing this quotation from the Zohar, the classic work of Jewish mysticism, as the epigram for his book about the holiness of Land, and Shemittah in particular, Rav Kook suggests that the uniqueness of the Jewish people is fully manifested only when they are living on their land and practicing the laws that regulate life in harmony with the soil of Israel. (See The Sabbath of the Land, Sinclair, p. 50)

Along with Rashi and Ramban, Rabbeinu Bachya also advocated for the notion that every single mitzvah is rooted in the Land.

(Rabbeinu Bachya, Bereshit 26)

Rabbeinu Bachya proves this by pointing out that Torah’s description of the mitzvah of giving tzedaka be done in the Land. An obvious question: Tzedaka is needed everywhere! Why does the Torah contextualize it within the framework of its observance in the Land?

Rabbeinu Bachya answers that Tzedaka is a prototypical mitzvah. While it may appear that its value is in its observance in every surrounding, in truth, its authentic fulfillment is assigned to only the Land of Israel. Only in the Land is every mitzvah of the Torah fully actualized.