Mitzvah to settle in Eretz Yisrael

[Chaim Ben Pesach]

בס''ד

1. “A person should always dwell in Eretz Yisrael, even in a city inhabited mostly by heathens, and he should not dwell outside the Land, even in a city inhabited mostly by Jews, for anyone who dwells in Eretz Yisrael is like one who has a God, and anyone who dwells outside the Land is like one who has no God” (Ketuvot 110b)

2. “You shall possess the Land and dwell in it, for to you have I given the Land to possess it” (Bamidbar, 33:53) [Numbers]

3. “You shall possess it and you shall dwell therein” (Devarim, 11:31) [Deuteronomy]

4. “We were commanded to take possession of the Land that God, may He be blessed, gave to our forefathers, Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov; and we must not leave it in the hands of any other nation or let it remain desolate” (Addendum to Rambam’s Sefer HaMitzvot, Positive Commandment 4).

5. Chazal lavished praise upon the mitzvah of Yishuv HaAretz, going so far as to say that it is equal to all the mitzvot of the Torah (Sifrei, Re’eh 53).

6. Chazal comment on several other mitzvot that they are equal to all the rest (circumcision – Nedarim 32a; charity – Bava Batra 9a; tzitzit – Shevuot 29a; tefillin – Menachot 43b; Shabbat – Yerushalmi Nedarim 3:9; Torah study – Peah 1:1; acts of kindness – ibid.). Nonetheless, from a halachic standpoint, Yishuv HaAretz takes precedence over them all, for it is the only one that overrides a rabbinic injunction relating to the Sabbath (a “shevut”). If someone needs to violate a shevut in order to perform a brit milah (circumcision) on Shabbat, we postpone the brit instead of violating the shevut. For the sake of Yishuv HaAretz, however, the Rabbis allow one to purchase a home in Eretz Yisrael on the Sabbath, if necessary, even if this entails violating the shevut of amirah le’nachri (telling a non-Jew to do work for you on Shabbat), as the Talmud states in Gittin 8b and Bava Kama 80b (with Tosafot)

7. The reason the Rambam does not include this mitzvah in his count of the 613 is that it is beyond the regular “value” of mitzvot; therefore, it is not included in their detailed enumeration. This coincides with the rules the Rambam lays down at the beginning of Sefer HaMitzvot, stating it is inappropriate to reckon commandments that encompass the entire Torah, as he writes in Mitzvah #153 [that settling the Land of Israel is all-inclusive].

[Israel Chai]

...k but nefesh b nefesh forces u to pay back ur student loans. So I pay almost 300 a month if I go there and they take it out of what they give u too. If I had money id go but now between a rock and a hard place seems ill stay here forever and do nothing. Waiting for Trudeau to collapse the economy here so they don't have the manpower to go after me.

[Zelhar]

Do Canadians too saddle themselves with student loans? I thought Canada was socialist like Germany or Sweden.

...k but nefesh b nefesh forces u to pay back ur student loans. So I pay almost 300 a month if I go there and they take it out of what they give u too. If I had money id go but now between a rock and a hard place seems ill stay here forever and do nothing. Waiting for Trudeau to collapse the economy here so they don't have the manpower to go after me.

[Yehudayaakov]

Israeli will not help olim despite the package aid given and if you don't speak hebrew they will take advantage of you because many are angry to live in Israel and consider an oleh a fair game to play upon.

[Israel Chai]

Do Canadians too saddle themselves with student loans? I thought Canada was socialist like Germany or Sweden.

I'm at 20gs. It's like half socialist, if it was usa itd be 100k.

[Hrvatski Noahid]

My friend Yehonatan said that Rav Moshe ben Nachman (Ramban) when writing his commentary on the Rambam's enumeration of the commandments wrote that he was very confused/shocked how the rambam did not add the mitzva of living and inhabiting in the land of Israel as one of the 613 commandments. Well done Chaim for explaining the reason.

[Rubystars]

I wish they would allow you to go home one day Chaim. I know it's your heart's greatest desire to be in Israel and it really hurts to know how much you want to do that and to see you get denied your birthright.