Often, we use the term Klal Yisrael while referring to the sum total of the Jewish people residing throughout the world. We speak of the Jewish people today consisting of those currently living in Eretz Yisrael, along with our brethren located elsewhere in the Diaspora. Sociologically, this may be correct. However, from the Halachic standpoint, this is far from being the case.
Our great rabbi, HaRav Yosef Dov Soloveitchik, z.tz.l., quoting his father Rabbi Moshe, z.tz.l., distinguished between two categories of mitzvot that are Eretz-Yisrael-bound. In the first group, all of the agricultural variety of mitzvot demand, as a necessary Halachic prerequisite, that the land be in a "sanctified" state. Practically, the map of Eretz Yisrael for this purpose is the reduced map operative during the Second Temple era until this very day (according to the dominant opinion voiced by the Rambam).
However, a second category, all of non-agricultural concerns, also demands Eretz Yisrael as the only Halachically-approved location for the performance of such mitzvot. In this category, it is the expanded map as explicitly described in various Torah sections that form the relevant and binding borders of Eretz Yisrael (including the Gush Katif area).
Three central mitzvot of this latter category are referred to in parshat Pinchas:
1. The very mitzvah of residing in Eretz Yisrael (including owning land, followed by either cultivating it or building upon it) is the core issue revolving around the demand by the daughters of Tzlofchad to receive their deceased father's land portion in Eretz Yisrael.
2. The formal act of semicha, that of granting Halachic authority to the next generation, is pioneered by Moshe, giving that authority to his prime student, Yehoshua. This formal granting of the semicha of old - linking the recipient, generation by generation, back to Moshe - can only take place in Eretz Yisrael.
3. The Mussaf sacrifices for Rosh Chodesh, and for all the festivals, are described in great detail. None of these special calendar dates would enjoy any sanctity whatsoever unless the appropriate sanctification of the moon and leap year adjustments were incorporated into the calendar in Eretz Yisrael. Rambam goes so far (Positive Mitzvah #153) as to suggest that even today, the calendar owes its Halachic energy to the mere fact that a Jewish community exists in Eretz Yisrael.
Rambam's overall understanding is that the Halachic "address" for Klal Yisrael is Eretz Yisrael, and only Eretz Yisrael. The remaining Jewish population throughout the world is somehow "related" to the authentic Klal Yisrael in Eretz Yisrael.
Any Jew abroad willing and interested in (re)joining the authentic Klal Yisrael, and perhaps has difficulty in directions, should immediately consult his local El Al timetable for the next available scheduled flight home to Eretz Yisrael.
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Rabbi Aaron Adler is rabbi of Jerusalem's Ramot Alef congregation, a community popular with English speakers, and rosh yeshiva of the Ner Tamid Yeshiva High School in Chasmonaim.
Our great rabbi, HaRav Yosef Dov Soloveitchik, z.tz.l., quoting his father Rabbi Moshe, z.tz.l., distinguished between two categories of mitzvot that are Eretz-Yisrael-bound. In the first group, all of the agricultural variety of mitzvot demand, as a necessary Halachic prerequisite, that the land be in a "sanctified" state. Practically, the map of Eretz Yisrael for this purpose is the reduced map operative during the Second Temple era until this very day (according to the dominant opinion voiced by the Rambam).
However, a second category, all of non-agricultural concerns, also demands Eretz Yisrael as the only Halachically-approved location for the performance of such mitzvot. In this category, it is the expanded map as explicitly described in various Torah sections that form the relevant and binding borders of Eretz Yisrael (including the Gush Katif area).
Three central mitzvot of this latter category are referred to in parshat Pinchas:
1. The very mitzvah of residing in Eretz Yisrael (including owning land, followed by either cultivating it or building upon it) is the core issue revolving around the demand by the daughters of Tzlofchad to receive their deceased father's land portion in Eretz Yisrael.
2. The formal act of semicha, that of granting Halachic authority to the next generation, is pioneered by Moshe, giving that authority to his prime student, Yehoshua. This formal granting of the semicha of old - linking the recipient, generation by generation, back to Moshe - can only take place in Eretz Yisrael.
3. The Mussaf sacrifices for Rosh Chodesh, and for all the festivals, are described in great detail. None of these special calendar dates would enjoy any sanctity whatsoever unless the appropriate sanctification of the moon and leap year adjustments were incorporated into the calendar in Eretz Yisrael. Rambam goes so far (Positive Mitzvah #153) as to suggest that even today, the calendar owes its Halachic energy to the mere fact that a Jewish community exists in Eretz Yisrael.
Rambam's overall understanding is that the Halachic "address" for Klal Yisrael is Eretz Yisrael, and only Eretz Yisrael. The remaining Jewish population throughout the world is somehow "related" to the authentic Klal Yisrael in Eretz Yisrael.
Any Jew abroad willing and interested in (re)joining the authentic Klal Yisrael, and perhaps has difficulty in directions, should immediately consult his local El Al timetable for the next available scheduled flight home to Eretz Yisrael.
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Rabbi Aaron Adler is rabbi of Jerusalem's Ramot Alef congregation, a community popular with English speakers, and rosh yeshiva of the Ner Tamid Yeshiva High School in Chasmonaim.