HaRav Shmuel Eliyahu is Chief Rabbi of Tzfat
Our Sages taught that the influence of Jerusalem extends to the entire world. The primary source is the Prophets, who speak this manner about the First Temple, which was a worldwide center of pilgrimage:
“And all the earth sought the presence of Solomon to hear his wisdom which God had placed in his heart. And they brought every man his tribute: vessels of silver, vessels of gold, garments, weapons, spices, horses, and mules, year by year" (Kings 1, 10:24).
So too regarding the Second Temple it is written:
“And I will shake all the nations, and the precious things of all the nations shall come, and I will fill this House with glory, says the Lord of Hosts. Mine is the silver and Mine is the gold, says the Lord of Hosts. Greater shall be the glory of this latter House than of the former, says the Lord of Hosts, and in this place I will grant peace, says the Lord of Hosts" (Haggai 2:7).
And certainly, in several places, this is also said regarding the Third Temple:
“And many peoples shall go and say: Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the House of the God of Jacob, and He will teach us of His ways and we will walk in His paths. For from Zion shall go forth Torah, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. And He shall judge among the nations and rebuke many peoples; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation shall not lift sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore" (Isaiah 2).
Jerusalem - The Light of the World
Our Sages said that Jerusalem illuminates the entire world:
“Jerusalem is the light of the world, as it says: ‘And nations shall walk by your light’ (Isaiah 60). And who is the light of Jerusalem? The Holy One, Blessed be He, as it is written: ‘And the Lord shall be your everlasting light’" (Bereishit Rabbah 59:5).
So too in the Gemara (Bava Batra 75a), which speaks about the skin, or the light, of the Leviathan from which a sukkah will be made:
“And the influence the Holy One, Blessed be He, will spread over the walls of Jerusalem, and its radiance will shine from one end of the world to the other, as it says: ‘And nations shall walk by Your light, and kings by the brightness of Your rising.’"
Jerusalem - The Joy of the World
Jerusalem brings joy to the whole universe, because without joy there can be no resting of the Divine Presence in the world. And how then can the verse be fulfilled: “And the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea"?
Therefore King David says concerning the Presence of God - through joy:
“Great is the Lord and greatly praised in the city of our God, His holy mountain. Beautiful in elevation, the joy of all the earth, Mount Zion on the far north side, the city of the great King."
And through joy the Godliness in the world becomes recognizable:
“God is known in her palaces as a stronghold" (Psalms 48).
Because of Jerusalem’s greatness, which influences the whole world, there are those who oppose Israel’s rule in Jerusalem, as King David said:
“For behold, the kings assembled, they passed together. They saw, and so they were astonished; they were frightened, they fled in haste. Trembling seized them there, pain like a woman in labor."
Jerusalem - The Beauty of the World
Our Sages said that Jerusalem brings beauty and splendor to the whole world:
“Rava expounded: What is the meaning of the verse, ‘And David and Samuel went and sat in Naiyot in Ramah’? What connection does Naiyot have with Ramah? Rather, they sat in Ramah and engaged in the beauty of the world" (Zevachim 54b).
Therefore the Sages said:
“Ten measures of beauty descended to the world; Jerusalem took nine, and the entire world took one" (Kiddushin 49b).
And in the verse of the Song at the Sea it says:
“You guided with Your kindness this people whom You redeemed; You led them with Your strength to Your holy habitation."
For the Holy Temple is called a habitation (naveh).
And likewise:
“The Lord is my strength and song, and He has become my salvation. This is my God and I will glorify Him; the God of my father and I will exalt Him."
The Targum translates:
“This is my God, and I will build Him a Sanctuary."
Jerusalem - The Blessing of the World
Jerusalem is also the source of blessing for the world, as mentioned in Zechariah (chapter 14) regarding the End of Days:
“And it shall be that all who remain from all the nations that came against Jerusalem shall go up year after year to bow before the King, the Lord of Hosts, and to celebrate the festival of Sukkot. And it shall be that whichever of the families of the earth does not go up to Jerusalem to bow before the King, the Lord of Hosts, upon them there shall be no rain."
So too King Solomon says concerning the abundance of Jerusalem:
“I enlarged my works; I built houses for myself; I planted vineyards for myself. I made gardens and orchards for myself, and I planted in them every kind of fruit tree. I acquired male and female servants, and had household servants; also I possessed great herds and flocks, more than all who were before me in Jerusalem. I gathered for myself silver and gold and the treasures of kings and provinces…" (Ecclesiastes 2).
Rashi explains there:
“Solomon, through his wisdom, knew the inner arteries of the earth - which artery went to Cush, and he planted peppers there; which went to the land of carobs, and he planted carob trees there. For all the arteries of the lands come to Zion, from which the world was founded, as it says: ‘From Zion, the perfection of beauty.’ Therefore it says: ‘every kind of fruit tree.’"
The great wisdom which Solomon possessed came from this abundance.
We Have Prayed for Jerusalem for Two Thousand Years
The Land of Israel is the Holy Land. The holiness of the Land of Israel rose higher and higher with the liberation of Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria from foreign rule. God established a covenant over this liberation. The Torah promised it, and the Prophets prophesied in the Name of God about this redemption.
We prayed for it for years in every prayer and in every Grace After Meals. At weddings and circumcisions, in times of mourning and in times of joy. Thus we prayed for Jerusalem and never forgot her. We prayed in her direction from east and west, from north and south.
The Holiness Increased During the Six-Day War
The level of holiness of Jerusalem rose greatly with its liberation in the Six-Day War, when Judea, Samaria, and the inheritance of Benjamin were liberated, along with the Cave of the Patriarchs, Rachel’s Tomb, Joseph’s Tomb, and more.
Regarding the greatness of the liberation of these places, the holy Gaon Rabbi Abraham Azulai, of blessed memory, wrote in his book Chesed L’Avraham (Maayan 3, Nahar 7) that every nation receives a land according to its inner character.
“So too our Sages explained regarding Esau, who is Edom, and his land is אדומה (red), indicating that there is truly a relationship between the land and the nation dwelling in it."
If Israel Does Not Dwell in All Its Land - the Divine Presence Is Lacking
“And this same matter applies to Israel in the Land of Israel, and to their soul, their Torah, and their Godliness. For the Land of Israel is holy earth, and the people dwelling in it are a holy people, and their soul is holy, and their Torah is holy, and their God is holy, Who presides over Israel."
And if Israel does not dwell in all its Land, then there is a deficiency in the resting of the Divine Presence upon the people of Israel. For:
“The Shechinah is not complete when the Land of Israel is not complete within its borders, which extend from the Brook of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates. And Israel dwells, each person, in the portion that reaches him according to his true lot corresponding to his boundary."
The Oslo Accords - There Is No Greater “Lo Techanem" Than This
Rabbeinu Ovadia Hedaya, of blessed memory, wrote in his book Yaskil Avdi (8:43) that it is forbidden to give parts of the Land of Israel to foreign rule.
“The verse explicitly states: ‘Lo techanem’ (‘Do not grant them favor’), and our Sages expounded: ‘Do not give them a holding in the Land,’ meaning that it is forbidden to sell a house to a non-Jew in the Land of Israel because of ‘Lo techanem,’ even in these times when we were under their rule. All the more so now, when the entire Land of Israel has been conquered by Israel and belongs to them by right of conquest."
If it is forbidden to give them a single house, then certainly entire cities are forbidden.
“There is no greater violation of ‘Lo techanem’ than this."
The Land of Israel - an Eternal Possession
The reason it is forbidden, even during destruction and exile, to sell portions of the Land to gentiles is because God promised the Land to Abraham forever:
“And I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your seed after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto you and to your seed after you. And I will give unto you and to your seed after you the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession, and I will be their God" (Genesis 17).
“That is, for all generations forever and ever. Even though sins caused them to be exiled from it, nevertheless the acquisition granted to our forefather Abraham, peace be upon him, and to his descendants after him, was not nullified because of this. Rather, it remains in the possession and ownership of Israel, and the prohibition of ‘Lo techanem’ applies even when it lies desolate under foreign rule."
The Liberation of the Land of Israel - a Gift from God
And if this is true during exile, all the more so after we conquered it.
“After the miracles and wonders that He performed for us in the Six-Day War, for this was a wondrous and Divine miracle, we must not be ungrateful for what He did for us, nor betray the goodness and gift that He graciously bestowed upon us."
And if they tell us that there is danger from the nations:
“We must place our trust in God, that just as He performed miracles and wonders for us in the Six-Day War, so may we hope that He will maintain it in our hands forever and not retract the gift with which He has blessed us. And the word of our God shall stand forever."
For the exile has already atoned for all our sins.
Removing the Sitra Achra and Raising the Shechinah from the Dust
The exalted Rabbi further writes that the conquest by IDF soldiers during the Six-Day War removed the Sitra Achra:
“Now after the conquest, it was redeemed from the hand of the oppressing Sitra Achra (foreign domain) and entered the domain of holiness, and through this we raised the Shechinah from the dust, for she had dwelled in exile under foreign rule. And if, God forbid, we give away even the slightest portion, then through this we grant power to the kelipah (impure husks) and the Sitra Achra."
And, God forbid, “we cast down the Shechinah and subject it beneath the Sitra Achra."
The Yaskil Avdi further writes that every parcel of land given to the nations grants greater control to the powers of kelipah, impurity, and the Sitra Achra. Who knows what damage the kelipah may cause the people of Israel through its rule?
Sadly, his words were not heeded during the Oslo Accords, when portions of the Land of Israel were given to foreigners. At that time they promised there would be peace between the nations and a “New Middle East." In the wake of those agreements, thousands of Jews were murdered by our enemies, may God have mercy.
Later they also gave Gush Katif and the Gaza Strip to the Arabs and promised there would be great peace, but they used it to plan the destruction of the entire State of Israel. They caused terrible devastation, and only through miracles and the bravery of our soldiers were we saved from them.