Bless HaShem, your G-d, for the good land He has given you

(Deuteronomy 8:10)

Av 19, 5777/August 11, 2017

"For HaShem your G-d is bringing you to a good land, a land with brooks of water, fountains and depths, that emerge in valleys and mountains, a land of wheat and barley, vines and figs and pomegranates, a land of oil producing olives and honey, a land in which you will eat bread without scarcity, you will lack nothing in it, a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose mountains you will hew copper. And you will eat and be sated, and you shall bless HaShem, your G-d, for the good land He has given you." (Deuteronomy 8:7-10)

How did Moshe know? Moshe had never set foot in the lands of Israel, nor would he. He heard the same report, from the spies he had sent into Canaan to search out the land thirty nine years earlier, that everyone else had heard. From where did he acquire his knowledge? And how did he get it so right?

For the past forty years of his life Moshe has been a messenger of G-d, a fearless leader of his people, a judge, commander-in-chief, and advocate for Israel before G-d, when their misadventures have raised G-d's ire. All these roles fall under the rubric of prophet, and, to be certain, Moshe was the greatest of all the Hebrew prophets, as G-d, Himself, testifies. But to attribute His amazing insights into the land of Israel to a mere prophetic vision of things to come, seems to fall short of the mark.

Moshe is describing much more than the physical beauty and bounty of the land of Israel. Moshe is describing the living soul of the land of Israel, a land like no other land on earth. Not only does the land of Israel possess a soul, but it is the soul-mate of the people of Israel, like Chava (Eve), a "help-meet" and "the mother of all life." (Genesis 3:20) The land of Israel, its hills and valleys, its water springs and deserts, its fruits, its grains, its minerals and rocks, are an endlessly giving source of light and life and love for the people whom G-d has chosen to inherit it, settle it, tend to it, and love it in return.

Nobody knows better the truth and the depth of Moshe's rhapsodic description of the land of Israel than we, the people, living in the loving embrace of the land of Israel today. For two thousand years, following the destruction nof the Holy Temple and the dispersal of the children of Israel, the land of Israel lay barren and destitute, locking its secrets away, turning away its face from its occupiers and would be masters. The land of Israel, chosen by G-d for the people of Israel, refused to countenance the rude usurpation of its streams and meadows by hostile invaders, prefering to dry up its water beds and make brown its valleys and hilllsides, rather than give its bounty or beauty over strangers in its midst.

It was not until the return of its beloved children of Israel over the past two centuries, that the land of Israel, upon which Moshe waxed so devotedly, would begin to open up and reveal long forgotten secrets and long hidden treasures to its returning loved ones. The land that experts said could not support a hundred thousand residents now blesses more than seven million with its flowing waters, magnificent fruits, nourishing grains and healing herbs. Even the sun, which for millenia parched the once barren sands, has been harnessed today to produce energy to power schools and hospitals and factories. Even the stars above rejoice over the return of the children of Israel to the land, and the return of the land of Israel to itself.

Secrets long forgotten: how and from what to produce the blue techelet dye for the garments of the High Priest (Kohen Gadol); from where to harvest pure, untouched stones to build the great stone altar; how to bake the showbread loaves, the sources of the ketoretincense ingredients, how to properly observe that shmittah (sabbatical) year in the land of Israel, and many, many more are all making themselves known to the generation that has reentered the land after two thousand years in the desert of exile. The manna from heaven and the shade giving clouds of glory have got nothing over the multiplicity of gifts that the land of Israel has to offer its children.

Moshe spoke of the land of Israel over three thousand years ago, but he is speaking directly to us, today. How could he have possibly known just how enduring the beauty and bounty of the land would be? It was prophecy, to be sure, but much more, as well: it was love. Love of the land that G-d promised, the land that Moshe would never enter into, but, through his deep love of the land was able to share his breathtaking vision of and affection for, with us, today. Thank you, Moshe, for your vision. Thank you G-d, for the land.

-The Temple Institute