| Dear Yeshiva Family:
Eretz Yisrael has been the most important thing on our minds in the last three weeks. We continue to daven that Hashem should quickly and decisively vanquish our enemies!
In this week's Parshah, Avraham Avinu is promised by Hashem that he would receive Eretz Yisrael and is told by Hashem "to raise now your eyes and look… for all the land that you see I will give to you and your descendants forever" (13:13). Then he is told (14) to "Arise and walk through the Land, through its length and breadth, for to you I will give it."
The Meshech Chochmah points out that these two actions, looking and walking, were meant to achieve two separate goals. Both looking and walking are formal acts of acquisition which can acquire an object for a person; however, there is a critical difference between them. The Gemara in Bava Metzia (118a) explains that staring at something, while having in mind to acquire it, will grant ownership so long as the item is currently hefker (ownerless). The act of walking across the land, on the other hand, is a stronger act of acquisition, and such a kinyan can work even in a case of a sale or a loan, where the item is currently owned by someone else and a change of ownership is required.
The Meshech Chochmah then explains that Avraham Avinu was being asked to perform two separate tasks. Hashem's request of him to walk across the land was to acquire the physical component of the land. At that point, it was under the jurisdiction of the Canaanim, and the act to acquire it had to be a stronger act. Therefore, Avraham had to actually walk across the land to perform this kinyan. Hashem, the ultimate ruler and owner of the Earth, had the right to confer ownership of this land to Avraham, even though someone else thought they already owned it.
However, Hashem also asked Avraham to "raise your eyes," meaning that he should look heavenward at the spiritual makeup of the land. Here Avraham was being asked to acquire for himself and all his descendants forever the inherent kedusha, the incredible holiness, that one can access only in Eretz Yisrael; the fire of being in Hashem's land and the connection to Hashem and his Torah. This kedusha, the holy composition of Eretz Yisrael, was never accessed or utilized by the Canaanim and those dwelling on the land, and therefore it was ownerless, and Avraham could use the mere act of staring at it to acquire it!
The Meshech Chochmah points out that is why it says "for your descendants forever" regarding the acquisition of the holiness of the land, for that is something that will remain with Jews forever, never to be taken from us. The actual ownership of the physical land will not necessarily always be under Avraham's descendants' rule, and therefore "forever" was not stressed in that pasuk!
This is an amazing lesson for us. Eretz Yisrael has a metaphysical aspect to it, and that aspect is always and was always ours. It cannot be taken away! The main aspect of the Holy Land is that itself – its Holiness! The Torah there, the chessed there, the visible achdus of Klal Yisrael there, the ability to connect to Hashem there is all incomparable! This land is the land that is directly under Hashem's constant watch, where there is greater kedusha and hashgacha and that aspect is always there, ready for us to tap into and utilize for spiritual growth.
More than 8,000 rockets were fired upon Israel in the last three weeks. A rocket is not just a bullet, but rather, an explosive device which destroys the area around where it falls. There were several misfired rockets which landed in Gaza itself. One of those notoriously killed a large number of people. That is normal. When rockets fall on urban areas, they often kill people. Yet, Hashem has been guarding us. Fatalities from the rockets is extremely low. Because Hashem is protecting us.
This is the land we are protecting! Our brothers and sisters are in combat performing the hishtadlus necessary to protect the physical aspects of the land, and all of Klal Yisrael together must continue to support them and daven for them. But every member of Klal Yisrael must band together and join forces to protect the second aspect of the land, the kedusha aspect that Avraham Avinu also made a kinyan on. We protect that kedusha by accessing it and it is readily available. Many yeshivos have recently told their bochurim who were away during Succos to come back and learn, even during this ongoing conflict. Together with these two powerful forces, we can protect and benefit from the entirety of the incredible gift of Eretz Yisrael, which is ours as a nation!
May Hashem send a complete yeshuah (salvation) to Klal Yisrael in Eretz Yisrael and all over the world, and may we all merit to enjoy the kedusha available there b'mheira beyomeinu!
R' Moshe Revah Rosh HaYeshiva, HTC - Beis HaMidrash LaTorah moshe.revah@htc.edu | 
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