Eretz Yisrael Through Torah

במדרש ומקנה רב הי' לבני ראובן ג' מתנות בעולם כו' בזמן שהן באין בכח התורה כו'

In the Midrash: "And the children of Reuven had abundant livestock" — there are three gifts in the world... when they come through the power of the Torah...

The Midrash teaches that the world's gifts can be acquired in a lasting way when they come through the power of the Torah.

אבל כשחוטפין לעצמן נאמר שבתי וראה תחת השמש כי כו' ולא לגבורים המלחמה כו' עת ופגע יקרה כו'

But when one snatches them for himself, the verse says: "I returned and saw under the sun that..." and "the battle is not to the mighty..." "time and chance befall them..."

When a person grabs material things on his own, they fall under the verses about chance and instability of worldly fortune.

הפי' כי כל מה שבא בכח הטבע והוא תחת השמש לפי הנהגת הטבע והמזל (והוא) [*הוא] לעולם מתהפך ומשתנה

The explanation is that whatever comes through the power of nature, which is "under the sun" according to the conduct of nature and the mazal, is forever turning over and changing,

Anything attained through nature and mazal, which operates 'under the sun,' is in constant flux and never settles.

ואין לו קיום לעולם

and it has no enduring permanence ever.

Such things have no real permanence.

לכן עת ופגע יקרה כפי שינוי העתים

Therefore "time and chance befall them" — in accordance with the shifting of the times.

That is why 'time and chance' govern them — they rise and fall with the changing seasons.

אבל מתנה הבאה בכח התורה שהיא למעלה מן השמש ואינו בכח הטבע הוא קיים לעולם

But a gift that comes through the power of the Torah, which is above the sun and is not within the power of nature, endures forever.

A gift acquired through the Torah, however, is above nature and therefore lasts forever.

והקב"ה רצה שבנ"י יקבלו מתנתם בכח התורה שע"ז כתיב לקח טוב נתתי כמ"ש במ"א

And the Holy One, Blessed is He, wanted Bnei Yisrael to receive their gift through the power of the Torah, as it is written concerning this: "I have given you a good acquisition" (Mishlei 4:2), as is explained elsewhere.

Hashem wanted Bnei Yisrael to receive Eretz Yisrael specifically through the merit of Torah, called 'a good acquisition.'

ולכן בברכת הארץ מזכירין ברית ותורה שעיקר השבח ע"ז שניתן לנו א"י בכח ברית ותורה

Therefore in the berachah over the land we mention the bris and the Torah, for the essential praise is over this — that Eretz Yisrael was given to us through the power of the bris and the Torah.

This is why Birkas HaMazon's blessing over the land mentions the bris and the Torah — they are the basis on which the land was granted.

וממילא היא מתנה לעולם אפילו שנחסר לנו בעוה"ר עתה בפועל ממש

And consequently it is a gift forever, even though it is now lacking to us in actual practice, due to our many sins.

Because the land was given through Torah, it remains ours eternally even when we do not physically possess it.

מ"מ עיקר המתנה קיימת

Nonetheless, the essence of the gift endures.

The core gift of the land remains intact regardless of galus.

ולכן כ' ועמך כולם צדיקים בכח ברית ותורה לכן לעולם יירשו ארץ פי' ירושה שהיא בלי הפסק לא כמו שהי' ת"י כנען לפי שעה והזמן

Therefore it is written: "And your people are all tzaddikim" — through the power of the bris and the Torah — "therefore they shall inherit the land forever" (Yeshayah 60:21). The meaning is an inheritance that is without interruption, not as it was under the Canaanites for a time and a season.

The verse promises an unbroken inheritance, unlike the Canaanites' temporary tenure on the land.

והנה ארץ ישראל שנשבע הקב"ה לאבותינו לתת לנו הוא ענין פנימי והוא חתום חותם בתוך חותם כמ"ש מה רב טובך אשר צפנת

Now, Eretz Yisrael, which the Holy One, Blessed is He, swore to our forefathers to give to us, is an inner matter, and it is sealed, a seal within a seal, as it is written: "How abundant is Your goodness which You have hidden away" (Tehillim 31:20).

Eretz Yisrael is a deeply inner, hidden matter — a treasure 'sealed within a seal.'

וסוד א"י לא נגלה עד שנכנסו בנ"י לשם

And the secret of Eretz Yisrael was not revealed until Bnei Yisrael entered into it.

Its inner holiness stayed concealed until Bnei Yisrael actually entered the land.

וז"ש בפ' מסעי כי אתם באים אל הארץ כנען

And this is what is said in Parshas Masei: "When you come into the land of Canaan" (Bamidbar 34:2).

The Torah's phrase 'when you come into the land of Canaan' points to this revelation.

פי' אתם באים לשם ולא באה לשם אומה אחרת כמו שרמזו במד' יש נאה ללבושו כו'

The meaning is: you are coming there, and no other nation came there, as they hinted in the Midrash: "there is one fitting for his garment..."

Only Bnei Yisrael were destined to come there; no other nation truly belonged, as the Midrash hints.

והנה א"י תלוי בברית כמ"ש וכרות עמו הברית

And behold, Eretz Yisrael depends upon the bris, as it is written: "And He made with him the bris" (Nechemiah 9:8).

The land's status is bound up with the bris, as Scripture states Hashem made the covenant with Avraham.

דכמו בנפש סוד המילה גנוז בחותם תוך חותם וכאשר הוסר הערלה ונפרע אז נגלה סוד המילה, כן א"י הי' עליו מכסה כדי שלא ישלטו החיצונים בפנימיות

For just as in the soul the secret of the milah is concealed in a seal within a seal, and when the orlah is removed and the perush is performed, then the secret of the milah is revealed — so too there was a covering over Eretz Yisrael, so that the outer forces should not have dominion over its innerness.

Just as the secret of milah is hidden until the orlah is removed and perush is done, the holiness of the land was covered to keep outer forces from its inner core.

וזה ענין סיחון ועוג שהיו שומרים והיא הערלה החופף סביב הברית וזה נמסר ביד משה רבינו ע"ה

And this is the matter of Sichon and Og, who were guarding, and that is the orlah which hovers around the bris; and this was handed over into the hand of Moshe Rabbeinu, peace be upon him.

Sichon and Og functioned like the orlah surrounding the bris, and their defeat was entrusted to Moshe Rabbeinu.

אח"כ כשנכנסו וכבשו הז' אומות זה סוד הפריעה שהם היו שרוין בתוכה ממש

Afterward, when they entered and conquered the seven nations, this is the secret of the perush, for they were dwelling within it literally,

Conquering the seven nations who lived in the land itself parallels the stage of perush, the inner clinging skin.

כמו עור הפריעה שדבוק ביותר ואין הפנימיות נגלה עד שהוסר עור הפריעה

like the skin of the perush which clings most tightly, and the innerness is not revealed until the skin of the perush is removed —

Like the tightly attached skin of perush that must be peeled for the inner part to show, the nations had to be removed.

כן נגלה קדושת א"י באיבוד אותן הרשעים

so too the kedushah of Eretz Yisrael was revealed through the destruction of those wicked ones.

The holiness of Eretz Yisrael emerged precisely through the destruction of those wicked nations.

וזה רמז משה מלן ויהושע פורע [*ע"ש בהנוסחאות השונות שבמאמר זה] שפריעה ניתן ליהושע שאז נגלה בפועל קדושת ארץ ישראל

And this is what Moshe alluded to: Moshe performed milah and Yehoshua performed perush (see in the various versions of this Midrash) — that the perush was given to Yehoshua, for then the kedushah of Eretz Yisrael was revealed in actuality.

Moshe began with 'milah' and Yehoshua completed the 'perush,' at which point the land's kedushah was fully revealed.

והנה הקב"ה הקפיד שלא ישאירו כלום מאותן הרשעים

And behold, the Holy One, Blessed is He, was insistent that they not leave anything of those wicked ones.

Hashem demanded that none of those wicked nations be left behind.

ואעפ"י שלא קיימו המצוה בשלימות מ"מ רובן הרגו ולכן נגלה להם הקדושה כדין ציצין שאין מעכבין המילה כשפרע רוב עטרה אבל אם היו מקיימין בשלימות לא היינו מתגרשין לעולם מא"י שעי"ז שנשאר הציצין דערלה נמשך אח"כ הערלה ונתכסה הקדושה עד שיגאלנו הקב"ה ויכרות לנו ברית חדשה שלא תופר במהרה בימינו:

And even though they did not fulfill the mitzvah completely, nonetheless they killed most of them, and therefore the kedushah was revealed to them — like the law of the shreds that do not invalidate the milah once one has uncovered the majority of the corona. But had they fulfilled it completely, we would never have been exiled from Eretz Yisrael; for through the remaining shreds of orlah, the orlah was afterward drawn back and the kedushah was covered over, until the Holy One, Blessed is He, will redeem us and cut for us a new bris that will not be annulled — speedily in our days.

Though Bnei Yisrael did not finish the task completely, killing the majority sufficed to reveal the kedushah — like leftover shreds that do not invalidate a milah once most of the corona is uncovered; yet because some remnants remained, the orlah crept back and covered the holiness, until Hashem brings the final geulah with an unbreakable new bris.

Summary: The Sfas Emes contrasts gifts attained through the power of nature, which are 'under the sun' and forever shifting with time and chance, against gifts received through the power of the Torah, which stand above nature and endure forever. Hashem granted Eretz Yisrael to Bnei Yisrael specifically through the merit of the bris and the Torah, which is why Birkas HaMazon mentions both — and why the land remains our eternal inheritance even in galus, when we do not physically hold it. He then explains that the inner kedushah of the land was hidden 'a seal within a seal,' likening the process of its revelation to milah: Sichon and Og were like the surrounding orlah handed to Moshe Rabbeinu, while the seven nations dwelling within the land were like the clinging skin of the perush, completed by Yehoshua. Because Bnei Yisrael killed most but not all of the wicked nations, the holiness was revealed yet later re-covered — like leftover shreds of orlah — and only with the future geulah and an unbreakable new bris will that kedushah be revealed permanently.