Heavenly Abundance in Eretz Yisrael
בענין שבח א"י
Concerning the praise of Eretz Yisrael.
The Sfas Emes opens by stating his theme: understanding the praise the Torah gives to Eretz Yisrael.
ה"א מביאך אל ארץ טובה כו' נחלי מים עינות ותהומות כו' בבקעה ובהר כו' ואכלת ושבעת וברכת וכו'
"For Hashem your God brings you to a good land... a land of brooks of water, of springs and depths... in the valley and in the mountain... and you shall eat and be satisfied and bless..." (Devarim 8:7-10).
He cites the Torah's description of Eretz Yisrael as a good land full of water sources, leading to eating, satisfaction, and blessing Hashem.
כי הנה כשהיו בנ"י בא"י הי' השפע באה משמים ע"פ התורה ומצות כמ"ש למטר השמים כו'
For behold, when Bnei Yisrael were in Eretz Yisrael, the flow of abundance came from Heaven in accordance with the Torah and mitzvos, as it is written, "from the rain of the heavens" (Devarim 11:11).
When Bnei Yisrael lived in Eretz Yisrael, their material sustenance descended directly from Heaven, dependent on their keeping Torah and mitzvos.
והי' א"ש כו' ונתתי מטר ארצכם בעתו כו'
And it would be, if you would hearken (im shamoa)... "then I will give the rain of your land in its proper time" (Devarim 11:14).
He points to the verse promising that proper observance brings rain in its right time.
והגם כי שכר מצות בהאי עלמא ליכא
And even though there is no reward for mitzvos in this world,
He raises a principle: the true reward for mitzvos is reserved for the next world, not paid out here.
אך א"י הי' בה מעין עוה"ב כענין שרמז המד' בשמירת שבת שהגם שהשכר בעקב מ"מ בש"ק יש בו מעין עוה"ב
nevertheless Eretz Yisrael had within it a taste of Olam Haba, similar to what the Medrash hints regarding the observance of Shabbos: that even though the reward comes in the wake (eikev), still on the holy Shabbos there is within it a taste of Olam Haba.
Yet Eretz Yisrael, like Shabbos, gives a foretaste of Olam Haba even now, though the full reward waits 'in the wake' of one's deeds.
כמ"ש לטובתך נתתי לך השבת
As it is written, "For your benefit I have given you the Shabbos."
He brings the teaching that Shabbos was given as a gift for one's own benefit, hinting at its Olam Haba quality.
וכ' במ"א הפי' כי השכר א"י להיות כשיש תערובת טו"ר
And it is written elsewhere that the explanation is that reward cannot exist when there is an admixture of good and evil,
Reward cannot fully manifest in a world where good and evil are mixed together.
ובשבת שכולו טוב ואין בו תערובות יכולין להרגיש מעין עוה"ב
but on Shabbos, which is entirely good and has no admixture within it, one is able to sense a taste of Olam Haba.
Shabbos, being wholly good and unmixed, lets a person actually feel a taste of the next world.
וכמו כן א"י ובהמ"ק בבחי' המקום שהוא נבדל מכל המקומות ואין בו תערובות
And so too Eretz Yisrael and the Beis HaMikdash, in the aspect of the place, which is set apart from all other places and has no admixture within it.
Eretz Yisrael and the Beis HaMikdash share this quality through their unique sanctity of place, set apart and unmixed.
וכמו ששבת נק' נחלה שבו נפתח המעין כמ"ש ביום השבת יפתח כמו כן בא"י ארץ נחלי מים
And just as Shabbos is called a nachalah (inheritance), for on it the wellspring is opened, as it is written, "on the day of Shabbos it shall be opened" (Yechezkel 46:1), so too in Eretz Yisrael, a land of brooks of water.
Just as Shabbos opens a spiritual wellspring, so Eretz Yisrael is a land whose flowing waters reflect that same opened source.
כענין שכתי' שתה מים מבורך ונוזלים מתוך בארך זה פי' עינות ותהומות יוצאים בבקעה ובהר כי בא"י הי' נפתח שער השמים לכן נק' ארץ טובה אין טוב אלא תורה כמ"ש בספרי ע"ש בפסוק ואבדתם כו' מעל הארץ הטובה
This is along the lines of what is written, "Drink water from your own cistern, and flowing waters from within your own well" (Mishlei 5:15); this is the meaning of "springs and depths" that go forth "in the valley and in the mountain" (Devarim 8:7) - for in Eretz Yisrael the gate of Heaven was opened, and therefore it is called "a good land" - and there is no "good" other than Torah, as it is stated in the Sifrei (see there) on the verse "and you shall perish... from upon the good land" (Devarim 11:17).
The verses about springs and depths hint that in Eretz Yisrael the gate of Heaven was open; its 'goodness' is fundamentally the goodness of Torah.
ופי' ארץ טובה שהי' מלא מדברי תורה כענין שכ' ונהי' טובים דכתי' אשר ה"א דורש אותה
And the meaning of "a good land" is that it was filled with words of Torah, along the lines of that which is written, "and we shall be good," for it is written, "which Hashem your God seeks out" (Devarim 11:12).
The land's 'goodness' means it was saturated with Torah, the very thing Hashem constantly seeks out within it.
וכדכתי' לא תחסר כל בה ונק' נחלה
And as it is written, "you shall lack nothing in it" (Devarim 8:9), and it is called a nachalah.
Because nothing is lacking there, the land is fittingly called a nachalah, an inheritance.
ולא לחנם נשבע הש"י לאבותינו לתת לנו א"י וכתי' וכרות עמו הברית לתת כו' לתת לזרעו
And it was not for naught that Hashem swore to our forefathers to give us Eretz Yisrael, and it is written, "and to establish with him the covenant, to give... to give to his offspring" (based on Nechemiah 9:8).
Hashem's oath to the Avos to give the land was meaningful and purposeful, tied to His covenant.
ואינו לשון כפול רק לתת חוזר על הברית
And this is not a redundant expression; rather, "to give" refers back to the covenant.
The seemingly repeated phrase 'to give' is not redundant; it connects back to the covenant itself.
פי' שבאמצעיות א"י ניתן לנו הברית כמ"ש ועמך כלם צדיקים לעולם יירשו ארץ
Its meaning is that through the medium of Eretz Yisrael the covenant was given to us, as it is written, "and your people are all tzaddikim, they shall inherit the land forever" (Yeshayahu 60:21).
Eretz Yisrael is the very medium through which the covenant reaches us, which is why its righteous people inherit it forever.
והשפע שירד בא"י הי' בקדושה
And the abundance that descended in Eretz Yisrael was in holiness.
The flow of sustenance into the land came clothed in holiness, not as ordinary nature.
ולכן בכח המצות ירד להם המטר כדכתי' בעתו שהי' דבוק בשורשו
And therefore, through the power of the mitzvos the rain descended for them, as it is written, "in its proper time" (Devarim 11:14), for it was bound to its root.
The mitzvos drew down the rain 'in its time,' meaning the abundance stayed connected to its Heavenly root.
ואכלת ושבעת וברכת
"And you shall eat and be satisfied and bless" (Devarim 8:10).
He returns to the verse of eating, satisfaction, and blessing.
ולא כתי' ותברך
And it is not written "and you shall bless" (in the simple causative form, u'sevarech), but rather "and bless" (uveirachta).
He notes a grammatical point: the Torah uses 'uveirachta,' a form suggesting the blessing flows naturally, not a mere command to bless.
לפי הפשט י"ל כמ"ש בגמ' סברא הוא אסור להנות בלא ברכה א"כ הוא מוטבע באיש ישראל כשנהנה מברך ז"ש וברכת
According to the plain meaning, one may explain as it is stated in the Gemara that it is a logical inference (sevara) that it is forbidden to derive benefit without a brachah; if so, it is ingrained in the Jewish person that when he derives benefit he makes a brachah - this is the meaning of "and bless."
On the plain level, since Chazal teach it is logically forbidden to benefit without a brachah, blessing Hashem is simply ingrained in a Jew's nature.
כמו ואכלת ושבעת שהוא ממילא כמו כן וברכת
Just as "and you shall eat and be satisfied," which comes about of itself, so too "and bless."
Just as eating and being satisfied happen naturally, so blessing Hashem flows out naturally too.
אכן עוד יתכן לפרש כי אכילת לחם הארץ נתן התעוררות בנפש ישראל לברך להש"י ז"ש ואכלת ושבעת וברכת
Indeed, it is further possible to explain that the eating of the bread of the land placed an arousal in the soul of the Jew to bless Hashem - this is the meaning of "and you shall eat and be satisfied and bless."
On a deeper level, eating the holy bread of Eretz Yisrael itself awakened the Jew's soul to bless Hashem.
וי"ל עוד כי בגוף אכילה נעשה הברכה שהאכילה הי' בקדושה כמ"ש בספרים בפסוק והי' באכלכם מלחם הארץ תרימו תרומה פי' בגוף האכילה
And one may further say that within the very act of eating the brachah is accomplished, for the eating was in holiness, as is written in the sefarim on the verse "and it shall be, when you eat from the bread of the land, you shall set aside a terumah-portion" (Bamidbar 15:19) - the explanation being that it is within the very act of eating.
Deeper still, the brachah is accomplished within the act of eating itself, since the eating was sanctified, like the terumah set aside from the land's bread.
ז"ש ואכלת ושבעת עי"ז וברכת
This is the meaning of "and you shall eat and be satisfied," and through this, "and bless."
Thus eating and satisfaction themselves give rise to the blessing of Hashem.
וחז"ל אמרו משה רבינו ע"ה תיקן ברכת הזן ויהושע תיקן על הארץ כו'
And Chazal said that Moshe Rabbeinu, peace be upon him, instituted the brachah of "Hazan" (the One Who sustains), and Yehoshua instituted "al ha'aretz" (for the land)...
He cites the teaching that Moshe instituted the first brachah of Birkas HaMazon and Yehoshua the second, 'al ha'aretz.'
פי' כי המן הי' מאכל מן השמים ממש והוא השפע בשורשו
The explanation is that the mann was food literally from Heaven, and it is the abundance in its root,
The mann represents abundance in its pure Heavenly source, since it was literally food from Heaven.
וא"י הי' דביקות שפע שלמטה
while Eretz Yisrael was the binding of the abundance that is below -
Eretz Yisrael represents the abundance as it is bound below, in the earthly realm.
דביקות לחם מן הארץ בלחם מן השמים
the binding of bread from the earth to bread from Heaven -
It is the connection of earthly bread to the Heavenly bread of the mann.
והוא מדרגה שלמטה מן המן
and it is a level below the mann.
This makes Eretz Yisrael's sustenance one level beneath the mann in spiritual directness.
ואח"כ תיקנו ובנה ירושלים פי' כמ"ש בספרי ושמתם את דברי אלה אף כשתהיו גולים הציבי לך ציונים כו'
And afterward they instituted "u'venei Yerushalayim" (and rebuild Yerushalayim); the explanation is as stated in the Sifrei on "and you shall place these words of Mine" (Devarim 11:18) - that even when you will be in galus, "set up markers for yourself" (based on Yirmiyahu 31:20).
The third brachah, asking Hashem to rebuild Yerushalayim, corresponds to the Sifrei's teaching to keep Torah and set up reminders even in galus.
פי' ושמתם את דברי אלה לזכור איך נפלנו מאיגרא רמה שכשהיינו בא"י הי' כל השפע דבוק בשורשו כנ"ל ואוי לבנים שגלו מעל שלחן אביהם
The explanation of "and you shall place these words of Mine" is to remember how we fell from a lofty rooftop, for when we were in Eretz Yisrael all the abundance was bound to its root as above, and "woe to the children who were exiled from their father's table."
Placing Hashem's words upon ourselves means remembering our fall from greatness, when all abundance was rooted in its source, and the pain of exile from our Father's table.
וכפי התשוקה והדאגה על חורבן בהמ"ק כך יכולין גם בגלות להרגיש קצת הארה מהשפע שהי' בזמן המקדש
And in accordance with the longing and the grief over the destruction of the Beis HaMikdash, so too can one, even in galus, sense a small illumination from the abundance that existed in the time of the Mikdash.
The more one longs and grieves over the Beis HaMikdash's destruction, the more one can sense, even in galus, a faint glimmer of the abundance of the Mikdash era.
ז"ש שימי לך תמרורים פי בספרי זה חורבן בהמ"ק ע"ש
This is the meaning of "set up bitter signposts for yourself" (based on Yirmiyahu 31:20), which the Sifrei explains as the destruction of the Beis HaMikdash, see there.
This is the meaning of setting up 'bitter signposts,' which the Sifrei identifies with the destruction of the Beis HaMikdash.
פי' שע"י המרירות מתקנים עתה מה שהי' אז ע"י שמחה
The explanation is that through the bitterness we now repair that which was accomplished then through joy.
Through our bitterness now, we repair and reconnect to what was once attained through joy in the Mikdash.
וזה ענין ברכת ובנה ירושלים בברכת המזון כנ"ל:
And this is the matter of the brachah of "u'venei Yerushalayim" within Birkas HaMazon, as above.
This is precisely why Birkas HaMazon includes the request to rebuild Yerushalayim, as he has explained.
Summary: The Sfas Emes explains the Torah's praise of Eretz Yisrael as a 'good land' by showing that its abundance descended directly from Heaven, bound to its spiritual root through Torah and mitzvos. Like Shabbos, which gives a taste of Olam Haba because it is wholly good and unmixed, Eretz Yisrael and the Beis HaMikdash possess a set-apart sanctity that lets one sense that root-source of blessing even now. He reads the verse 'and you shall eat and be satisfied and bless' to mean that blessing Hashem flows naturally from eating the holy bread of the land, with the brachah accomplished within the very act of eating. He then maps the three brachos of Birkas HaMazon onto these ideas: Moshe's brachah corresponds to the mann (abundance in its Heavenly root), Yehoshua's to Eretz Yisrael (abundance bound below), and the brachah for Yerushalayim to remembering our fall in galus. Finally, he teaches that through the bitterness and longing over the destruction we now repair, in galus, what was once attained through the joy of the Mikdash.