THE GOD OF THE LAND
Avraham said to his servant… “I will make you swear by the Lord, God of heaven and God of earth, that you will not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I dwell. Rather, you shall go to my land and to my birthplace and take a wife for my son, for Yitzchak.” The servant said to him, “Perhaps the woman will not want to follow me to this Land; shall I bring your son back to the land from which you left?” Avraham said to him: “Beware lest you bring my son back there. The Lord, God of heaven, Who took me from my father’s house and from the land of my birth, and Who spoke regarding me and Who swore to me saying, ‘To your seed will I give this Land,’ He will send His angel before you, and you will take a wife for my son from there” (24:3-7).
Many commentators ask why Avraham insisted on taking a wife for Yitzchak from his own birthplace and not from the Land of Canaan. After all, the inhabitants of both places were idolaters. The Ran and others answer that although Avraham’s relatives worshipped idols, they possessed basically good character traits. The Canaanites, on the other hand, were corrupt, immoral, and cruel. Idolatry is a malady of the mind, which is not passed down from parent to child and is relatively easy to cure. Evil traits, however, are passed down from generation to generation and are very difficult to uproot.
There are other answers to this question (see, for example, the Kli Yakar), but no matter how we answer it, one thing is very clear: the Canaanites were extremely evil and corrupt. If so, why did God command Avraham, in Parashat Lech Lecha, to leave his birthplace and go to this Land? And why did Avraham warn Eliezer not to take Yitzchak out of the Land?
The answer is that Eretz Yisrael’s holiness and special qualities are independent of any outside factor. The Land is inherently unique and has been that way ever since the beginning of time. Yes, even though the Land of Canaan was inhabited by immoral idolaters, God told Avraham to go there, because He knew that this was the only place where he and his descendants could truly flourish.
The Ramban explains what makes Eretz Yisrael so special: The first time Avraham mentioned HaShem’s name to Eliezer, he described Him as “God of heaven and God of earth” (v. 3). Four verses later, however, he referred to Him as merely “the God of heaven” (v. 7). Why this discrepancy? (See Rashi’s answer.) The Ramban explains that in verse 3 Avraham was speaking about the present, when he already dwelled in Eretz Yisrael. Therefore, he called HaShem, “God of heaven and God of earth [lit, ‘the land’],” because HaShem is known as the God of the Land of Israel (see II Melachim 17:26). In verse 7, however, Avraham was referring to when he still lived in Charan: The Lord, God of heaven, Who took me from my father’s house… Outside the Land of Israel, HaShem is considered only the God of heaven, because He chooses not to let His Shechinah rest in foreign lands. This, adds the Ramban, is the meaning of Chazal’s statement “He who dwells in Chutz LaAretz is like one who has no God” (Ketuvot 110b). Thus, Eretz Yisrael is eternally holy and special because it is the Palace of the King; and no outside force can change that fact.
One question remains, however. The halachah states that one is permitted to leave Eretz Yisrael – temporarily – in order to find a mate (see Rambam, Melachim 5:9). Why, then, was Avraham so opposed to the idea of letting Yitzchak leave the Land to find a wife? Most commentators explain that Yitzchak was an exception to the rule, since he was considered an olah temimah – a “perfect burnt-offering.” The Rashbam provides us with a more instructive answer:
The Lord, God of Heaven, Who brought me [Avraham] here and gave this Land to my descendants: I know that He does not want my descendants to distance themselves from here. For if so, why did God bring me here? Therefore, I know that He will send His angel to grant you [Eliezer] success on your journey, in order to fulfill His promise to me.
Avraham used simple logic. It can’t be – he reasoned – that God wants me to send my son outside the Land, for if so why did He bring me here in the first place? If He promised me the Land and actually brought me here, He cannot possibly want my children to leave it.
I believe that this Rashbam teaches us an important lesson. Throughout the long and bitter exile, it was extremely difficult for Jews to come and live in Eretz Yisrael. Recently, however, HaShem fulfilled His promise to Avraham and returned the Land to the Jewish people, allowing them to dwell there in relative comfort. Is this not a clear sign that God does not want us, Avraham’s descendants, to distance ourselves from the Land? For if so, why did He bring us here to begin with?
Reprinted from Eretz Yisrael in the Parashah by R’ Moshe D. Lichtman