Q&A: The Holiness of the Land of Israel
The Holiness of the Land of Israel
Question
Hello Rabbi. I saw an article by the Rabbi in which he explains halakhic principles and their concepts as the essence of metaphysical entities, ideas, and in Talmudic language, legal effect/applicability, as opposed to their characteristics and description, which do not touch the essence itself and do not depend on it; rather, it is possible that only the legal effect exists without its expression. My question is about the Land of Israel. The words of the Sages are well known: that the Land of Israel is holier than all other lands—but what is its holiness? They say that from it they bring the two loaves, the omer, and the showbread. And Leibowitz’s position is also well known: that there is no real holiness to the land, only the commandments. My question is therefore twofold: do you hold like Leibowitz? (It suits you, simply enough..). And second, if so, why not say the same about the holiness of the Land of Israel as well—that there is a legal effect of “Land of Israel” as a metaphysical entity, and the only symptom is that special commandments must be observed there.
Answer
In the Talmud, concepts of holiness mean a law that applies to the object itself. Usually people understand this to mean some kind of spiritual reality. Therefore, the Land of Israel, which is one of the holy entities, would seemingly also have something in the object itself.
But that is not necessary at all. Even regarding laws that apply to the object itself, some later authorities (Avnei Nezer, Rabbi Shimon Shkop) explained this not in a metaphysical way, but rather as a question of what the purpose of the law is—that is, whether its purpose concerns the person or the object. Holiness is a law that applies to the object itself because the purpose of the prohibition against deriving benefit from holy property is that the object not be harmed.
When I spoke about legal effects/applicabilities, I was dealing with legal entities that are generated by an act, and not necessarily with every area of Jewish law. Regarding the Land of Israel, it could certainly be a determination by the Holy One, blessed be He, that is not anchored in any particular reality.
So I do not have a clear position regarding the holiness of the Land of Israel. In general, Leibowitz’s claim that there is no reality of holiness at all apart from the Holy One, blessed be He, is very extreme, as in other contexts. I do not see any necessity to assume that.