Eretz Yisrael in the Parashah - 9781932687705

The Land of Israel is more than just a geographical location on the map. It is the homeland of the Jewish nation and a major component of the Torah. However, if the Land of Israel plays such an important role in Judaism, why do so many Jews still choose to live in the Diaspora? Just how central is Eretz Yisrael to the Torah?In his groundbreaking work, "Eretz Yisrael in the Parashah," (Devora Publishing, December 1, 2006) Rabbi Moshe D. Lichtman responds to these questions, meticulously reviewing all the relevant Rabbinic commentaries and sources that mention the role of Israel in the Torah. In doing so he gives the reader a newfound love and appreciation for the Land that God chose for his people.Culling from a vast storehouse of Rabbinic literature, Rabbi Lichtman illustrates for readers that living in the Holy Land is more than a weighty, legalistic question. It is the fulfillment of the deep yearnings of millennia of Jews who sought to reach the Land in order to be able to perform those commandments rooted in the Land itself.Rabbi Hershel Schachter, a leading modern-day rabbinic authority, lauded this monumental work, saying, "It is certainly a great and timely mitzvah, as well as a pressing need, to add another work onto the Oral Law in honor of the value and importance of the Land of Israel."Written during the turbulent times of the recent intifada, this timely work shows the importance of the Land of Israel to Judaism. It challenges the reader to look at Israel in a new light-not as a political entity, but as a fundamental component to Torah, Jewish observance, and to the Jewish nation itself.