May 2005
Towards the end of Parshat Acharei Mot (May's opening sedra), after listing various prohibited incestuous relationships, the Torah writes (Leviticus 18:20), "And you must not become involved in any of these disgusting perversions - neither the native born nor any foreigner who settles among you… and you shall not cause the land to vomit you out when you defile it, just as the land vomited out the nation that was there before you."
A land does not vomit - people do. This anthropomorphic treatment of the land of Israel is intentional and hardly anomalous. For we read again in the next chapter (Leviticus 19:29), "Do not defile your daughter by making her into a harlot, and," continues the Torah, "the land shall itself not become sexually immoral (v'lo tizneh ha'aretz)." Again, G-d assigns distinctly human characteristics to the Holy Land.
This humanization of the Holy Land is the Torah's attempt to give Israel a personality. The Almighty wishes that we relate to Israel as we would to a sensitive person, who is easily offended, who takes affront at indignities suffered. The Torah gives Israel human qualities because G-d wants us to draw on what we know from our interpersonal relationships and apply that knowledge to our relationship with Israel. The Torah asks that we not only settle the Land, but also that we fawn over her, that we romance her, that we feel her joy, and also her pain.
This year, as we celebrate Yom Ha'atzmaut and then Yom Yerushalayim, we do so with an awareness of the flurry of diplomatic activity that, it seems, will soon lead to giving away another piece of our Land. Whatever the merits of this initiative, regardless of whether or not we support this plan, it should, for every Jew, evoke pain and empathy. For even if our beloved requires this operation to survive, it is, nonetheless, a traumatic amputation. To suppress these feelings is to dampen the passion of our relationship to the Land. As we celebrate the beauty, splendor and success of our dear country, we must feel her pain as well.
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