“Yos, last week we laid the groundwork-”
“Groundwork- funny, Yoeli!”
“So I thought maybe we’d dig a bit deeper…”
“Good very good… dig deeper, keep up the ground jokes, and you’ll be..”
“Grounded? Ha! But for real, Yidden have a special connection to Eretz Yisrael. Why?”
“So in Bereishis, Hashem makes Adam out of the dust of the land. The Medrash says that this land was Eretz Yisrael. Adam Harishon was formed from the dust of Eretz Yisrael! The Medrash in Shemos Rabba says that every Yid actually comes from a different part of Adam Harishon as he is our great-great-… grandfather. Which means that every Yid is literally made of the soil and holiness of Eretz Yisrael.”
“Wait – what about everyone else?”
“Rav Moshe Wolfson zt’l explains: Non-Jews were made from parts of Adam formed from land that wasn’t really Eretz Yisrael, rather from the pipelines we mentioned (Issue 18), that run from E’’Y to the rest of the world!
“So when Avraham was told, “Lech Lecha”, “go for yourself”, of course a Lamed can also mean “to.” Meaning, go TO yourself: meaning go back where you came from! That’s another reason why it feels like coming home when we arrive in Eretz Hakedosha – because it’s where we came from! (Alshich Hakadosh)”
“Wow Yos… heilig! I feel like we’ve only started, but it’s time to go! We’ll see you next week, right here iyH!”
This article was found in Nekuda Tova Issue 19.