The Torah was given to Israel so that they would study it and fulfill its mitzvot in Eretz Yisrael, so that through their observance, blessing would flow to the Land and from there to the entire world. In Eretz Yisrael, God’s kingship, Torah, and blessing are revealed, and from there they spread to the whole world; outside the Land, by contrast, it is difficult for them to be revealed. Therefore, in the Land it is revealed that “the Lord is God,” whereas outside the Land He referred to only as “God of gods.” This is why the Sages said that a Jew who lives outside the Land is comparable to one who worships idols (Ketubot 110b). They further taught: “As long as you are in the Land, I am God to you; when you are not in the Land, it is as though I am not your God” (Tosefta, Avoda Zara 4:5). For this reason, the mitzva of settling the Land is said to be equivalent to all the mitzvot (Sifrei, Re’eh 80; Ramban to Vayikra 18:25).
The Torah similarly states: “For you are crossing the Jordan to come and inherit the land that the Lord your God is giving you; you shall inherit it and dwell in it. And you shall observe to perform all the statutes and ordinances that I place before you today. These are the statutes and ordinances that you shall observe to perform in the land that the Lord, God of your fathers, has given you to inherit, all the days that you live upon the earth” (Devarim 11:32–12:2). This implies that the obligation of the mitzvot applies specifically in the Land. Yet, by contrast, it is stated there (11:16–18): “Take care lest your heart be seduced, and you turn aside and worship other gods and bow down to them. Then the anger of the Lord will burn against you… and you will quickly perish from upon the good land that the Lord is giving you. [Nevertheless, even when you are in exile,] you shall place these words of Mine upon your heart and upon your soul; you shall bind them as a sign upon your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.” Thus, even in exile, one is commanded to fulfill the mitzvot.
The Sages explained that land-dependent mitzvot – that is, mitzvot rooted in the soil – apply specifically in Eretz Yisrael. Mitzvot that are not land-dependent, however, remain obligatory even in exile, so that the nation will remember them and know how to fulfill them when it returns to the Land. Their observance in exile also stirs the nation to repentance and helps bring its redemption nearer (Yerushalmi, Shevi’it 6:1; Mishna, Kiddushin 1:8; Kiddushin 37a; Sifrei, Ekev 43–44).
The land-dependent mitzvot are: ḥalla, orla, kil’ei zera’im, kil’ei ha-kerem, ḥadash, leket, shikḥa, pe’a, peret, olelot, bikurim, terumot and ma’asrot, reishit ha-gez, shevi’it, and yovel. According to many authorities, this category also includes the priestly gifts of the foreleg, cheeks, and maw (below, section 16). Although these mitzvot apply primarily in the Land, many of them extend in some measure even outside the Land, as explained in the note. There are also many public mitzvot dependent on the Land, such as establishing a judicial system, as well as many mitzvot dependent on the building and functioning of the Temple. These will not be addressed in this chapter.[1]
The obligation of all land-dependent mitzvot depends not only on Eretz Yisrael itself, but also on the Jewish people’s national presence there. The obligation began only after Israel entered the primary part of the Land – the western side of the Jordan, the land of the seven Canaanite nations. For some mitzvot, the Torah requires an even more complete national settlement: shevi’it and yovel apply by Torah law only when the nation dwells in its Land properly, each tribe in its inheritance (below, section 14), while ḥalla and terumot and ma’asrot apply by Torah law only when most of the Jewish people are in the Land (below, sections 2, 10, and 11).
In brief, the public mitzvot dependent on the Land include: the mitzva of settling the Land and all that it entails, such as the war to conquer it; “They shall not dwell in your land”; “You shall not show them favor”; the Levite cities and cities of refuge; the eradication of idolatry; appointing a king, or another form of leadership with the status of a king; appointing judges and officers in all the gates of Israel; ordaining judges; sanctifying months; intercalating years; egla arufa; the rebellious elder; building the Temple and performing the sacrificial service; walled-city houses; house afflictions; and the condemned city.
[1]. With regard to orla, we have a halakha le-Moshe mi-Sinai that the prohibition applies even outside the Land. The practical difference is that in the Land one must be stringent in cases of doubt, while outside the Land one may be lenient (above, 2:1). The Sages also extended kil’ei ha-kerem to outside the Land, but only in its most severe form, which is prohibited according to all views (above, 3:4).
Other mitzvot were extended beyond the Land in more limited ways. Terumot and ma’asrot were enacted in the four regions adjacent to the Land, though that obligation has since lapsed (below, section 13). Leket, shikḥa, and pe’a were extended outside the Land when the Jewish poor needed them (below, section 15). Ḥalla was given a broader rabbinic requirement and applies outside the Land as well, so that the laws of ḥalla not be forgotten (below, section 10).
Other mitzvot apply outside the Land only in certain respects. Shevi’it itself depends on the Land, but the remission of debts is not tied to the soil and therefore applies even outside the Land (Peninei Halakha: Shemita Ve-yovel 6:1). Ḥadash is more complex: the Tanna’im disagree about its scope, and the halakhic ruling is that its Torah prohibition applies even outside the Land (Kiddushin 37a; above, 1:5). Even so, the nation became obligated in the mitzva only after entering the Land; the time when new grain becomes permitted follows the growing season in the Land (above, 1:2); and the prohibition against harvesting ḥadash applies only in the Land (above, 1:4).
