{"id":12227,"date":"2026-07-12T00:07:51","date_gmt":"2026-07-11T21:07:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/?p=12227"},"modified":"2026-08-05T14:19:29","modified_gmt":"2026-08-05T11:19:29","slug":"17-12-07","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/17-12-07\/","title":{"rendered":"07.The Second Sanctification and Its Halakhic Effect for the Communal-National Mitzvot"},"content":{"rendered":"
One of the most painful expressions of the crisis that befell the Jewish people after the destruction of the First Temple was that they were no longer obligated to observe the communal-national mitzvot dependent on the Land: shemita<\/em> and yovel<\/em>, terumot<\/em> and ma\u2019asrot<\/em>, and the gifts to the poor. Through these mitzvot, the values of Torah enter the nation\u2019s practical public life, and through them the Jewish people\u2019s distinctive character is revealed. It stands to reason that even after the destruction, some Jews continued to observe these mitzvot to some degree; still, they did so as a continuation of ancestral practice, not because they were obligated. Ezra\u2019s great achievement was restoring the obligation to observe these mitzvot. In the seventh year after the Temple was built, Ezra and his court renewed the halakhic sanctity of the Land with respect to the mitzvot dependent on it. They resumed the count toward shemita<\/em> and yovel<\/em>, and the Jewish people once again became obligated in the Land\u2019s communal-national mitzvot: terumot<\/em> and ma\u2019asrot<\/em>, \u1e25alla<\/em>, the gifts to the poor, and shemita<\/em>.<\/p>\n The Sages taught that the first sanctification, by which the Land was sanctified in the days of Yehoshua bin Nun for the communal-national mitzvot, was limited to its time and therefore was nullified with the destruction and exile. The second sanctification, in the days of Ezra, remained forever. The Torah states that after the Jewish people sin and suffer the punishment of exile, God will bring them back to their Land a second time: \u201cThe Lord your God will restore your fortunes and have compassion upon you, and He will return and gather you from among all the peoples where the Lord your God has scattered you\u2026 And the Lord your God will bring you to the land that your fathers possessed, and you shall possess it\u2026\u201d (Devarim 30:3\u20135). The Sages explain: \u201cthat your fathers possessed\u201d refers to the first inheritance of the Land, in the days of Yehoshua bin Nun; \u201cand you shall possess it\u201d refers to the second inheritance, in the days of Ezra. Since the Torah does not mention a third inheritance, the sanctity created through the second inheritance remains forever. Therefore, even after the destruction of the Second Temple, the sanctity of the Land was not nullified (Yevamot<\/em> 82b).<\/p>\n The first sanctification took effect through conquest; when the Land was taken from us and the conquest ended, that sanctity was nullified as well. The second sanctification, by contrast, was established through the Jewish people\u2019s settlement of the Land and their hold upon it despite all difficulties. Since this sanctity took effect through settlement even without Jewish sovereignty, it was grounded in the Jewish people\u2019s enduring claim to their Land \u2013 a claim based not on political control, but on the divine promise. Since that claim can never lapse, the sanctity established through it can likewise never be nullified, even after destruction and exile (see Rambam, MT, Laws of Terumot 1:5 and Laws of the Temple 6:16).<\/p>\n It appears, however, that the first sanctification served as the basis for the second. The sanctity of the Land as it applies to the mitzvot dependent on it reaches its full expression when the mitzva of settling the Land is fulfilled in both its dimensions: conquest and settlement. As the Torah states, \u201cYou shall possess it and dwell in it\u201d (Devarim 11:31): \u201cpossess it\u201d refers to conquest, and \u201cdwell in it\u201d refers to settlement. Once the Jewish people acquired their Land through both dimensions of the mitzva, the Land remained sanctified for its mitzvot forever.<\/p>\n Although some Rishonim disagree and maintain that the second sanctification, too, was nullified after the destruction (Rashba, Ritva, and Ran), the accepted halakha is that the second sanctification is never nullified. [8]<\/a><\/sup>p><\/p>\n