Students at Neve Yerushalayim go on a hike in Ein Bokek near the Dead Sea - day hikes are very popular in Israel, with the added bonus that every step in the Land is a mitzvah!

Of all the countries I have been to, there is one to which I will always return.  There is one that is both an incredible place to travel and a perfect place to live.  There is one that both inspires and challenges, and that does so on all levels: physical, social, economic, conceptual, emotional, and spiritual.

That country is Israel.

We Jews have a special tie to the land of Israel.  It is considered a great merit to be allowed by G-d to go there – and once you are there you really are not supposed to leave without a strong, compelling reason.  Every few steps you take in the land of Israel is another mitzvah, so don’t take the bus if it’s possible to walk instead.  Israel is the land G-d gave to us, the Jews, and it is ours for eternity.  Our roots grow there, no matter how far our branches have spread.

So no matter how much Rabbi Ben and I travel, we always end up back in Israel and we always will.  We are Jews and that deep love of Israel flows through our veins.  There are no lures of any other country that could be stronger.

Every little part of Israel is important and beloved to us as Jews

The Jewish heritage of the love of the land of Israel is a powerful part of this week’s parsha.  We notice that the daughters of Zelophehad – Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah – go to ask Moshe for a portion of the land even though they are women.  Yet, the parsha comes to teach us, this is not because they are greedy or selfish or want the land for their own personal gain.  No, their ancestry traces all the way back to Joseph. Joseph, who, of all the sons of Jacob, made his brothers promise to return his body to the land of Israel after his death.  Joseph, who, after being sold into slavery at the tender age of 17, never got to set foot in Israel again but loved it so much that he couldn’t abide by his bones resting anywhere else.  From this we learn that the daughters of Zelophehad wanted a portion of the land of Israel because they loved it so much. And just as G-d granted the Jews Pesach Sheni when they asked for it out of love for the mitzvah of Pesach, G-d granted the daughters of Zelophehad a piece of the land of Israel.

This is how deep our love for the land of Israel should flow. It should be so deep that the thought of being left “without a portion” should drive us to beg our leaders to allow us one.  We should step up to defend our land from slander and we should do everything in our power to get there if we can, if not now, then some day.

Shabbat shalom!

Read more on Parshas Pinchas: Judaism as a Leader in Women’s Rights