The Halachic Borders of Eretz Yisroel - Rabbi Moshe Blau shlita

00:02 Speaker 1 You’re listening to “Lema’an Yishme’u,” a podcast of the Chabad Institute of Halacha.

00:09 Speaker 2 They tell a story about the holy Baal Shem Tov. Once, he wrote a letter to his brother-in-law, Rabbi Gershon of Kitov, saying he was surprised he had not seen him in Eretz Yisroel. He had davened on a particular Shabbos and had not seen him in Eretz Yisroel that Shabbos. When the letter reached Rabbi Gershon, he wrote back to the Baal Shem Tov that he had indeed spent that Shabbos in Akko. There was a bris, and he had gone to a different shul. Apparently, the shul where he davened that Shabbos was outside the borders of Eretz Yisroel, which is why the Baal Shem Tov had not seen him within—within Eretz Yisroel. So this story shows us that Eretz Yisroel has borders, and that there are places outside Eretz Yisroel. Of course, this subject called the borders of Eretz Yisroel is very long and very complicated. We’ll try to cover a little of the Written Torah and a little of the Oral Torah, and see what the practical conclusions are today. I’ll speak mainly about the southeastern border of Eretz Yisroel, which stretches from the end of the Dead Sea to Eilat. Now, as we begin our journey through the borders, the first time we encounter borders is, surprisingly, in Parshas Noach. The Torah tells us about Noach’s descendants: one of Noach’s sons was Cham, and Cham had a son named Canaan. Canaan fathered Tzidon, Cheis, the Jebusite, the Amorite, the Girgashite, the Hivite, the Arkite, the Sinite, the Arvadite, the Tzemarite, and the Chamasite; afterward, the families of the Canaanites spread out. We’re told about Canaan’s descendants, but here the Torah adds something unusual: it also tells us the border of the Canaanites. “The border of the Canaanites was from Tzidon”—Tzidon is to the north, on the Mediterranean coast—“as you come to Gerar, as far as Gaza,” at the southern end of the Mediterranean, “as you come to Sodom and Gomorrah,” extending from west to east toward Sodom and Gomorrah, which we know

03:18 Speaker 2 and will later encounter by the Dead Sea, “and Admah and Tzevoyim, as far as Lasha.” Of all these places, we know more or less where Tzidon, Gaza, Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah, and Tzevoyim were; there are findings associated with them. It isn’t clear where Lasha was. But this is the border of the Canaanites, and the Torah considers it important to emphasize that border. In the next parsha, Parshas Lech Lecha, we have Avraham Avinu’s famous covenant between the parts: “On that day Hashem made a covenant with Avram, saying: To your descendants I have given this land, from the River of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates.” In other words, here we find the borders of the promise, the borders of Avraham’s covenant concerning the land, from the River of Egypt to the Euphrates. The next verse also tells us which nations lived within these geographical borders: the Kenite, the Kenizzite, the Kadmonite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Rephaim, the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Girgashite, and the Jebusite. We find ten nations that apparently lived in this region between the River of Egypt and the Euphrates. What’s surprising is that later, in the same Parshas Lech Lecha, we find another covenant, the covenant of circumcision. There, Hakadosh Boruch Hu makes a covenant with Avraham—the covenant of circumcision—but promises him the land of Canaan. Only the land of Canaan. And indeed, in Nechemiah we find “You are”—we say it in davening every day, in Shacharis: “You are Hashem, G-d, Who chose Avram and brought him out of Ur Kasdim and gave him the name Avraham. You found his heart faithful before You and made a covenant with him to give the land of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Jebusite, and the Girgashite to his descendants, and You fulfilled Your words, for You are righteous.” Here there are only six nations out of the ten. The Girgashite is here too, but one of the nations mentioned earlier is missing: the Rephaim. The Rephaim do not appear. Who are the Rephaim who disappeared here? And in general, there is

06:14 Speaker 2 only a promise here. Let’s jump ahead for a moment to Devarim: “When Hashem your G-d brings you into the land you are entering to possess, and drives out many nations before you—the Hittite, the Girgashite, the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite—seven nations more numerous and powerful than you; and Hashem your G-d delivers them before you and you strike them, you shall utterly destroy them. You shall not make a covenant with them or show them favor.” We find seven nations. As for the difference between seven and six, the Girgashite—some say it fled to Africa. Rashi cites this in Parshas Ki Sisa, that the Girgashite fled. In any event, we see something interesting here: the land has narrowed from ten nations to seven. The great mystery concerns the Kenite, the Kenizzite, and the Kadmonite. They never appear again anywhere in the Torah as nations we are to conquer. Where did they disappear to? Rashi explains that the Kenite, Kenizzite, and Kadmonite are Ammon, Moab, and Edom. Just remember that when we read, in Parshas Lech Lecha, the promise at the covenant between the parts concerning the ten nations—the Kenite, Kenizzite, and Kadmonite, along with the seven Canaanite nations—we need to realize that Ammon, Moab, and Edom, as Rashi identifies them, had not yet been born at the time of that covenant. Lot was still traveling with Avraham, accompanying him. Sodom had not yet been overturned; Lot and his daughters had not yet fled to Tzoar; and neither Ammon nor Moab had been born. Edom, too—that is, Esav—had not yet been born, because he would only be born later as Yitzchak’s grandson. So the Kenite, Kenizzite, and Kadmonite, whom Rashi identifies as Ammon, Moab, and Edom, really are a mystery. Commentators, including Ibn Ezra and others, explain that the Kenite, Kenizzite, and Kadmonite were Canaanite nations that also lived here—they, too, were Canaanites—and that Ammon, Moab, and Edom later took their place. The territory of the Kenite, Kenizzite, and Kadmonite was in fact the territory of Ammon, Moab, and Edom. In any event, that is Rashi’s approach. After

09:33 Speaker 2 that, we find the borders again in the weekly parsha we read last week, Parshas Mishpatim. Once again, we find the borders of the land, and they are quite broad: “I will set your border from the Sea of Reeds to the Sea of the Philistines, and from the wilderness to the river.” The Sea of Reeds generally means the Red Sea by the Sinai Peninsula. The Sea of the Philistines is the Mediterranean. As for “from the wilderness to the river,” Rashi explains that the river is the Euphrates. Some, though, explain that the river here is the River of Egypt. So it depends on the locations—what wilderness is being discussed? Are we talking about the eastern desert, beyond the territories of Gad and Reuven, which separates us from Iraq—the Syrian Desert? Then the river would be the River of Egypt. Or does the wilderness mean the Wilderness of Paran, the Wilderness of Tzin, the Wilderness of Kadesh, with the river being the Euphrates to the north? Either way, we find borders marked by a sea and a river. Then we come to Bamidbar, to Parshas Masei, where the Torah commands us to take possession of the land of Canaan: “When you come into the land of Canaan, this is the land that shall fall to you as an inheritance: the land of Canaan according to its borders.” The Torah calls the area from the Jordan to the Mediterranean Sea “the land of Canaan” within its borders. Here the Torah draws out the geography of the land’s borders for us in detail, naming locations and places. “Your southern side shall be from the Wilderness of Tzin alongside Edom, and your southern border shall begin at the eastern end of the Dead Sea.” In other words, its southeastern end is the Dead Sea—the southeastern end of the Dead Sea. “The border shall turn south of Maaleh Akrabim.” The border runs south of Maaleh Akrabim, passes through Tzin, passes through Kadesh Barnea, passes through Chatzar Addar, and passes through Atzmon. It reaches the River of Egypt and then the Mediterranean Sea, forming the western border. So we have an outline of the places the Torah takes us along

12:40 Speaker 2 The southern border. In plain terms, Rashi writes there—and we’ll go with Rashi again—explicitly why it matters to know these borders: they define many mitzvos that apply within the borders of Eretz Yisroel but not outside them. So to know which mitzvos apply in Eretz Yisroel, we need to know its borders. Rashi explains in his commentary on Parshas Masei that these are the borders that determine the mitzvos of Eretz Yisroel. So, according to the straightforward understanding of Rashi, the areas outside the borders given in Masei are not subject to the mitzvos that depend on the Land. Regarding the southern border, we have two verses: the verse in Parshas Masei, which gives the southern end of the Dead Sea, as opposed to Parshas Mishpatim and the promise to Avraham, which give a more southerly border—the River of Egypt or the Red Sea. The Red Sea is much farther south than the end of the Dead Sea. This apparent contradiction between the verses gives rise to a dispute with practical implications today for the entire area called the Aravah, from the end of the Dead Sea down to the sea, to Eilat on the shore of the Red Sea. What is the status of this area, today called the Aravah Valley? It is not, however, the “Aravah” that the Torah refers to in Parshas Devarim. There, “the Aravah” means the level area along the Jordan Valley, not the area called the Aravah today, which the Torah calls a desert. If we follow Rashi, and then follow someone who took Rashi’s approach, Rabbi Ishtori Haparchi, author of Kaftor Vaferach, who came to Eretz Yisroel and traveled through it—and “traveled” isn’t really the word; he researched and made his way through all the places in Eretz Yisroel

15:24 Speaker 2 to learn about the Land—he too regards the end of the Dead Sea as the halachic border of Eretz Yisroel for the mitzvos that depend on the Land. It follows that everything south of the end of the Dead Sea is not Eretz Yisroel. And if it is not Eretz Yisroel, then all the produce that, with Hashem’s kindness, is grown in the communities of the northern, central and southern Aravah is produce grown outside Eretz Yisroel. It does not have the sanctity of Eretz Yisroel. So in a Shemitah year, those who are particular not to rely on the heter mechirah could obtain fruit and vegetables grown in places near Eretz Yisroel whose status is that of land outside Eretz Yisroel. But when we examine the southern border, we find that it did not run in a straight line from the end of the Dead Sea to the Mediterranean. If it had run straight, then indeed the entire area to the south would be outside Eretz Yisroel. “And the border turns”: that means the border curves. But how much does it curve? How far south does it go before turning west again? How far south of the end of the Dead Sea does it go? Two very well-known researchers of Eretz Yisroel: Rabbi Yehosef Schwarz, who wrote Tevuos Haaretz in 5666, was also a G-d-fearing Jew. He traveled through the Land and mapped the borders in Masei as the halachic borders of Eretz Yisroel. And in 5620—that was in 5666; then, seventy years later, in 5693—Rabbi Yitzchak Goldhar, also a G-d-fearing Jew and a geographer, mapped the borders of Eretz Yisroel as well. There are differences between the map of the southern border in Tevuos Haaretz and that of the author of Admas—he

18:17 Speaker 2 wrote a book—Rabbi Yosef, Rabbi Yitzchak Goldhar wrote a book called Admas Kodesh. It received very interesting approbations, from Rabbi Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld, from Rabbi Yitzchak Yerucham Diskin, and from Rabbi Kook. They all gave their approval to his book Admas Kodesh. He too draws the border diagonally from the end of the Dead Sea. And this has implications: should one take vegetables during Shemitah from the communities in the northern Aravah or not? On the subject of the borders, we again find Moshe Rabbeinu in Parshas Vezos Haberachah: “Moshe went up from the plains of Moav to Mount Nevo, to the top of the summit facing Yericho, and Hashem showed him the entire land, Gilad as far as Dan.” He shows him, in a sweeping view, Gilad, which is on the eastern side of the Jordan; Dan in the north; all of Naftali and the land of Ephraim and Menashe, which is the center of the Land, the Shomron; and all the land of Yehudah as far as the western sea, meaning the Mediterranean; and the Negev—we move to the Negev—and the plain, the valley of Yericho, the city of palm trees, as far as Tzoar. Tzoar is the only city that survived the destruction of Sodom and Amorah, the one remaining of the five cities of the plain. In plain terms, then, Tzoar is at the end of the Dead Sea. The city of Tzoar is located at the end of the Dead Sea. And again we find—the Gemara in Bava Basra says: “Every place on which Moshe set his eyes became obligated in tithes. Every place on which Moshe did not set his eyes did not become obligated in tithes.” Again, we see the Land here, including the eastern side of the Jordan, the land of Gilad. But then it says “as far as Tzoar,” near the end of the Dead Sea. Regarding the borders... Later generations differed on this. Since, with Hashem’s kindness, the Jewish people have begun coming to Eretz Yisroel in great numbers, and, as the Rebbe has already spoken about, we are tasting a foretaste

20:57 Speaker 2 of the ingathering of the exiles, and the Jewish people are settling in Eretz Yisroel, we are returning to these matters and restoring the subject to its former place by studying all the mitzvos that depend on the Land. We were far removed from them throughout the years when we were not in Eretz Yisroel, so they were not practical questions. Now these matters are coming back to life and being discussed again. And here we find major differences of opinion about the Land’s borders. When we come to issue a halachic ruling, first of all, we cannot rule directly from the verses. Just as we cannot determine from the words “fruit of a beautiful tree” what fruit to take—one person would take a clementine, another an orange, while we know it means an esrog. You cannot issue halachic rulings directly from the verses. But we can try to learn what the verses are indicating and what they want us to know. Here there is a major apparent contradiction between these two verses: “I will set your border from the Red Sea to the Sea of the Philistines, and from the desert to the river,” “from the River of Egypt to the Euphrates River,” and the more limited borders, which begin at the end of the Dead Sea and go northward. And there is a dispute over every point along the border—where exactly the border lies. As we said, we will focus on the southeastern border. Regarding the southeastern border, a little history: In 5712, an agricultural settlement was established in Yotvata, about forty kilometers north of Eilat. When the Shemitah year arrived, they asked the Chazon Ish whether they could take vegetables from Yotvata. That was one question. Another question was asked by Rabbi Meir Schwarz, a Jew who devoted much effort to agriculture according to the Torah. He wanted to know whether he could plant mixed seeds in Eilat. Planting mixed seeds is forbidden only in Eretz Yisroel, not outside it. He wanted to run experiments with various kinds of seeds, and then he

24:22 Speaker 2 He asked the Chazon Ish whether it could be done in Eilat. The Chazon Ish told him that in Eilat one may plant mixed seeds, because it is outside Eretz Yisroel. The Chazon Ish’s ruling that vegetables could be taken from Yotvata during Shemitah also placed Yotvata outside the borders of Eretz Yisroel. At the time there were no moshavim north of it. But later, when the moshavim of the Arava were established—and once again, this great wonder, the great miracle of the Jewish people managing, with Hashem’s kindness, to grow amazing vegetables in desert soil—the questions arose again: Is the Arava, the Arava desert, outside Eretz Yisroel, or is it part of Eretz Yisroel? The members of the Eidah Hachareidis’s Badatz deliberated over this in 5733. Together with the Minchas Yitzchak, they decided, on the basis of the maps of the authors of Admas Kodesh and Tevuos Haaretz, that all the Arava moshavim are, in effect, outside Eretz Yisroel as a matter of stringency: the southern tip of the Dead Sea is the border. As an added stringency, they excluded certain moshavim in the Arava from which they would not take vegetables. Only from Ein Yahav southward could they take them, because that was already far from the border—far from any border drawn on the maps of either Tevuos Haaretz or Admas Kodesh. From there they could take vegetables during Shemitah. But as one further stringency, in Ein Yahav itself they decided to take produce only from the eastern side of the Arava streambed. Not because it is the border, not because the Arava streambed marks the border. Derech Emunah has already written that the border has nothing to do with the Arava streambed. The streambed runs from south to east, while the border runs from the southern tip of the Dead Sea toward the west. Rather, this was a stringency to keep as far as possible from the diagonal line of the border running from the southern tip of the Dead Sea toward the west. So, in practice, the Eidah Hachareidis committee takes from eastern Ein Yahav. Technically, they

27:00 Speaker 2 could take vegetables from Tzofar too. In practice they do not take from Tzofar, but technically they could. Paran is a place they do take from, and you can see its produce labeled as Paran produce. These moshavim—Paran, Tzofar and Ein Yahav—are also labeled for consumers as the northern Arava, even though that is not what the area is called. The northern Arava is really more around Neot Hakikar and Ein Tamar; these are moshavim in the central Arava. But consumers know them as the northern Arava, from which the Eidah Hachareidis Badatz, Rabbi Landau, and the Belz Badatz do take produce in the Shemitah year. But here is the thing: Rabbi Elyashiv was concerned. There is a very interesting question here: Do the halachic borders of Eretz Yisroel extend farther south than the southern tip of the Dead Sea, or not? We have a doubt. A doubt concerning Shemitah and terumos and maasros is a doubt about a rabbinic law, and we have a rule: when there is a doubt about a rabbinic law, we rule leniently. Indeed, Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Auerbach says in Shulchan Shlomo that, because we rule leniently in such a case, we may rely on the narrower borders. Nowadays we may rely on the narrower borders: the southern tip of the Dead Sea is the border, and consequently the entire Arava is outside Eretz Yisroel. Rabbi Elyashiv took precisely the opposite view. Although this is a doubt about a rabbinic law, he was specifically stringent because of the doubt. Since it is a question no one knows how to resolve, it cannot be decided. And Shemitah has a Torah basis. Today its observance is rabbinic, but it is a Torah mitzvah. Therefore, with this kind of doubt about a rabbinic law, he is stringent. What does that stringency mean? Again, I want to sum up the point for a moment. According to Rashi, south of the southern tip of the Dead Sea is outside Eretz Yisroel. More than that: according to Rashi, it is clear that south of the Dead Sea is another land called Edom. South of the southern tip of the Dead Sea is Edom. And also

29:54 Speaker 2 the verse shows that Edom extends as far as Eilat. We see this even when King Shlomo made ships at Etzion Gever, near Eilos, on the shore of the Red Sea. Where is that? In the land of Edom. King Shlomo built ships, or established a fleet of ships, at Etzion Gever near the city of Eilos—but where is it? On the shore of the Red Sea, in the land of Edom. According to Rashi’s plain meaning, Rashi states explicitly that the entire southern, desert side of the border, from the southern tip of the Dead Sea southward, is the land of Edom. That is the land of Edom. Next to it is Moav, and north of that is Amon. In other words, we have already encountered Rashi’s identification of Edom, Moav and Amon as the Keini, Kenizi and Kadmoni. The Keini, Kenizi and Kadmoni are therefore the lands promised for the future. The Midrashim state explicitly that in the future—and Rashi says this about the Keini, Kenizi and Kadmoni in Parshas Lech Lecha—the Jewish people will inherit the Keini, Kenizi and Kadmoni as well. In Parshas Devarim too, on “until I come to my master in Seir,” and “until the sole of the foot treads,” Rashi says that when the feet of Moshiach tread on the Mount of Olives, we will be given the lands of Eisav, Amon and Moav as an inheritance too. Until then, we are forbidden to besiege them, provoke them or fight them. Now, you might ask: Didn’t King Dovid fight Edom in the Valley of Salt, and conquer Edom, Moav and Amon? He conquered them because they provoked the Jewish people, harassed them and harmed them. He conquered them, but they did not thereby become subject to the laws of terumos and maasros or the laws of Shemitah. No, they were still not Eretz Yisroel with respect to the sanctity associated with its mitzvos. There was conquest, but no sanctification. Whether there will be sanctification

32:38 Speaker 2 in the future is itself a dispute among the Rishonim regarding the Keini, Kenizi and Kadmoni. The Rashbam writes in Bava Basra that they did not have the sanctity associated with those mitzvos. But in any case, that does not change the point. Even if they will, it is clear from Rashi that nowadays, while these lands are Edom, Amon and Moav, they are not places we can sanctify with the sanctity of Eretz Yisroel. These places have changed. That, in simple terms, is Rashi’s position. But the Rambam takes a different approach and does see conquest as a factor that creates an obligation. In fact, people found that in Hilchos Kiddush Hachodesh, the Rambam writes in one place that Eretz Yisroel begins at latitude 29 degrees, while elsewhere he writes that it begins at latitude 30 degrees. The thirtieth parallel: the earth is divided into lines of latitude, and Eretz Yisroel extends from the thirtieth to the thirty-fifth parallel. Rabbi Elyashiv and his students argued that although the borders in Parshas Masei are the binding borders, from the southern tip of the Dead Sea the border ran south to the thirtieth parallel, met it at some point, and from there continued westward. That means the entire area now called the northern Arava is Eretz Yisroel—even within the borders of Parshas Masei. Because from the Dead Sea the border must run south. It follows that the moshavim of Yahel and Shizafon are above the thirtieth parallel, while Lotan, Ketura, Grofit, Shachrut, Samar and all the kibbutzim down to Eilat are below it. For this purpose, the area below the thirtieth parallel has come to be called the southern Arava. That is the southern Arava, which is outside Eretz Yisroel from the thirtieth parallel southward. Consequently, only Shomrei Shemitah will take only

36:06 Speaker 2 From there, all the territory north of the 30th parallel is—no, no... it is Eretz Yisroel. Other halachic authorities do not take the boundaries in Parshas Masei as the boundaries of Eretz Yisroel; instead, they take the Red Sea. So from the Red Sea to the Euphrates is halachic Eretz Yisroel. That would mean the whole country, from Eilat onward, is Eretz Yisroel. We find this view with Rabbi Tzvi Pesach Frank, and with Rabbi Pinchas Epstein, who was a rabbi of the Eidah Hachareidis. He writes that the territory down to Eilat is Eretz Yisroel on the basis of the verse, “I will set your border from the Red Sea”—or at least that is one possibility based on that verse. Those are rulings by other rabbis, other approaches. The broadest approach is that of Rabbi Yisrael Ariel. He wrote a five-volume encyclopedia on Eretz Yisroel devoted precisely to the boundaries of the land, and he extends those boundaries very, very far. Just as an example, there is a very interesting verse in the Book of Yehoshua. It says, “And Yehoshua took all this land: the hill country, all the Negev, all the land of Goshen, the lowland, the Aravah, the hill country of Israel and its lowland, from Mount Chalak, which rises toward Seir, to Baal Gad in the Lebanon Valley below Mount Hermon. And he captured all their kings, struck them and put them to death.” In Yehoshua chapter 11, the text outlines exactly what Yehoshua conquered, and it includes the land of Goshen. What is the land of Goshen? The Radak offers one explanation: “This is not the Goshen of Egypt.” It was perhaps an area in the center of the land called Goshen. But the Radak also cites a Midrash that it was indeed the Goshen of Egypt, and that it was incorporated into the mountains of Eretz Yisroel. As it says, “And he went up to meet Israel his father in Goshen”—

38:59 Speaker 2 showing that he traveled upward toward Eretz Yisroel. And because Yehudah went on his father’s mission to show him the way to Goshen, he merited to receive the land of Goshen as his portion, for it is a good land. In other words, the land of Goshen is in what is now Egypt, in the place called Rameses. The Egyptians called it Rameses; Yosef calls it the land of Goshen, and that is where he settles his father Yaakov, the children and the brothers. And we know that the land of Goshen is in Egypt. It’s in Egypt! Yet according to the Midrash brought by the Radak—and our Tosafist sages also bring this in their commentary on Bereishis—the land of Goshen was Eretz Yisroel. That would mean we never actually went into exile from Eretz Yisroel: even in the days of Egypt, when we lived in the land of Goshen, we were living in Eretz Yisroel. And the River of Egypt is the Nile, so the southwestern border must be extended to one of the branches of the Nile, encompassing Rameses and the land of Goshen within the boundaries of Eretz Yisroel. Accordingly, Rabbi Yisrael Ariel writes that the Nile is the southwestern boundary; the boundary then runs along the Euphrates from its northwestern end, from the Amanus Mountains in the north, down to the Persian Gulf, and includes the Sinai Peninsula. All this falls within the boundaries of the promise, “from the River of Egypt to the Euphrates.” Interestingly, in the second essay of the Kuzari, Rabbi Yehudah Halevi says that Israel, and also Moshe, Aharon and Miriam, were imbued with ruach hakodesh because they were in Eretz Yisroel, in keeping with Rabbi Yehudah Halevi’s well-known position. In other words, all the Jewish people’s journeys through the wilderness took place in the Sinai Peninsula and then east of the Jordan. All of it was within Eretz Yisroel. It was Eretz Yisroel. So he extends the boundaries of the land very, very far, while others narrow them. Others narrow them

41:22 Speaker 2 further—not to such broad boundaries, but to more limited ones, from the Brook of Egypt, which is Wadi el-Arish, to the Euphrates. If we address the problem of the boundaries rather than the halachic rulings about them, then the major dispute arising from the verses is, again, whether “I will set your border from the Red Sea” applies, or whether the border begins at the end of the Dead Sea. The Red Sea and the Euphrates are both absent from the precisely delineated boundaries in Parshas Masei. That is the puzzle, and that is the tension surrounding the halachic boundaries of Eretz Yisroel. We find something else interesting in the prophet Yechezkel. In chapters 47 and 48, Yechezkel also outlines the boundaries of the land, and there he writes: “And the southern side, southward, shall be from Tamar to the waters of Merivas Kadesh, along the wadi to the Great Sea”; “and the southern side, southward, shall be from Tamar, the waters of Merivas Kadesh, along the wadi to the Great Sea.” That is the southern boundary. More interestingly, in the division of the land in the Book of Yehoshua, the tribe of Yehudah is the southernmost tribe. When the Book of Yehoshua outlines the boundaries of Yehudah’s portion, it runs westward from the end of the Dead Sea, alongside the length of the Dead Sea. Above it is Binyamin, then Ephraim and Menashe, and onward to Naftali, Asher and all the other tribes. Interestingly, in chapter 48 of Yechezkel, the southernmost tribe is: “And along the border of Gad, on the southern side, southward, the border shall be from Tamar to the waters of Merivas Kadesh, along the wadi to the Great Sea.” These verses present a great puzzle: the tribe of Gad will be the southernmost tribe. In other words, the entire southern part of Eretz Yisroel will belong to the tribe of Gad. In fact, when the Book of Yechezkel divides the land among the tribes, we do not find any portions on the eastern side of the Jordan. But in any case, what is interesting is that he replaces Yehudah with Gad as the tribe on the southern side. That is very, very interesting. What does the Book of Yechezkel mean? I want to sum up this subject. Today’s halachic authorities take several approaches. There is the approach that begins with Rashi, Kaftor Vaferach, Tevuos Haaretz and Admas Kodesh: they all take the boundaries in Parshas Masei as the halachic boundaries of the land, with everything south of them outside Eretz Yisroel. As we have already quoted, this is the position of the Eidah Hachareidis’s Beis Din, Rabbi Landau and other kashrus organizations. Then there is Rabbi Elyashiv, who takes the Rambam’s position into account and regards the 30th parallel as the southern limit of Eretz Yisroel, placing the boundary farther south. And there are halachic authorities who see Eilat as the southern limit. To sum up the approaches, much has been written about the southeastern boundary. An interesting approach is that of Rabbi Shneur Zalman Revach. He wrote a book, Gevulos Hasadeh, in which he also plots the southern boundary from the end of the Dead Sea. Following the Book of Yechezkel, he takes it down to the waters of Merivas Kadesh, near Paran and opposite the city of Petra. Petra, which today lies to the east of the Aravah in Jordan, is called Kadesh. How do we know it is Kadesh? Because Kadesh is Rekem, and in Sefer Yosippon, Petra is called Rekem. So Rekem is Kadesh. Rabbi Revach therefore says that the boundary should begin at the end of the Dead Sea, descend along the Aravah streambed—with everything east of the streambed outside Eretz Yisroel—and continue down to the area opposite Petra, which is also fairly close to the 30th parallel. From there it turns westward, while Paran and the area south of it are outside Eretz Yisroel. That is Rabbi Revach’s approach, which he

44:36 Speaker 2 A division on the eastern side of the Jordan. But in any case, what is interesting is that he switches the tribe of Yehudah with the tribe of Gad, so that Gad will be on the southern side. That is very, very interesting. What does the Book of Yechezkel mean here? I want to sum up this subject. So, among halachic authorities today, there is an approach to ruling that begins with Rashi, Kaftor Vaferach, Tevuos Haaretz, and Admas Kodesh. They all take the boundaries in Parshas Masei as the halachic boundaries of Eretz Yisroel, and anything south of them is outside Eretz Yisroel. And we already cited that this is the position of the Badatz of the Eidah Hachareidis, Rabbi Landau, and other kashrus organizations. Then there is Rabbi Elyashiv, who takes into account the Rambam’s view that the thirtieth parallel is the southern edge of Eretz Yisroel, which moves the border farther south. And there are halachic authorities who see Eilat as the southernmost point. To sum up the various views, many have written about the southeastern border. Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Revach’s approach is interesting. He wrote a book, Gevulos Hasadeh, in which he draws the southern border from the southern end of the Dead Sea. Following the Book of Yechezkel, it descends to Mei Merivas Kadesh, which is a little before Paran, opposite the city of Petra. Petra, which today lies to the east of the Aravah in Jordan, is identified as Kadesh. Why? How do we know it is Kadesh? Because Kadesh is Rekem, and in the ancient writings—in the Book of Yosippon—Petra is called Rekem, and Rekem is Kadesh. So Rabbi Revach says the border should begin at the southern end of the Dead Sea, descend along the Aravah streambed—with everything east of the streambed outside Eretz Yisroel—and continue down to the area opposite Petra. That is also fairly close to the thirtieth parallel. From there it turns west, and from there, Paran and the area to its south are outside Eretz Yisroel. That is Rabbi Revach’s view, which he

47:44 Speaker 2 He drew the boundaries according to his own approach, and so each river has its own course. Each person therefore needs to “make yourself a rav” and see how his rav rules on the different approaches to determining the boundaries—where he draws the line and where he does not. The main thing is to “love truth and peace,” and Torah scholars increase peace in the world. Just to add a few points that concern us as Chabad chassidim: Regarding the city of Eilat, when Rabbi Glitzenstein, the Rebbe’s shliach in Eilat, asked, the Rebbe told him to observe the second day of Yom Tov privately, discreetly. The Rebbe stressed that this was not connected to the borders of the Land—that the second day of Yom Tov is not determined by the Land’s borders—and therefore he should observe two days. What is interesting is that the instruction was to do so privately and discreetly. That is how Chabad chassidim in Eilat observe two days of Yom Tov on the Jewish festivals. There is another interesting response from the Rebbe to a rabbi who had come from abroad to visit Eretz Yisroel. The Rebbe told him: “Since you are traveling for more than thirty days, try to go down to Eilat, to leave once, so that you will not be in Eretz Yisroel for thirty consecutive days. Go to Rabbi Glitzenstein in Eilat, and he can show you his Chabad House.” So again, we see a very interesting approach in that response to the rabbi: he should not spend thirty consecutive days in Eretz Yisroel, but should go out to Eilat, which would seem to indicate that Eilat is outside Eretz Yisroel. Nevertheless, there is another response from the Rebbe to a Jew who wanted to leave Eilat for a country outside Eretz Yisroel. The Rebbe told him that leaving the Holy Land for a country outside Eretz Yisroel is not a simple matter. So it is difficult to reach a conclusion about the boundaries from the Rebbe’s words. But,

50:10 Speaker 2 But what is clear is this: Everyone who deals with this subject knows and says, with one voice, that until a kohen stands with the Urim VeTumim and Moshiach Tzidkeinu comes, we do not have a clear and definitive answer as to the boundaries of our Land. But with Hashem’s help, we will merit the complete Geulah immediately, and then we will have a whole Land, a whole Torah, and a whole people. There will be no question of where the boundary begins and where it ends. May we merit, with Hashem’s help, that Eretz Yisroel spread to all lands, that the holiness of the Land reach every place, and that the complete Geulah be everywhere. May we merit this immediately.