Eternal Relationship with Hashem and His Land
BEHAR
Yirmiyahu 32:6–27
Eternal Relationship with Hashem and His Land
This week’s Haftarah attests to the eternal relationship between the Jewish people and their precious homeland, Eretz Yisrael. Although we were exiled, Eretz Yisrael always awaits our return.
Land Purchase Immediately Before Exile
The Haftarah’s setting is at the end of the heavy Babylonian siege on Yerushalayim. As the Jewish People’s days in their homeland were reaching their end, Yirmiyahu Hanavi recorded an intriguing transaction. Hashem informed him that his cousin Chanamel would soon come to him to sell a field and that Yirmiyahu should take full advantage of the opportunity. Although Yirmiyahu realized that the Jewish exile was imminent and that the Babylonians would soon take full possession of Eretz Yisrael, he followed Hashem’s instruction and agreed to the purchase. Therefore, when his cousin came, Yimiyahu immediately drafted a legal contract and paid a sizeable amount of money for the plot of land. He proceeded to preserve the document in an earthen vessel to secure its evidence until the time it would become useful. Hashem then stated, “They will again purchase houses, fields, and vineyards in this land.” (Yirmiyahu 32:7-15)
Yirmiyahu then directed his words to Hashem in bewilderment and questioned His instruction. He asked, since the Babylonian war machines were in full gear and the Jewish exile was on its way, of what value was his purchase? Hashem responded, “I am the Master of all beings; is there anything beyond My capability?” (Yirmiyahu 32:27)
Radak explains that Hashem was saying to Yimiyahu with this that the Jewish people will return and re-engage themselves in such purchases and that they will resettle the land. (Radak ad loc.)
We understand the dialogue, but the need for the purchase remains a total mystery. Since Hashem had sent numerous prophets to the Jewish people to assure them of their ultimate redemption from their exile, why was it necessary to demonstrate their return through this tangible experience? We can safely assume that Yirmiyahu did not anticipate deriving any personal benefit from his purchase. The Jewish nation was soon leaving their land for seventy years and Yirmiyahu certainly did not consider benefitting in his lifetime from his legal rights to the property. Why then was he instructed to spend money to engage in a useless transaction?
Eternal Connection to our Homeland
In response to this we can suggest that Yirmiyahu’s purchase was meant to teach the Jewish people an important lesson. One can easily imagine the feelings of the nation during those times. Those unfortunate people faced the grave reality that they were soon leaving their homeland. Although they were privileged to dwell in the “palace of the king” for close to one thousand years, their experience was rapidly reaching its end. Undoubtedly, they focused their minds on their inevitable plight, and they dreaded severing ties with their precious homeland Eretz Yisrael.
At that exact moment, Hashem instructed Yirmiyahu to secure the purchase of a plot of land. Through that visible demonstration, Hashem challenged the Jewish people to rise above their present predicament and to view their painful exile as a temporary experience. Hashem told them not to despair, rather to preserve their ties with their precious homeland. To reinforce that point He instructed Yirmiyahu to demonstrate his total faith in the Jewish nation’s return. He began setting their sights on the future and he therefore purchased a plot of land in preparation for his family’s return. In Yirmiyahu’s mind their pending exile was but a passing phase for the Jewish People, and he rightfully preoccupied himself in resuming their life after their difficult Babylonian stay.
Yirmiyahu taught his faltering generation that the Jewish people were perpetually bound to Eretz Yisrael and that they would never sever their ties with their homeland. Yirmiyahu left them with an eternal message that the Jewish people belong to Eretz Yisrael and that Eretz Yisrael will always belong to them. Although they would soon leave its sacred soil, it remains their permanent possession, patiently awaiting their return.
Rabbeinu Bachya reinforces this message and comments on the Torah’s words at the end of Parshas Lech Lecha, “I will give you and your offspring the land of your sojourn, the entire land of Canaan as an eternal possession.” (Bereishis 17:8) He explains this to mean that no other nation will ever possess or settle Eretz Yisrael. He proves his point from an historical perspective and states, “A strong indication to this reality is that no nation has ever effectively settled in Eretz Yisrael since the day the Jewish people went into exile. Rather, it [Eretz Yisrael] remains ruined and desolate until its befitting inhabitants return there.” (Rabbeinu Bachya 17:24)
Indeed, Eretz Yisrael was meant for the Jewish people and will remain their prize possession under all circumstances. For what nation deserves to reside in the land designated for Hashem’s Presence aside from His chosen people!?
Everlasting Relationship with Hashem
In a similar manner, this week’s Parsha reassures the Jewish People of their everlasting relationship with Hashem. At the end of the Parsha, the Torah discusses the rulings of a Jewish person who sold himself to a non-Jew, and it sternly warns his relatives to immediately redeem him so that he does not acclimate himself to his foreign environment. The Torah then states, “For the Jewish people are servants, My possessed ones that I liberated from Egypt…Do not engage in idolatry.” Seforno explains that the Torah addresses here the Jewish nation in exile and preempts the thought process that they could develop there. They could say that when Hashem expelled them from His land, He, in effect, rejected them and lost interest in them. Hashem therefore declared that they are His everlasting possession even during their years of servitude to world nations. (Seforno on Vayikra 26:1)
The Torah concludes, “For I am your Hashem.” Seforno explains that Hashem stated with this His everlasting commitment to His people, even during their years of exile. Chazal crystalize this point and compare Hashem’s relationship with His people to a king who owned a small key to an important room. He said to himself if he leaves the key as is, he could potentially drop it and no one would even bend down to retrieve it and return it to its owner. He therefore made a chain for the key, thereby securing its return to him.
Chazal conclude that Hashem was likewise concerned that the Jewish people could become absorbed in their foreign environment and its culture and never return to Him. He therefore affixed His sacred name to His people by calling them Yisrael, thereby securing that they would never lose their identity. (Yerushalmi Ta’anis 2:6)
We can extend the Seforno’s comment and explain with it the concluding words of the Parsha, “Guard My Shabbos and revere [My Presence in] My Sanctuaries, I am Hashem.” (Vayikra 26:2) Following the above, we can explain that the Torah isolated the observance of these mitzvos because even during the Jewish people’s exile, both Shabbos and our miniature Sanctuaries provide opportunity for a tangible sense.
Go to Torah.org
Date: May 20, 2025
