{"id":41931,"date":"2018-10-13T21:55:18","date_gmt":"2018-10-13T18:55:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=41931"},"modified":"2022-05-07T23:41:05","modified_gmt":"2022-05-07T20:41:05","slug":"why-continue-to-the-land-of-israel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/why-continue-to-the-land-of-israel\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Continue to the Land of Israel?"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"entry-content\"><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[469,430,638],"acf":{"old_id":"41931","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":41928,"related_cahpter":"66","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"Why not an alternative future in the land of plenty \u2013 Egypt?","content":"<p>In the beginning of our chapter, the people turn to Moses and Aaron and say: \u201cIf only we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the fleshpots, when we ate our fill of bread!\u201d Their request seems odd: Has their memory completely failed them? When did they eat their fill of meat and bread in Egypt? Don\u2019t they remember they were slaves? And why do they mention the hand of God?<\/p>\n<p>Several commentators suggest that the people are not remembering the past but instead imagining another possible future for themselves. Now that the Egyptians have been defeated, what need do they have to go on to the Land of Israel? They are asking: why can\u2019t we stay as committed worshippers of God in Egypt, the land of abundance, and skip the desert travel and inevitable wars we will need to encounter in Canaan? According to Alshich (1508-1593), the people note that Moses and Aaron have brought the people into a relationship with God, and also taken them out of Egypt. They have no qualms about being God\u2019s people, but why must they leave Egypt?<\/p>\n<p>Netziv (1816-1893) presents a more nuanced version of this argument: he says that the people argued that only the spiritual elite should live in Israel, and that the rest of the nation could remain in Egypt.<\/p>\n<p>How important it is to Jewish identity to live in the Land of Israel &#8211; and which Jews should live there &#8211; has been a subject that Jews continue to debate.\u00a0 In 1902, Asher Ginzberg, known as Ahad Ha\u2019Am, attacked Theodor Herzl\u2019s book <em>Alteneuland<\/em>, which called for all Jews throughout the world to make their home in Israel. Ahad Ha\u2019Am dismissed this idea as ridiculous and unrealistic.\u00a0 He believed the masses should stay in their home countries while the elite would build a spiritual and cultural center in the Land of Israel where the best of Judaism would be developed and then shared with diaspora Judaism.<\/p>\n<p>Whether the Israelites in Chapter 16 preferred that they all remain in Egypt, or believed that a small delegation should leave, they have clearly not yet been persuaded that a mass relocation to the Land of Israel is an important and necessary part of their Exodus story.\u00a0 It will be up to God, Moses and Aaron in the continuing chapters to persuade them that living in the Land of Israel is a necessary component of their new identity.<\/p>\n","image":{"ID":54859,"id":54859,"title":"\"Promised Land\" Road Sign with dramatic clouds and 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