The foundation of our claim to the land of Israel

As we begin reading the Torah anew with Sefer Bereishis, we encounter one of the most fundamental questions in Jewish thought: Why does the Torah begin with Creation rather than with the first mitzvah given to the Jewish people? 

Rashi, quoting the Midrash, addresses this question in his very first commentary on the Torah. Instead of beginning with the mitzvah of declaring the new month, the Torah opens with the words “Bereishis bara Elokim es hashamayim ve’es ha’aretz (In the beginning, G-d created the heavens and the earth)”. 

Rashi explains that this establishes a principle for all generations: G-d created the world and has the authority to give its lands to whomever He chooses. Should the Jewish people’s right to the land of Israel be challenged, our response begins with the very first verse of the Torah: The Creator promised this land to our ancestors. 

Parshas Noach continues this story. After the flood, humanity begins again, and the Torah traces the generations leading to Avraham Avinu. In next week’s parsha, Lech Lecha, G-d commands Avraham to travel to the land He will show him and promise that it will be given to his descendants. From Creation, through Noach, to Avraham, the Torah lays the foundations of our connection to the land of Israel. 

It is remarkable that a teaching recorded by Rashi nearly a thousand years ago, based on an ancient Midrash and a verse in the Torah given more than 3 300 years ago, speaks so directly to the debates of our own time. 

The legitimacy of Israel’s connection to the Jewish people remains a central issue in political debates across the world. Yet our bond to the land is neither a recent political development nor a claim born in modern times. It is woven into the fabric of Jewish identity. 

According to traditional Jewish chronology, 3 764 years ago Hashem promised the land of Israel to Avraham Avinu and his descendants. The Jewish people entered the land under Yehoshua 3 300 years ago, beginning centuries of Jewish life in their ancestral homeland, marked by the reigns of Israel’s kings, the words of its prophets, and the building of both Holy Temples in Jerusalem. 

Even during subsequent centuries of exile, Jews always maintained a presence in the land and never ceased praying towards Jerusalem, yearning for Zion, and hoping to return to their ancestral homeland. This connection predates the emergence of Islam by many centuries and has remained central to Jewish faith, prayer, and identity. 

As Jews, we must hold our heads high and understand the depth of our historical and spiritual connection to Israel. We should never allow the distortion of history or hostility towards the Jewish people to diminish our understanding of our heritage. 

As we begin the Torah again, we are reminded that our story began long before modern politics and international resolutions. It began with the Creator of heaven and earth and a promise that has sustained our people through generations of triumph, tragedy, exile, and return. 

The land of Israel is not merely a place on a map. It is an essential part of the Jewish people’s history, faith, and destiny. 

• Rabbi Danny Sackstein Sunny Road Kehilla