Imagine if I told you that there is a certain area of land in the world where its fertility
is dependent upon the people that dwell in that land.
Would seem pretty preposterous right?
Agriculture doesn't work like that.
Either a land is fertile or it isn't – it doesn't depend on which group of people
inhabits the land.
Can land really have some kind of direct relationship with the people living on it?
Well…I have some news for you.
Such a relationship exists – and it's between the Jewish people and the land of
Israel.
Let me explain.
When the Jewish people entered the Land, even up until the time of Josephus (i.e. approximately
1300 years later), it was still very prosperous and fertile.
"For the whole area is excellent for crops or pasturage and rich in trees of every kind,
so that by its fertility it invites even those least inclined to work on the land.
In fact, every inch of it has been cultivated by the inhabitants and not a parcel goes to
waste.
It is thickly covered with towns, and thanks to the natural abundance of the soil, the
many villages are so densely populated that the smallest of them has more than fifteen
thousand inhabitants."
Indeed, according to the Torah, when entering the Land the Jews are told: "God will bring
you to a good land, a land flowing streams and springs gushing out in the valley and
the mountains.
It is a land where you shall not eat your bread in rations…"
(Devarim 8:7)
But then they are also warned: "I will devastate the land, and your enemies who dwell in it
will be desolate.
You, I will scatter among the nations, at the point of my drawn sword, and your land
will be completely desolate, and your cities will be in ruins" (Vayikra 26:32,33)
The basic idea is this: As long as the Jews are in the Land of Israel, the land will be
very fertile.
However, as soon as the Jewish people leave the land, or are expelled from the land, it
is going to become desolate and inhospitable to all others who try to live there.
Obviously no scientist could ever begin to explain how a plot of land could flourish
only for one particular people.
But that is exactly what has happened.
No one living at that time 2000 years ago would have been able to see how their blossoming
land could suddenly turn desolate and remain so as long as Jews stayed in foreign lands.
But, exactly as predicted, 2000 years ago the Jewish people were oppressed and exiled
from their land by the Roman Empire.
And – so – what happened to the land's fertility?
During the 2000 years that the Jewish people were exiled, many Empires conquered its territory,
and countless wars were fought for its possession.
The land is situated on the 'fertile crescent', where 3 continents meet – a prime location
for nations and empires to acquire.
And yet, astonishingly, no conqueror succeeded in permanently settling there or in causing
this desolate wasteland to blossom.
Remarkably, the land became and remained desolate, despite all the odds.
Nachmanidies - the Ramban wrote in a letter to his son in 1260 – "The desolation is
great.
The more sacred the place, the more it has suffered."
Mark Twain said on his visit to Palestine in 1867 that it is "...a desolate country
whose soil is rich enough, but is given over wholly to weeds-a silent mournful expanse...."
Has this ever happened anywhere else in the world?
The Europeans came to the US and took it over from the American Indians.
Did the land's fertility suddenly change?
No.
If a land is fertile, it's fertile; if it's a desert, it's a desert.
Not so with the land of Israel.
Only there does the land become uninhabitable when the Jews are exiled.
Obviously we can see in hindsight how nation after nation squabbled over the land and never
made it blossom, but how could how could anyone be able to predict such an occurrence?
How could they know in advance that it would happen?
Why would they write it in their book?
What guarantees do they have that it would happen?
None.
Now, remarkably, after many years of exile, the Torah states that the Jewish people will
eventually return to the Land of Israel, and with their return will be the miraculous physical
rejuvenation of this desolate land.
"And God will return your captured ones, and He will have compassion upon you, and
He will gather you in from all the nations that God scattered you there" Devarim 30:3-5
While Jews always maintained a presence in the land while most of their brethren were
in exile, from the end of the late 19th Century Jews began to return in large waves to the
Land of Israel.
By 1948 the state of Israel was declared a reality.
This is an unprecedented event in human history.
What other nation has returned to its land after such a long period dispersion, minority
population and persecution?
We are all witnesses to the fact that in less that one generation the land of Israel has
undergone an unbelievable transformation from a desolate wasteland into a prosperous and
blossoming land – Israel is a large exporter of fruits and vegetables around the world;
from a negligible population to about half the Jews in the world and counting, from the
colonies of countless Empires to a secure homeland for Jews across the world to return
to.
Amazing!
The land has responded to her people!
Now, you might be able to explain how the Land of Israel did transform so rapidly with
modern technology and international funding, but the question is - who could have predicted
that such a phenomenon would take place?
How could someone know 3000 years ago that the land of Israel will only respond to the
Jewish people – that when they leave the land en masse, its fertility will suddenly
fall – despite nation after nation attempting acquiring it – and only when the Jews return
will it finally become fertile again?
Could such a human being take a risk by making this prophecy in the Torah?
What if they got it wrong?
What if some other nation did rebuild the land?
To me, the history of the land of Israel's relationship with her people is testimony
to the divine hand over human affairs.
Today we are witness to an ancient prophecy becoming manifest.
We are witness to what I personally think can only be described as the hand of God.
Before we end let me show you a quote that from Professor Sir John William Dawson in
his book Modern Science in Bible Lands – he wrote this in 1888 - "Until today no people
has succeeded in establishing national dominion in the land of Israel….No national unity
or spirit of nationalism has acquired any hold there.
The mixed multitude of itinerant tribes that managed to settle there did so on lease, as
temporary residents.
It seems that they await the return of the permanent residents of the land."
I'm Ollie Anisfeld, and you're watching J-TV.
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