Zionism in the Talmud

(1) In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

(1) בראשית IN THE BEGINNING — Rabbi Isaac said: The Torah which is the Law book of Israel should have commenced with the verse (Exodus 12:1) “This month shall be unto you the first of the months” which is the first commandment given to Israel. What is the reason, then, that it commences with the account of the Creation? Because of the thought expressed in the text (Psalms 111:6) “He declared to His people the strength of His works (i.e. He gave an account of the work of Creation), in order that He might give them the heritage of the nations.” For should the peoples of the world say to Israel, “You are robbers, because you took by force the lands of the seven nations of Canaan”, Israel may reply to them, “All the earth belongs to the Holy One, blessed be He; He created it and gave it to whom He pleased. When He willed He gave it to them, and when He willed He took it from them and gave it to us” (Yalkut Shimoni Exodus 12:2).

(8) And I will give to you, and to your offspring after you, the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.’

(50) And the LORD spoke unto Moses in the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho, saying: (51) ’Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them: When ye pass over the Jordan into the land of Canaan, (52) then ye shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you, and destroy all their figured stones, and destroy all their molten images, and demolish all their high places. (53) And ye shall drive out the inhabitants of the land, and dwell therein; for unto you have I given the land to possess it. (54) And ye shall inherit the land by lot according to your families—to the more ye shall give the more inheritance, and to the fewer thou shalt give the less inheritance; wheresoever the lot falleth to any man, that shall be his; according to the tribes of your fathers shall ye inherit. (55) But if ye will not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you, then shall those that ye let remain of them be as thorns in your eyes, and as pricks in your sides, and they shall harass you in the land wherein ye dwell. (56) And it shall come to pass, that as I thought to do unto them, so will I do unto you.

31. For you are crossing the Jordan, to come to possess the land which the Lord, your God, is giving you, and you shall possess it and dwell in it.32. And you shall keep to perform all the statutes and ordinances that I am setting before you today.

A pilgrim song. When God restored the exiles to Zion it seemed like a dream. Our mouths were filled with laughter, our tongues with joyful song. Then they said among the nations: "God has done great things for them." Yes, God is doing great things for us, and we are joyful. Restore our fortunes, O God, as streams revive the desert. Then those who have sown in tears shall reap in joy. Those who go forth weeping, carrying bags of seeds, shall come home with shouts of joy, bearing their sheaves.

MISHNA. One may [forcibly] bring anyone to the Land of Israel, but one may not remove anyone. One may [forcibly] bring anyone to Jerusalem, but one may not remove anyone. [This law applies] both to men and to women. If a man married a woman in the Land of Israel, and divorced her in the land of Israel, he pays her [the amount of her ketubah] with the money of the Land of Israel. If he married a woman in the Land of Israel, and divorced her in Cappadocia, he pays her with the money of the Land of Israel. If he married a woman in Cappadocia, and divorced her in the Land of Israel, he pays her with the money of the Land of Israel. R. Shimon says, "He pays her with the money of Cappadocia." If he married a woman in Cappadocia, and divorced her in Cappadocia, he pays her with the money of Cappadocia.

GEMARA. What [was the expression,] 'MAY COMPEL ALL’ intended to include? — To include slaves. What, however, [was the expression intended] to include according to him who specifically mentioned 'slaves' [in our Mishnah]? — To include [removal] from a superior dwelling to an inferior one. What [was the expression,] 'BUT NONE MAY BE COMPELLED TO LEAVE IT' intended to include? — To include a slave who fled from outside the Land [of Israel] into the Land in which case his master is told, 'Sell him here, and go', in order to [encourage] settlement in the Land of Israel. What [was the expression] ‘ALL … MAY BE COMPELLED TO GO UP TO JERUSALEM' intended to include? — To include [removal] from a superior dwelling to an inferior one. What [was the expression,] 'BUT NONE MAY BE COMPELLED TO LEAVE IT' intended to include? — To include even [removal] from an inferior dwelling to a superior one; only since as it was stated in the earlier clause, 'NONE MAY BE COMPELLED TO LEAVE IT it was also stated in the latter clause, 'NONE MAY BE COMPELLED TO LEAVE IT'.

... Our Rabbis taught: If [the husband] desires to go up and his wife refuses she must be pressed to go up; and if [she does] not [consent] she may be divorced without a kethubah. If she desires to go up and he refuses, he must be pressed to go up; and if [he does] not [consent] he must divorce her and pay her kethubah. If she desires to leave and he refuses to leave, she must be pressed not to leave, and if [pressure is of] no [avail] she may be divorced without a kethubah. If he desires to leave and she refuses he must be pressed not to leave, and if [coercion is of] no [avail] he must divorce her and pay her kethubah.

The Rabbis taught: A man should always live in the Land of Israel, even in a city of which the majority are idolaters, and not live outside of the Land of Israel, even in a city where the majority is Jewish. For whoever lives in the Land of Israel, it is as if he has a God. And whoever lives outside of the Land of Israel, it is as if he has no God. For it is said (Leviticus 25:38): "to give you the land of Canaan, to be your God." And whoever does not live in the Land has no God? Rather, to tell you, Whoever lives outside of the Land of Israel, it is as if he is an idolater. For it is said by David (I Samuel 26:19): "for they have driven me out this day that I should not cleave unto the inheritance of the LORD, saying: Go, serve other gods." And did they really say to him "Go serve other gods"? Rather, to tell you, Whoever lives outside of the Land of Israel, it is as if he is an idolater. Rabbi Zeira evaded Rav Yehuda when he wanted to go up to the Land of Israel. For Rav Yehuda said: Whoever goes up from Babylonia to the Land of Israel, violates a positive prohibition... for it says (in Jeremiah 27:22), "They shall be carried to Babylon, and there shall they be, until the day that I remember them, says the Lord."

...

He says to go up [to the Land of Israel], etc.: It is not practiced in our times, as there is danger on the roads. And Rabbenu Chaim says that today, it is not a commandment to live in the Land of Israel, as there are several commandments that are dependent upon the land - and several punishments - that we are not able to be careful about and to be cognizant of.

(53) And you shall take possession of the land and settle in it, for I have assigned the land for you to possess: In my opinion, this is a positive commandment. He commands them to settle in the land and inherit it; He gave it to them and they should not abhor Hashem's inheritance. And if it should enter their minds to go and conquer the land of Shinar or the land of Ashur [Assyria] or to settle in some other place, they would be transgressing Hashem's commandment. And our rabbis have stressed (Ketubot 110b) the commandment to settle in the Land of Israel and forbade leaving it; they judged a woman rebellious for not wanting to ascend with her husband to the Land of Israel, and vice-versa for a man. It is from here that this commandment [of settling in the land of Israel] has been commanded to us, as this verse is a positive commandment. It is a commandment that recurs in many places [in the Torah]; e.g., "go in and possess the land" (Deuteronomy 1:8). Rashi, however, interprets "And you shall take possession of the land" to mean that you shall take possession of it from those who have settled it, and then you will settle in it and be able to survive in it; and if you don't, you wouldn't be able to survive in it (Rashi on Numbers 33:53). But what we interpret is the central point of the verse.

(9) It is always prohibited to go from the land of Israel to outside of the land, except to study Torah or to marry a woman or to save (possessions) from non-Jews, and [then] to return to the land. And so [too] may he go out for merchandise. But to dwell outside the Land is prohibited unless there is intense famine, where the amount of wheat purchasable for one dinar becomes two dinars. To what does these words refer? When money is ample and produce is expensive. However, if produce is inexpensive and money is not ample, and there is not from what to earn [it] and coinage is gone from the pocket, he may go out to any place where he can find relief. And even though it is permissible to go out [in these circumstances], it is not the measure of piety; as behold, Machlon and Khilion were two leaders of the generation and they left because of great anguish, and [nonetheless] they became liable for destruction from the Omnipresent.

What are these three oaths? One is that the Jewish people should not go up [to Eretz Yisrael] in force (on mass), one is that G-d made the Jewish people swear not to rebel against the nations of the world (to settle the land), and one that G-d made the other nations swear not to persecute the Jewish people more than necessary....

(7) ’I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, By the gazelles, and by the hinds of the field, That ye awaken not, nor stir up love, until it please.’

If two people made an oath to do a certain thing, and one of them violated the oath, the other is exempt from the oath, and doesn’t need hatara.

(1) And the LORD spoke unto Moses in mount Sinai, saying: (2) Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them: When ye come into the land which I give you, then shall the land keep a sabbath unto the LORD.