The Mitzvah of Yishuv Eretz Yisrael is Important. Why?
According to the Rambam, the era of Moshiach comes due to the establishment of a Torah society that naturally creates peace and prosperity.
Thus, a person who contributes to that effort is part of the Jewish venture. A person who does not, does not.
This is why only those buried in Israel are resurected.
The Zohar marks that it is forbidden to bring buried bodies to Israel.
This is because they aim to benefit from the era of moshiach, without making the sacrifices necessary to bring the era of moshiach.
תָּנוּ רַבָּנַן: הוּא אוֹמֵר לַעֲלוֹת, וְהִיא אוֹמֶרֶת שֶׁלֹּא לַעֲלוֹת — כּוֹפִין אוֹתָהּ לַעֲלוֹת, וְאִם לָאו — תֵּצֵא בְּלֹא כְּתוּבָּה. הִיא אוֹמֶרֶת לַעֲלוֹת, וְהוּא אוֹמֵר שֶׁלֹּא לַעֲלוֹת — כּוֹפִין אוֹתוֹ לַעֲלוֹת, וְאִם לָאו — יוֹצִיא וְיִתֵּן כְּתוּבָּה.
וְרַבִּי זֵירָא — הָהוּא שֶׁלֹּא יַעֲלוּ יִשְׂרָאֵל בְּחוֹמָה. וְרַב יְהוּדָה? ״הִשְׁבַּעְתִּי״ אַחֲרִינָא כְּתִיב.
וְרַבִּי אַבָּא בַּר מֶמֶל, הַאי ״נוֹתֵן נְשָׁמָה לָעָם עָלֶיהָ״ מַאי עָבֵיד לֵיהּ? מִיבְּעֵי לֵיהּ לְכִדְרַבִּי אֲבָהוּ. דְּאָמַר רַבִּי אֲבָהוּ: אֲפִילּוּ שִׁפְחָה כְּנַעֲנִית שֶׁבְּאֶרֶץ יִשְׂרָאֵל מוּבְטָח לָהּ שֶׁהִיא בַּת הָעוֹלָם הַבָּא. כְּתִיב הָכָא: ״לָעָם עָלֶיהָ״, וּכְתִיב הָתָם: ״שְׁבוּ לָכֶם פֹּה עִם הַחֲמוֹר״ — עַם הַדּוֹמֶה לַחֲמוֹר.
In the days to come,
The Mount of GOD’s House
Shall stand firm above the mountains
And tower above the hills;
And all the nations
Shall gaze on it with joy. And the many peoples shall go and say:
“Come,
Let us go up to the Mount of GOD,
To the House of the God of Jacob;
That we may be instructed in God’s ways,
And that we may walk in God’s paths.”
For instruction shall come forth from Zion,
The word of GOD from Jerusalem. Thus [God] will judge among the nations
And arbitrate for the many peoples,
And they shall beat their swords into plowshares
And their spears into pruning hooks:
Nation shall not take up
Sword against nation;
They shall never again know war.
The days of the Messiah, however, is the time when rulership will return to Israel and that they will go back to the land of Israel and that this king will be very great, and the seat of his rulership will be in Zion (Jerusalem). His fame will grow and his mention will be among all of the nations, [even] more than King Shlomo. And all of the peoples will make peace with him and all of the lands will serve him, due to his great righteousness and due to the wonders that will come about though him. And anyone that comes against him, God, may He be elevated, will deliver into his hand. And all of the [relevant] verses in Scripture testify to his success and our success with him. And nothing about existence will change from what it is now, except that rulership will return to Israel. And this is the language of the sages (Sanhedrin 91b), "There is no difference between this world and the days of the Messiah except for the subjugation by the nations alone." And there will be in his days rich and poor, strong and weak, in relation to each other.
But it will be very easy in those days for people to find their sustenance; to the point that with a little effort that a person exerts, a great output will result. And this is what they said (Shabbat 30b), "In the future the land of Israel will produce loaves of bread and woolen garments"; since people say that when a person finds something prepared and ready, "So-and-so found baked bread and cooked food." And the proof to this is that which is stated (Isaiah 61:5), "and foreigners shall be your plowmen and your vintners," to show that there will [still] be planting and reaping. And therefore this sage who said this statement to his student got angry when [the latter] did not understand his words and thought that it was as its simple meaning. And he responded to him according to his understanding and that answer was not a true answer. And the proof that he did not respond to him with a true answer is that he brought a proof from (Proverbs 26:4-5), "Do not answer a fool according to his folly[... Answer a fool according to his folly]."
And the great objective that will occur in those days is that we shall rest from the subjugation by the nations which prevents us from the performance of all of the commandments; and that wisdom will grow, as it is stated (Isaiah 11:9), "since the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord." And the wars will cease, as it is stated (Micah 4:3), "and nation will not lift up sword against nation." And great wholeness will be found in those days and we will merit through it to life in the World to Come. But the Messiah will die and his son will reign in his place, and [likewise] his grandson. And the prophet has already elucidated his death: "He will not tire and will not be crushed until he puts justice in the world"(Isaiah 42:5). And his rulership will extend for very many days and the lives of people will also lengthen. Since when worries and troubles are removed, the days of a man are lengthened. And one should not wonder that his rulership will last for thousands of years, since the sages said about the gathering of good, that when it gathers, it will not quickly separate.
And we do not desire and hope for the days of the Messiah because of the multitude of produce and wealth and not [since] we will ride on horses and not [since] we will drink wine accompanied by types of song, as ones of confused intellect imagine. But [rather] the prophets and pious ones desired the days of the Messiah - and their longing for it grew - because of what will be in it from the gathering of the righteous and the proper administration and wisdom, and from the righteousness of the king and his great uprightness, and the heft of his wisdom and closeness to God, as it is stated (Psalms 2:7), "the Lord said to me, 'You are my son, I conceived you today'"; and the performance of all of the commandments of the Torah of Moshe, our teacher - peace be upon him - without negligence and laziness and without duress. As it is stated (Jeremiah 31:33), "And they will not continue to teach a man [to his brother and a man to his fellow] saying, 'Know the Lord,' since they will all know me, from their small ones to their big ones";
