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understood how much the Temple in Jerusalem benefited them, they
would have appointed guards to protect it.
This notion assumes especial relevance today when Israel, though
barely a dot on the world map, is at the very epicenter of international
politics, global economics and technological advances, and, of course,
religion. Given the country’s miniscule size and relatively small
population, its importance exceeds all expectations. Yet the answer
to this paradox lies in the verse we are discussing: the world’s eyes
are focused on this very place because God’s eyes, as it were, are
focused on it. In fact, the world’s obsession with the Land of Israel
has been evident throughout history as one empire after another has
sought to control the Land of Israel, the spiritual and geographical
crossroads of the world.
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The phrase “the eyes of God,” found throughout the Torah, are a
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metaphor for God’s Divine Providence. The Sages taught that this
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verse teaches us that God judges the world on Rosh Hashanah –
for the verse explicitly states that His eyes are always on the Land
from “the beginning of the year” – and that the judgment continues
“until,” as the verse states, “the year’s end” (Rosh Hashanah 8a).
The Hebrew word translated as “beginning” has the same Hebrew
root as the Torah’s first word: “In the beginning God created the
heavens and the earth.” Commenting on this verse, Rashi explains
that the phrase “in the beginning” could be interpreted to mean “for
the sake of the beginning.” He then quotes two verses that imply
that the Torah and the nation of Israel represent different aspects
of the beginning – being the first – inferring that for the sake of the
Torah and the Jewish people, God created the heavens and the earth.
This explains why the “eyes of God” are always focused on the Land,
for this is the place where Torah and the Jewish people are meant to
unite and thrive, the place from which God’s ultimate purpose for
creation will eventually shine forth to envelop the entire world.
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snowcapped mountains and burning deserts, rich agricultural lands
and salty plains, seas and lakes, waterfalls and springs, the largest
natural crater in the world and the lowest place on earth.
The Hebrew word denoting “everything” in this verse is “kol.”
This verse echoes Jacob’s words to Esau when he returned to the
Land of Israel. Esau said to Jacob, “I have much,” whereas Jacob
said “I have everything (kol).” Indeed, the word “kol,” which has the
numerical value of fifty, does not simply mean “everything,” it is also
a remez, an allusion, to the fiftieth gate of understanding. According
to tradition Moshe reached the forty-ninth gate of understanding,
but not the elusive fiftieth gate (though some say that when he died
by the “kiss of God” he did reach that level). Moses’ search for the
fiftieth gate explains why he longed to enter the Land of Israel, which
is blessed with “kol”; he knew that the fiftieth gate of understanding
could be found in the Promised Land.
The Torah was given to the Jewish people fifty days after the exodus
from Egypt. The Jews were supposed to immediately take the Torah
into the Land and build an ideal Torah society. The Jubilee year,
celebrated every fifty years, only in Israel, represents the freedom
and the idyllic state that a Torah observant society should naturally
embody (see the potion of Behar for more on the Jubilee year). The
opportunity to experience and construct such a utopian society is
another reason why Moses wanted so very much to enter the Land.
Significantly, the Jewish people’s mission remains unchanged to this
very day – to live in the Land of Israel and reveal to each and every
person in the world that “everything” can be discovered in the Torah
and in the Land of Israel: “For from Zion the Torah will come forth
and the word of God from Jerusalem” (Isaiah 2:3).
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