Hot answers tagged eretz-yisrael
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Mechilta Drav Yishmael - Yisro - Parsha 5 says that it was not given in Eretz Yisroel in order that the non Jews would not to be able to say that they did not accept it since it was given in the Jewish land. Another reason was to avoid a dispute between the Shevatim.
ומפני מה לא ניתנה תורה בארץ ישראל? שלא ליתן פתחון פה לאומות העולם, לומר: לפי שנתנה תורה ...
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Additionally, it was given in the desert (no-man's land) so that no people would be able to claim that they have no share in the Torah.
(See English comments in the Stone Chumash; I can't give a more specific reference because I don't have the book on my lap ATM, sorry).
edit:
Mekhilta De-Rabbi Ishmael (Exodus 19:2).
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The division of the land included, among other steps:
sending out commissioners to survey it (Josh. 18:4ff)
...and to evaluate the worth of the individual regions and plots of land, to make sure that the division would be equitable (Rashi to Num. 26:54)
designating which roads would be private vs. public, depending on their grade (Eruvin 22b)
assigning a ...
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It was HaRav Avraham Yosef. It was initially posted on his website in the Ask the Rav section. It caused quite the stir and wound up being carried by the YNet news organization. From there it spread to other news outlets.
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The source is Megila 29.
תניא ר"א הקפר אומר עתידין בתי כנסיות ובתי מדרשות שבבבל שיקבעו בא"י
שנאמר כי כתבור בהרים וככרמל בים יבוא, והלא דברים ק"ו ומה תבור וכרמל
שלא באו אלא לפי שעה ללמוד תורה נקבעים בארץ ישראל, בתי כנסיות ובתי
מדרשות שקורין ומרביצין בהן תורה עאכו"כ
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Spinoza in his Theological-Political Treatise argued that the legislation of Judaism was political legislation, necessary for the conduct of a state. According to Spinoza, the end of Jewish sovereignty made the law of Judaism irrelevant. The Torah was given before the people entered the land because Spinoza is wrong--the Jewish people are bound by the Torah ...
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As far as conquest, see Exodus 23:29–30 (JPS translation):
I will not drive them [=the inhabitants] out from before thee in one year, lest the land become desolate, and the beasts of the field multiply against thee. By little and little I will drive them out from before thee, until thou be increased, and inherit the land.
I guess conquest took ...
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Ramban gives the date of today's fixed calendar at about 386 CE. Before that point, the Jews in Israel received a messenger informing them of the proper date of yomtov, and thus kept one day. The Jews outside of Israel did not get a messenger in time and thus kept two days to play it safe.
Around 386, when the calendar was fixed, the policy became to keep ...
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Rav Avraham Shapiro, a chief rabbi of Israel, wrote the following:
"There is no conflict between democracy and halacha. Throughout the long years of Diaspora the Jewish People maintained their existence everywhere by means of independently elected community institutions. They lived in a completely democratic manner, as we learn from the writings of the ...
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