What Makes the Holy Land Holy?

We read this week that the Land of Israel is sensitive to sinful and immoral behavior due to the kedusha that it possesses. What is the source of the Holy Land’s holiness? This seems to be a matter of debate. Some rabbis emphasize that its holy status comes from God choosing Israel. According to this opinion, the sanctity of Israel is intrinsic due to its source being the Divine. More broadly, sanctity according to this approach is something Divine and therefore something inexplicable. God’s choice of what/ who/ where to “choose” to make holy cannot be understood and can only be respected. 

Rav Soloveitchik disagreed with this formulation of sanctity. He wrote that kedusha can be explained on some level; there is a formula that can be used to both detect and generate holiness. According to the Rav, kedusha can be found where human beings partner with HaShem. 

One can suggest that these two views are not as far apart as we might initially believe. Perhaps when HaShem chooses a person, place, or time it becomes endowed with the potential for a greater than normal degree of holiness. But it is ultimately up to members of the Jewish People to bring that potential sanctity into actual kedusha.

I’ve been thinking a lot about the Holy Land’s holiness during my trip this week to Israel. I write these words from Jerusalem. This has been a fantastic trip so far. I arrived on Monday in time to participate  in a ceremony at Ammunition Hill marking the start of Yom Hazikaron and hosted by JNF. As the siren rang out for two minutes on Tuesday morning I was at Mt. Herzl, Israel’s National military cemetery, to pay my respects and to hear the official state ceremony honoring the sacrifices of those killed in defense of Israel and in acts of terror (going back to the middle of the 19th century). Tuesday afternoon I was part of a group of people to visit the family of Yehuda Guetta, who was murdered in 2021 at age 19 by Arab terrorists. The sadness and solemnity of Yom Hazikaron gives way to the joy and celebration of Yom Haatzmaut. I participated in a Tefila Chagigit led by Rabbi Shlomo Katz and attended by thousands of people including many from our community. After the tefila I attended a concert featuring Yishai Ribo opposite the walls of the Old City of Jerusalem. Wednesday began with Tefila Chagigit led by Aaron Razel. In the afternoon I was in Beer Sheva with JNF’s “Israel75” mission where we both celebrated Israel’s birthday and the important work of JNF in the south of Israel. I returned to Jerusalem in time to attend the opening dinner of the World Orthodox Israel Congress, presented by World Mizrachi. WOIC has brought together Religious Zionist from 250 cities in 48 countries for a two day conference to learn from each other and to feel a part of something bigger than ourselves. The conference continues through Friday morning. In the days ahead I look forward to sharing more about what I learned at the conference specifically and from my trip more generally. What has been reinforced during this trip is that the holiness of the Holy Land has been amplified by the people of Israel through their sacrifice, their resilience, their dedication, and their hard work.