Friday, November 12, 2010

Israel: Impervious to any Opposition

"I will give to you and to your descendants the land on which you are lying" [Vayeitze 28:13]

Rashi writes that when Yaakov was sleeping, the entire Land of Israel was folded by G-d miraculously underneath him, as a sign that the Land would be easy to conquer by his children.

The Talmud tells us that G-d compacted the Land of Israel into four cubits underneath Yaakov, to make the whole Land as easy to conquer as if it were merely four cubits.

The Lubavitcher Rebbe taught that the highest aspect of the Jewish soul - the yechidah - is so sublime that it cannot be contained within the body, and it spreads to a distance of four cubits (approx 6 feet) around a person.

The yechidah is also a level of the soul which can never become tarnished, because it is not susceptible to any negative influence.

Thus, when G-d placed the entire Land of Israel within four cubits of Yaakov to stress his future ownership of it, the Land became connected with Yaakov's yechidah, and so too, with the yechidah of every single one of his descendants.

And that is the reason why "it would be as easily conquered by his children" because the Land was associated with a level of the soul which is impervious to any opposition.

Based on Likutei Sichos of the Lubavitcher Rebbe Vol.20

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