Your Own Piece of The Land

Guest post by Chaim Apsan

That we live in special times, close to the Messianic age is already no surprise. Our sages already stated in numerous places that the world would go crazy before Mashiach shows up, our enemies would rise to threaten us and a great war would ensue.

Yet, Rashi himself added a beautiful sign: the Land would give its fruit, welcoming the return of the lost nation. This, we see with our eyes.

Now, perhaps we are also witnessing a new sign of the coming redemption which has escaped our radar: the possibility of every Jew owning his share of the Holy Land, something thought to have been reserved for the Messianic age.

Founded by Rabbi Meir Leibowitz, Kinyan Eretz Yisrael has risen to the task of leasing Land to Jews so that they can perform the Mitzvot dependent on it. The idea came some 14 years ago, when Rabbi Meir bought two farms, one in Moshav Mazkeret Batya for planting wheat and one in Moshav Zichron Yaakov for the cultivation of grapes.

How to proceed

Contrary to what was back in the days, acquiring your piece of Eretz Yisrael is now easier than ever. All you need to do is access Kinyan Eretz Yisrael's website , choose between grapes and wheat (or both), whether for 1 year or 3 years (in which there's a big discount) and pay.

And that's it! From this moment onwards, you own your own 4 amot of Land in which you are able to perform all its 28 Mitzvot, including Ma'asrot, Terumot, Leket, Shikhekhah, Shmittah and many others.

It's noteworthy that Rabbi Meir has been working closely with the guidance of the tzaddikim of our generation, in order to reach out for Jews around the world. Some of the great names include Rabbi Aharon Yehuda Leib Shteinman ZT"L, Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv ZT"L, Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky Shlita, the Admor of Boston, the Admor of Novominsk Shlita and Rabbi Yisroel Belsky ZT"L. These and many others have already given their brachot and haskamot to Kinyan Eretz Yisrael.

During harvest time, Rabbi Meir and his team dedicate a week to the performance of the Mitzvot. All members who have bought plots of Land are welcome to come and do the Mitzvot themselves. This is a unique opportunity to show our love to this wonderful gift Hashem has given us.

In case someone is unable to come, Kinyan Eretz Yisrael's rabbis are ready to perform the Mitzvot on their behalf (thereby also giving them the merit). In this case, all produce will be given to Jewish families in need.

Concluding remarks

With all the challenges our generation pose, we are blessed to be able to acquire our portion of the Eretz Yisrael and show our love to it in ways our parents and grandparents could only dream of.

Kinyan Eretz Yisrael fills a void in the performance of Mitzvot, which was once the domain of farmers. To allow every Jew to possess his own share of the Holy Land has been Rabbi Leibowitz's intent from the start (as he explains in an interview in Hamodia 3 Adar, 5767 – February 21, 2007, see more on the website).

Rav Kook already taught [Moadei Harayah, pp. 419-20]:

“We have a great obligation to awaken the ancient love of Zion: a love that is eternal and burns in a flame of holy fire within the hearts of the Jewish people wherever they may be. We must fight with all our strength against any hatred of our holy land—which has begun to affect some of us. With a mighty arm of the spirit and with the eternal holiness of the beloved land, we must destroy the contamination of the spies, a contamination which began to spread at the very point of the possible redemption.”

As Rosh Hashanah approaches, this is a unique opportunity to increase in our Avodat Hashem, acquire new merits and hasten the geulah shleimah, may we see it soon with our own eyes, amen.