Responsum: On the Status of Gaza

Question 30: From Gaza: may our master teach us whether the inhabitants of Gaza are obligated to separate terumot¹ and tithes, as there are a few people who own land. In general, the question is whether or not it is considered part of the land of Israel with regard to this issue.

Response: It seems that they are certainly obligated. According to the opinion that the obligation of terumot and tithes applies to produce of the land of Israel even nowadays by Torah law, the obligation includes Gaza as well, by Torah law. According to the opinion that since the Merciful One stated “with the coming of all of you,”² and that the obligation of terumot and tithes applies nowadays in the land of Israel only by rabbinic law, then Gaza is also included in the rabbinic obligation, as it was certainly conquered by those who ascended from Egypt [see, e.g., b. Yevamot 16a]. For it is stated in Tractate Gittin:³ We view the whole area as though a string were pulled taut from the Samnum mountains to the River of Egypt [b. Gittin 8a], which is currently known as Wadi Al[-‘Arīāsh]. In other words, everything that is within that string is part of the land of Israel, including the islands in the sea.

I have seen that some wish to learn from here that the island of Cyprus is included in this area, and therefore they consider it part of the land of Israel. In my opinion, this has been well-established as an error and I see no reason to discuss it. In any case, Gaza is two days’ distance closer to the land of Israel than Wadi Al-‘Arīāsh, and also it does not protrude out to the sea like the Samnum mountains, as is clear to the naked eye.

Another proof is that when the Rabbi [Maimonides], of blessed memory, enumerated those lands that are near the land of Israel, where the obligation applies by rabbinic law, he lists Egypt, Shinar, Amon, and Moab [see Sefer Zera‘im, Hilkhot Terumot chapter 1]. Why does he not list Gaza, which is nearer than those, and which is also a large and important city? Even if you claim that it was not conquered by those who ascended from Babylonia, they did not exempt it in the manner that they exempted Beth She’an [see b. ḥullin 7a]. One cannot cite a proof from the fact that they do not observe the two festival days of the diaspora there, as that issue does not depend on whether it is part of the land of Israel; rather, the key factor is whether it is one of those places where the majority of Jews lived and where they would send messengers, as the Rabbi stated in Hilkhot kiddush ha-ḥodesh [Laws of the Sanctification of the New Month; chapter five]. Later I found that the author of Kaftor va-feraḥ [Estori ha-Parḥi (1280–1355)], a student of the Rabbi, wrote that Gaza is considered part of the land of Israel, and what is more, he wrote that the country of Sin,⁴ which is called Tripoli nowadays, is also included in the land of Israel, but in this regard I disagree with him. I have written what appears correct to me, in my humble opinion.