Sefat emet (True Speech)

However, in our many sins, she is Zion, there is none who cares for her (Jeremiah 30:17). Consider the question you asked, speaking like an enemy without knowledge [see Job 34:34]. For it follows the opinion of several foolish people whom I have heard say that each and every city and country where they live nowadays is like holy soil, like the cities of Israel and Judea. I understand their pain [see Exodus 3:7]—they are drawn to this conclusion because they see themselves living in quietness and confidence [see Isaiah 30:15], each man under his vine and fig tree [see 1 Kings 5:5], and they please themselves in the brood of strangers (Isaiah 2:6) and none prevent them from doing so. Consequently, they have got it into their heads that God has chosen them and that He delights in these deeds [see Malachi 2:17], and they therefore seek to justify themselves by citing the following verses: Thus says the Lord . . . to all the captivity, whom I have caused to be carried away captive from Jerusalem to Babylon: Build houses, and dwell in them, and plant gardens, and eat their fruit (Jeremiah 29:4[–5]), for He knows the thoughts that He thinks about the children of Israel, that they who are banished of them should not be outcast from Him [see 2 Samuel 14:14],[which are] thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give a future and a hope [see Jeremiah 29:11]. And it is further written there: And you shall call upon Me, and go, and pray unto Me, and I will hearken unto you. And you shall seek Me, and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart. And I will be found of you, says the Lord, [and I will turn your captivity, and gather you from all the nations] (Jeremiah 29:12–14).

According to their understanding, these verses teach that God does not want the children of Israel to dwell in those lands of the living [i.e., Israel] until He gathers in our dispersed. They blather on by pointing out that our sages of blessed memory mentioned that God adjured Israel with three oaths, etc. [b. Ketubbot 111a]. They also interpret wrongly the verse you quoted in your question, as they read the phrase: in every place where I cause My name to be mentioned [I will come to you and bless you] (Exodus 20:20), as though it were written: “in every place where you cause My name [to be mentioned].” This is cited in support of that erroneous opinion, to bring forth the precious out of the vile [see Jeremiah 15:19].

However, in actual fact there is no proof from these verses for that erroneous opinion. On the contrary, it can be demonstrated from the experience of the Babylonian exile that God wanted then, and still wishes now, that the land of our birthright should not remain entirely devastated and desolate of her children. For we ourselves see that the king’s heart is in the hand of the Lord (Proverbs 21:1), as He places in the hearts of the worthy kings of the nations the desire to grant us a remnant in the land, as they agree that Jews may live there in exchange for pieces of silver. Indeed, at the very hour of the destruction God caused a change of heart in Nebuzaradan, the captain of the army of Nebuchadnezzar, His servant [see Jeremiah 27:6], for he allowed some of the poor of the people to remain in the land of Judah, and he gave them vineyards and fields, as it is written: But Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard left of the poor of the people, that had nothing, in the land of Judah, and gave them vineyards and fields in that day (Jeremiah 39:10). And it is likewise written [see Jeremiah 40:7, 12; and chapter 42] that Jeremiah instructed them that if they remained in Judea and did not go to Egypt, they would not be harmed by the sword which they feared, but if not, then the sword and famine they were afraid of would overtake them there [see Jeremiah 42:16]. It is thus made expressly clear that God did not want the land to remain completely forsaken and in ruins.

It is true that in the hour of God’s rage He delivered prophecies that stated in an extreme manner that He would render the cities of Judea desolate, void of inhabitants, but even then, in His anger, He remembered His mercies and allowed us a remnant. This can be shown from the prophecy of Isaiah, as he initially declares that your country is desolate; your cities are burned with fire, etc. And the daughter of Zion is left as a booth in a vineyard (Isaiah 1:7–9)—i.e., empty of its inhabitants, but he immediately proceeds to state: except the Lord of hosts had left to us a remnant—which refers to the people left in the land—we would almost have been as Sodom, we would have been like Gomorrah. This is based on the fact that not a single person remained inside the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. If you will argue that this remnant is referring to the Israelites who were exiled, not those left in the cities of Judea, I will respond that the language of the verse indicates otherwise. For it states: we would almost have been as Sodom, and if you are correct then it should have said that we were actually like Sodom, since in the case of Sodom too, Lot was salvaged and left the city, and his descendants became large nations. We must therefore explain that this remnant are the people Nebuzaradan allowed to remain in the cities of Judea.

It turns out that when you sought to explain what happened in the earlier exile, you actually learned about the condition of our current exile: God does not want our good land to remain abandoned of its worthy children, in a chaotic state, for it is undoubtedly the source of our life. And there is a sign by which you can know that whoever lives in the land of Israel performs the will of his Father in heaven, and he is called a righteous person, as God loves him, since he merited to be inside His palace. For the verse states: and the land vomited out her inhabitants (Leviticus 18:25), and since we see that it does not vomit out those individuals, this is a clear indication of their righteous state, as this is the gate of the Lord; the righteous shall enter into it (Psalms 118:20); and this is the gate of heaven (Genesis 28:17). Likewise, the sages said (in Yalkut mishle), on the verse: Better is a dry morsel and quietness therewith, than a house full of feasting with strife (Proverbs 17:1), that better is a dry morsel in the land of Israel, for even if one has to eat a dry morsel in the land of Israel he will merit the world to come.