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Why Having a Homeland Matters
In this week’s Torah portion, we read: “God spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai and told him to tell the Children of Israel that when they come to the Land of Israel, they should give the land a rest (a Sabbatical) … every seventh year.”
Rashi quotes the Midrash that wonders why specifically the Torah mentions the seventh year release, the Shemitah, as coming from Mount Sinai. The Midrash replies that just as the law of Shmita with all its details and refinements was given on Sinai, so all the laws of the Torah were given in detail and with their ramifications on Mount Sinai.
That’s a nice idea, but it’s more concerned with a theological issue than the practical one. The seventh year release and the jubilee after 49 years were important laws relating to agriculture. But the Midrash is making two points. One is that any law needs to be explained, and any law needs to be amplified. Look what living lawyers make out of arguing about points of law. The issue is a universal one. That the letter of the law is never enough. To give a very simple example, the 10 commandments say “don’t murder.” But we need to know what the difference is between murder, manslaughter, warfare, justified self-defense, etc.
Still, the problem remains why specifically on the issue of Shmita does the Torah feel it necessary to emphasize its significance in relationship to Sinai? One possibility is that Sinai is a location, and these specific laws are tied to a specific location, the Land of Israel. So, Sinai was a territorial stop on the way to the Promised Land.
Another is that this is a way of saying that Torah law is predicated ideally on location. The importance of a land of one’s own is not just territorial but an idealistic dream. A place where one can live a life uninfluenced by alien or different cultures and religions. This is why Nachmanides Ramban, famously said that all the laws were meant to apply only in Israel, and we keep them in the Diaspora only in preparation for a return.
What is important is not just that there are laws relating to agriculture, but that these laws are specifically aimed at those living on Jewish land, and Sinai was a step along the long road to get there. Having a land of our own is not the same as having the land of our own.
We were landless for so long. We were less inclined to regard land as crucial given that most Jews, for most of their lives, could never hope to live in Israel. It had been a dream and an ideal. But the Torah also insists that the stranger, the guest, and the non-Jewish resident are also involved. Having a land of our own does not mean we have to exclude others or be intolerant of them becoming part of us.
Much of the non-Jewish world looks at things only through their own national and cultural lenses. That is why so many of them cannot make sense of this passion that we have for our land which is not just, as they think, nationalist — but is religious and spiritual. And necessary for our survival.
The author is a writer and rabbi, currently based in New York.
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Iran’s Supreme Leader Says Trump Is Lying When He Speaks of Peace
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei speaks during a meeting with government officials in Tehran, Iran, April 15, 2025. Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader/WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Handout via REUTERS/File Photo
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei accused Donald Trump on Saturday of lying when the US president said during his Gulf tour this week that he wanted peace in the region.
On the contrary, said Khamenei, the United States uses its power to give “10-ton bombs to the Zionist (Israeli) regime to drop on the heads of Gaza’s children.”
Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One after departing the United Arab Emirates on Friday that Iran had to move quickly on a US proposal for its nuclear program or “something bad’s going to happen.”
His remarks, said Khamenei, “aren’t even worth responding to.” They are an “embarrassment to the speaker and the American people,” Khamenei added.
“Undoubtedly, the source of corruption, war, and conflict in this region is the Zionist regime — a dangerous, deadly cancerous tumor that must be uprooted; it will be uprooted,” he said at an event at a religious center in Tehran, according to state media.
Earlier on Saturday, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Trump speaks about peace while simultaneously making threats.
“Which should we believe?” Pezeshkian said at a naval event in Tehran. “On the one hand, he speaks of peace and on the other, he threatens with the most advanced tools of mass killing.”
Tehran would continue Iran-US nuclear talks but is not afraid of threats. “We are not seeking war,” Pezeshkian said.
While Trump said on Friday that Iran had a US proposal about its nuclear program, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi in a post on X said Tehran had not received any such proposal. “There is no scenario in which Iran abandons its hard-earned right to (uranium) enrichment for peaceful purposes…” he said.
Araqchi warned on Saturday that Washington’s constant change of stance prolongs nuclear talks, state TV reported.
“It is absolutely unacceptable that America repeatedly defines a new framework for negotiations that prolongs the process,” the broadcast quoted Araqchi as saying.
Pezeshkian said Iran would not “back down from our legitimate rights”.
“Because we refuse to bow to bullying, they say we are source of instability in the region,” he said.
A fourth round of Iran-U.S. talks ended in Oman last Sunday. A new round has not been scheduled yet.
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Hamas Confirms New Gaza Ceasefire Talks with Israel in Qatar on Saturday
Doha, Qatar. Photo: StellarD via Wikimedia Commons.
A new round of Gaza ceasefire negotiations between Hamas and Israel is underway in Qatar’s Doha, Hamas official Taher al-Nono told Reuters on Saturday.
He said the two sides were discussing all issues without “pre-conditions.”
Nono said Hamas was “keen to exert all the effort needed” to help mediators make the negotiations a success, adding there was “no certain offer on the table.”
The negotiations come despite Israel preparing to expand operations in the Gaza Strip as they seek “operational control” in some areas of the war-torn enclave.
The return to negotiations also comes after US President Donald Trump ended a Middle East tour on Friday with no apparent progress towards a new ceasefire, although he acknowledged Gaza’s growing hunger crisis and the need for aid deliveries.
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Report: ICC’s Khan Goes on Administrative Leave Amid Sexual Misconduct Probe
International Criminal Court Prosecutor Karim Khan speaks during an interview with Reuters in The Hague, Netherlands, Feb. 12, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Piroschka van de Wouw
i24 News – Chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court Karim Khan has stepped down temporarily as an investigation into his alleged sexual misconduct by United Nations investigators is nearing its final phase, Reuters reported on Friday citing sources from the international court.
Khan allegedly forced sexual intercourse upon a member of staff on multiple occasions, the Wall Street Journal reported last week, linking the allegations to Khan’s decision to issue arrest warrants for Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and then-defense minister Yoav Gallant.
A statement is expected later today announcing that Khan is going on administrative leave, according to a source in the prosecutor’s office.
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