Ulpana Girls Academy - Kiryat Arba
"Let not the Land vomit you for having contaminated it, as it vomited the people that were before you"
(Vayikra 18, 28)
"Let not the Land vomit..."
How strange is the use of this expression in our Parsha that attributes the act of vomiting to the inanimate land of Eretz Yisrael consisting of dirt and stones, for the Torah is so rich in more relevant expressions to describe the punishment of Galut. For example:
"I will banish him from the land" (expression of banishment) (BaMidbar 22,6)
"Because of the wickedness of these nations did Hashem dissolve their inheritance before you" (expression of disinheritance) (Devarim 9,4)
"And you shall be surely lost from the goodly Land" (expression of loss) (Devarim 11,17)
"When Hashem, your G-d, will cut down the nations whose Land Hashem, your G-d, gives you" (expression of cutting down) (Devarim 19,1)
What did the Torah see here and in only one other place in the Torah (Vayikra 20,22) to adopt the language of spewing to describe the matter of the exile of the Nation of Israel and other nations from Eretz Yisrael.
In this matter ChaZal taught us "a parable about a son of a king to whom they fed a repulsive item that was unable to stay within his stomach and so he vomited it; thus Eretz Yisrael does not support the doers of transgressions." (Sifra - Kedoshim 12, 14).
The Maharal summarized the above tale and wrote "the Holy Land, from its inherent holiness, does not suffer sin" (Gevurot Dalet, Amud 46).
Rav Kook, ZT"L was even more profound in his writing: "the characteristics of the land and its nation correlate with each other" (Introduction to his book "Shabat HaAretz"). Meaning - that HaKadosh Baruch Hu chose the nation of Israel to reveal His omnipresence in this world, and this is its virtue. By this same matter He, Blessed be His name, bequeathed to us the land of His chosen estate to qualify us to fulfill that role; and this is her virtue. When the dwellers of the land regardless of their being Jews or gentiles perform acts of abomination in the land, and more so under the auspices of the law (thus it was with the Canaanites - see "Ha'Amek Davar"), it is no wonder that the land spews them as would a sensitive stomach vomit a strange object which has entered it.
In these days of the return to Zion this matter deserves special attention.
Shabbat Shalom
Rabbi Shalom Horowitz
Rabbi Horowitz is a Rav Mechanech at the Ulpana
Girls Academy - Kiryat Arba
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