The Great Mitzvah of Settling the Land

 

                                Giv'at Ze'ev Chadash 20 minutes north-west of Jerusalem

The mitzvah of settling Eretz Yisrael, Israel, is so great that the Shulchan Aruch (The Jewish Code of Law - Laws of Shabbos 306:11) says that it is permitted for a Jew to buy a house in Israel from a non-Jew even on Shabbos.

The law says further that the non-Jew may sign the document of sale and register it in the non-Jewish court, provided that the Jew does not actually hand him the money explicitly.

 How should one do this? The Mishna Berurah says that one should show the non-Jew bags of money for him to to take as payment for the house. The Mishna Berurah continues saying that even though the Shulchan Aruch ruled in Sec. 307, Paragraph 5, that a labor prohibited on Shabbos by Torah law (not just Rabbinic Law), in this case writing - is forbidden to be done even through the agency of a non-Jew and even for the of a mitzvah. Even so,  our sages were lenient and permitted this to allow for the great mitzvah of establishing Jewish settlements in the land of Israel.

(I don't suggest you do this however, without Rabbinical consultation).

With Hashem's Kindness, the Ballen's settled in the above settlement two weeks ago. There is similar construction already underway on neighboring mountaintops. Who knows, maybe we'll be neighbors!

With every blessing,

Dr. Zev Ballen

 

Comments

[Yehonasan Easton]

Reb Zev:

You and your family should be blessed with a yishuv tov and success spiritually and materially. Your home should be a place of ahavas Torah, Breslover chasidus and maasim tovim UNTIL Moshiach's arrival -- may it be soon!

[Dr. Zev Ballen]

Reb Yehonasan - Amen! Thank you so much for thoughtful blessings.