If Hashem Is Everywhere, Why Do We Need a Holy Land?

“Hashem is here, Hashem is there, Hashem is truly everywhere” – so goes the children’s song that many of us grew up singing. The question arises: if Hashem really is everywhere, then what is the significance of a Holy Land? Why do we need Eretz Yisrael, and what is its unique status? How can we confine the Infinite to a specific, finite space? In this article, we will address these questions and provide some answers.

We may initially answer that Eretz Yisrael is significant because it is the historical homeland of the Jewish people. This, however, doesn’t really answer our question. The Jewish people have historically dwelled in many other countries, yet these countries do not bear anywhere near the same significance – we have to dig a bit deeper.

Why was Eretz Yisrael our historical homeland? We didn’t just dwell in Israel for happenstance reasons in the same way we dwelled in countries post-exile; we were designated Eretz Yisrael by Hashem, who singled it out specifically for us. Rabbi Avraham Zvi Kluger explains in the book “My Sole Desire” that when Hashem chose Avraham Avinu, His first commandment to him was: “Go forth from your land” — leave your land for Eretz Yisrael. When he arrived there, Hashem promised him, “To your offspring, I shall give this land” (Bereishit 12:7) – He would give the Land of Israel to his progeny, the Jewish nation. Eretz Yisrael, we see, is an essential part of the Jewish People; we were chosen as a nation and gifted with the Land at the same seminal moment. Eretz Yisrael and who we are as a people are fundamentally intertwined.

While we have gone some way to answering our questions, we still haven’t touched upon why we need Eretz Yisrael if Hashem is everywhere. Can we not connect to Hashem no matter where we are in the world?

Within Judaism, there is the idea that although we can always cry out to Hashem and access Him through our tefillot, the month of Elul is a time of particular closeness between us and Him. Just as this concept exists in time, so too does it exist in space. When the Beit HaMikdash stood, Hashem’s presence was greatest in the Kodesh HaKodashim – the inner chamber of the sanctuary where entry was forbidden except to the Kohen Gadol on Yom Kippur. This was the focal point of all service to Hashem. There is an idea that Hashem’s presence manifests in concentric circles, and thus as we go further out from the Beit HaMikdash physically, Hashem’s presence is not as strongly felt. 

Today, the area where the Beit HaMikdash once stood still retains this sanctity in terms of being the place where Hashem’s presence is most manifest. Therefore, wherever Jews are praying around the world, they always face in the direction of Israel, and more specifically, Jerusalem. Jews who are praying in Jerusalem face in the direction of the Kotel. 

This still might be somewhat difficult to comprehend. If Hashem is everywhere, how can He be more in one place than another place, as it were? Isn’t this a contradiction? I would like to suggest that the answer lies in the term dibra Torah b’lashon b’nei adam – meaning, Torah speaks in the language of man. In the same way that the Torah speaks of “Hashem’s arm” or “Hashem’s hand” to communicate specific ideas to us in a way that we can understand, so too this can also be the case when it comes to understanding where Hashem’s presence – His shechina – is manifest. From Hashem’s point of view, He is everywhere. From our point of view, however, there is a certain place, namely Eretz Yisrael, Jerusalem, and the Kotel (in concentric circles), where His presence can be greater felt and we can experience more of a closeness with Him.

Our whole existence in Eretz Yisrael is wrapped up with our spiritual status. The Land of Israel is more than just a physical country made up of mountains, roads, deserts, lakes, and rivers. It is a country where the spiritual realm – blessings and, on the flip side, curses – is all the more apparent

Another point to mention is that the Land of Israel is considered to have an elevated spiritual status. We see many times in the Torah how our ability to live in Eretz Yisrael is contingent upon being faithful to Hashem and following his commandments. Hashem warns:

But if, despite this, you disobey Me and remain hostile to Me, I will act against you in wrathful hostility; I, for My part, will discipline you sevenfold for your sins… I will make the land desolate, so that your enemies who settle in it shall be appalled by it. And you I will scatter among the nations, and I will unsheath the sword against you. Your land shall become a desolation and your cities a ruin. (Vayikra 26:27-28, 32-33)

Thus, our whole existence in Eretz Yisrael is wrapped up with our spiritual status. The Land of Israel is more than just a physical country made up of mountains, roads, deserts, lakes, and rivers. It is a country where the spiritual realm – blessings and, on the flip side, curses – is all the more apparent.

Let us finish with a touching and pertinent story that so clearly expresses our deep-rooted connection to the Land of Israel:

The story is told of Dr. Chaim Weizmann, the first president of the state of Israel, who once was lobbying British politicians to win their support for the Zionist effort to acquire a Jewish homeland. One member of the House of Lords said to him, “Why do you Jews insist only on Palestine when there are so many other undeveloped countries that you could settle more conveniently?” Weizmann answered, “That is like asking you, ‘Why did you drive for twenty minutes to visit your mother last Sunday when there are so many other old ladies living on your street?’”