Pisqa’ 51¹

1

“Each place upon which the soles of your feet tread , yours shall it be” (Dt.11:24)—

if the point is to teach about

the borders of the Land of Israel,

indeed, it is immediately stated:

“From the wasteland to the Lebanon”² (Dt.11:24).

What does the Teaching add by

“Each place . . . yours shall it be” (Dt.11:24)?

Moses said to them:

every place that you will conquer—

except for these [named] territories—

shall indeed be yours.

Or [perhaps, this promise implies]

that they received permission to conquer

territories beyond the Land

prior to conquering the Land itself?

The Teaching states:

“And you shall disinherit

nations greater and mightier than you” (Dt.11:23),

And afterward it continues:

“Each place upon which the soles of your feet tread,

yours shall it be” (Dt.11:24)—

the Land of Israel

should not remain unclean from idols

while you return to conquer

territories beyond the Land.

Rather, once you conquer the Land of Israel,

you shall be permitted to conquer

territories beyond the Land.

2

Indeed—once they have conquered

[territories] beyond the Land,

on what basis do I infer

that commandments are enforced there?

Look—you can reason as follows—

Here it is stated:

“Yours shall it be” (Dt.11:24).

And elsewhere it is stated:

“It shall be yours” (Nu.34:6-7).

Just as the phrase, it shall be yours,

elsewhere implies that

the commandments are in force there,

so, too, here, the phrase, yours shall it be,

implies that commandments are in force here.

Now, if you wonder:

since David conquered

[the trans-Jordanian lands of]

Aram-Naharaim and Aram-Tzobah,

why aren’t all the commandments enforced there?

You can explain:

David acted contrary to the Torah.

The Torah stated that [only]

once you conquer the Land of Israel,

shall you be permitted to conquer

territories beyond the Land.

But David failed to do this.

Rather, he first went and conquered

Aram-Naharaim and Aram-Zobah [Syria],

before dispossessing the Jebusites near Jerusalem.

The All-Present said to him:

the Jebusites, who are near your headquarters,

you haven’t dispossessed!

How do you now go and conquer

Aram-Naharaim and Aram-Zobah?

3

Look—they conquered territories beyond the Land!

How do we know that any territory

opposite the Land across the sea is theirs as well?

The Teaching states:

“From the wasteland to the Lebanon” (Dt.11:24)—

from the wasteland defines your border,

but the wasteland [itself] is not within your border.

But, should you conquer it,

it will define your border [thereafter].

Yet, for now, the wasteland is your border!

“From the river, the river Prat” (Dt.11:24)—

from the river defines your border,

but the river [itself] is not within your border.

But, should you conquer it,

it will define your border [thereafter].

Yet, for now, the river is your border!

“Until the [western] sea”³ (Dt.11:24)—

this defines your border.

But the sea itself is not within your border.

Therefore, should you conquer it,

it will define your border [thereafter].

For, indeed, He says:

“As for the western border, you shall have the great sea.

That will be your western border” (Nu.34:6)—

And this border shall serve as your sea-coast boundary.

4

It turns out that you can explain

[the relevance of these facts as follows]:

Any area seized by the Babylonian ascenders⁴—

from the Land of Israel till Kheziv⁵—

its produce[during the Sabbatical Year] is not to be eaten,

and its fields are not to be worked.

But any area seized by the Egyptian ascenders⁶—

from Kheziv till the river, and till Amanah⁷—

its [Sabbatical produce may] be eaten,

[because these lands bear no consecration],

but its fields are not to be worked

[lest the consecration of the adjacent Land be violated].

[Produce from] hither and yon

[outside these territories enumerated]—

may be eaten, and the land may be worked.⁸

5

[These are] the confines of the Land of Israel,

including the areas seized by the Babylonian ascenders:⁹

the Ashkelon junction; the walls of Migdal;

the tower of Dor; the walls of Akko;

the headwaters of Gaton and Gaton itself;

Kabrata and Bet Zenita; the castle of Galilee;

Qabya of `Ayyata; Matzy’a of `Abat’a;

Kamut’a of Biryin; Pakhurta of Yatir;

the wadi of ‘Avtzel; Beit `Er; Mar`asht’a;

Greater Lul’a; Karch’a of Bar Sangar’a;

Mesaf Sefont’a; the channel of `Iyyun;

Upper Tarnegol’a of Caesarea; Beit Succot;

 Yoneqet and Rekem of Khagr’a; Trakhoniah of Zimr’a;

the confines of Bitzrah; Saqq’a and Kheshbon;

And the wadi of Vered, Sakuta, Nimrin; the fort of Zirz’a; 

Reqem of Gai; the Garden of ‘Ashqelon;

and the great highway leading into the wasteland.¹⁰

1. H:107-109; JN1:168-169.
2. I.e., “from the south to the north.”
3. I.e., the Mediterranean.
4. I.e., those Exiles returning to the Land from Persia under Ezra’s administration.
5. Contemporary Achziv is north of Akko on the Mediterranean coast.
6. I.e., those entering the Land under Joshua’s administration.
7. A mountain in Lebanon near Damascus Lebanon.(2Ki.5:12; Song 4:8)
8. //M. Shev.6:1
9. There are roughly thirty five names in the list.
10. //T. Shev.4:11. A close parallel to this barait’a , which also includes passages of the Talmud Yerushalmi Shevi`it and Dema’i, was unearthed in 1974, in a mosaic inscription on the floor of the Byzantine-era synagogue in Rehov, Israel. To date it is the earliest textual example of rabbinic literature. For details, see H: 419, n.12. My rendering of the locations closely follows JN1:169.