Rabbi Moshe Sheinfeld zt"l
This remark was not intended for debate but to clarify a position. Rabbi Moshe Sheinfeld zt"l, in his time, already illuminated this issue in his famous article, "Two Which Do Not Equal One" (Tammuz 5712).
Eretz Yisroel and Medinas Yisrael are two which are not one in the same way that Zion and Zionism are not identical. There is no common identity between the Land of Israel and the State of Israel. They share no common geography and Re not even identical in name.
One Yerushalmi sage even went as far as to ask the famous question of Chazal, "Wherefore was the land lost?" He rephrased it: why did they omit the word 'Land' and left only 'Israel'? [That is, why did they not continue to call it the Land of Israel and just called it Israel.] "Because they left My Torah."
Eretz Yisroel was meant to occupy the borders promised in the Torah. And just as the sanctity of the Shechem area was not diminished because it was outside of the borders of the State of Israel, so did Eilat not assume holiness because it was included within the borders of the State.
If a Jewish resident of Shechem wishes to move to Eilat, he must seek halachic guidance: May he leave a place that has the kedushah of Eretz Yisrael and move out of the boundaries of the Holy Land?
Over the years Eretz Yisrael has seen many rulers over its areas, some Jewish and some not. States go and states come, but Eretz Yisrael persists with its kedushah with which it was sanctified, at the time and for all the future.
What is common to the wheat and to the chaff? What connection has a state that is transient and fleeting to Eretz Yisrael that is above time, and is eternal like Jerusalem?
We must always know that Eretz Yisrael is a spiritual entity that deserves the proper residents, who will help it reach its true destiny.
The people are split: Some to the right and others not
