Halakhah zu Dewarim 12:29

The comments of Sifre on Deuteronomy 12:29 may also be explained in a similar vein. This tannaitic source recounts the extreme distress of a number of illustrious personages who found themselves outside the Holy Land. Upon their return they declared, "Dwelling in the Land of Israel is equal to all the mizvot of the Torah." This statement was uttered subsequent to the exile of Israel, at a time when, according to Rambam, residence in Erez Yisra'el did not constitute a mizvah. For Rambam this dictum may be understood as expressing the notion that the zekhut of settlement in Israel is as great as the merit acquired in performance of all other mizvot.²²Cf., Avnei Nezer, Yoreh De‘ah, II, no. 454, secs. 2-3, who, on the basis of the extant text, questions Megillat Ester’s explanation that the sorrow expressed was due to the inherent inability to fulfill this precept subsequent to the exile. The analysis here advanced is compatible with the extant text of Sifre.