The Midrash (Bereishit Rabbah 79) says that there are three places that the nations of the world can’t cheat Israel by claiming that we stole the land. They are: Me’arat HaMachpela, Har HaBayit (the Temple Mount), and the tomb of Yosef, which is located in Shechem. One thing that these places all have in common is that they were purchased for full price by our ancestors. Another thing they have in common is they are all hotly contested by our enemies at the present time, and presumably in the time when the Midrash was written as well.
For some reason, these locations are especially upsetting to those who oppose the Jewish claim to the Land of Israel, probably in part because they correspond so directly to the substance of our claim. One might argue that the Land of Israel can’t be justly conquered in war since it is a special patrimony for the elect of G-d. However, in that case, the land should anyway belong to the descendants of Shem because Ham originally conquered it in battle from the inheritance of Shem. In essence, Israel was only winning it back, if that was to be the reasoning. And of course, as we saw from the first Rashi in Bereishit, Hashem can give the land to whomever He sees fit.
For this reason, the language of the Midrash specifies that the nations cannot “cheat” us, because all of their claims are spurious. In some cases, the mendacious claims of our enemies can seem to have an internal coherence and to be justifiable in the eyes of someone who doesn’t know the whole story or who doubts Hashem’s covenant with the forefathers to give the Land to their descendants. However, even someone who wants to manipulate reason and historical narratives to undermine Israel’s claim can’t argue with the fair and voluntary transactions whereby Israel acquired title to these three places.
As noted, the three places correspond to essential components of our relationship to the Land. There are a few different ways of expressing this idea. For example, the Chatam Sofer connects each of the places to one of the three columns upon which the world depends (Avot 1:2): Torah, service of Hashem, and acts of kindness.
Avraham Avinu, who exemplified the attribute of kindness, purchased Me’arat HaMachpela as a final kindness to his beloved wife and to future generations of Israel. The Temple Mount is, of course, the designated site for our service of Hashem, as was affirmed by Yitzchak when he was offered as a sacrifice upon it, and again by Yaakov who declared his children would faithfully serve Hashem there. David HaMelech purchases the site and moves the Aron there as he prepares the foundation for the Beit HaMikdash that his son will build. Shechem is associated with Torah because Yaakov settled there for a time to study Torah and teach it to his son Yosef, who would one day be buried there. When Yehoshua conquered the Land, he brought the people together in Shechem to reaffirm the acceptance of the Torah upon entering into the Land.
The role of Yosef is also integral to our claim on the land and how we can maintain it. The first exile, to Egypt, began when Yosef was betrayed by his brothers because of their hatred for him. It ended when his descendant, Yehoshua, reconvened all of the people there, as noted. The present exile also began, according to the Talmud, as a result of baseless hatred of Jews for one another. It will end when we can follow the examples of Yosef and of his sons Ephraim and Menashe in loving one another without cause.
Rabbi David Dov Levanon, in a commentary he published on our parsha in 5762, also ties Shechem to the words of the prophet Ovadia (1:21) regarding the crowning of G-d by the remnant of the exile, based on a tradition that this final reunification of the tribes will also occur in Shechem, the city of Yosef. Following this reading, he also associates the three cities where the sites mentioned in the Midrash are located with three types of unique holiness that emerge when Israel dwells in the Land. In addition to this ingathering of exiles stands the sanctity of the Beit HaMikdash itself, which of course is concentrated at the site of the Mikdash – the Temple Mount.
The final special holiness, associated with Me’arat Hamachpela and the city of Hebron, is the merit of the forefathers. Of course, they are buried there in the cave, but the city is also known as “City of the Forefathers,” and we know that Caleb’s visit there protected him from the evil counsel of the spies. Indeed, all the spies approached Hebron, but apart from Caleb and Yehoshua the rest were too intimidated by the power they saw exhibited there in the inhabitants. Therefore, of that generation, only Caleb and Yehoshua ever merited to enter the city.
