D’var Torah Shavuot

And Rabbi Shimon ben Yoḥai would likewise say: "Elimelech and his sons Mahlon and Chilion were prominent members of their generation and were leaders of their generation. And for what reason were they punished? They were punished because they left Eretz Yisrael to go outside the Land." (Babylonian Talmud, Bava Batra 91a)
Shem MiShmuel (Rabbi Shmuel Bornstein, the second Ḥassidic Master of Sochatchov, 1855 – 1926) explains [Shavuot 5683] the philosophical component of Elimelech's descent from the Holy Land. Our Sages taught that all the lands of the world drink from the residue of rainwater of the Holy Land, which God provides directly to His Land. [Babylonian Talmud, Ta'anit 10a] Thus, "When there is famine in the Land and the mistress is stricken, how much more so the handmaiden." Thus, the impact of Elimelech and his sons abandoning the Land is their failure to understand this truth, and the implication that sustenance comes from a different source, not from the residue of the Holy Land. As such, Elimelech's departure from the Land severely diminished her value. In addition, abandoning the Land negatively impacted the Congregation of Israel, "for whom the Land of Israel is a chariot." In so doing, Elimelech and his sons "departed from the community of Israel," since our Sages [Zohar, vaYikra 83b] teach that Israel can be a single unified nation only within its unique Land.
Shem MiShmuel adds that Elimelech's abandonment of the Land of Israel is the reason that the merit of the Forefathers did not assist him, since he turned his back on the Land which they desired. [Shemot Rabba 32:2]



Abandoning the Holy Land is not merely a geographical move, but carries great philosophical significance as well, and this explains the severity of the sin of Elimelech, Maḥlon and Chilion. (David Magence)

Shabbat Shalom and Chag Sameach
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