בראשית IN THE BEGINNING — Rabbi Isaac said: The Torah which is the (1)Law book of Israel should have commenced with the verse (Exodus 12:2) “This month shall be unto you the first of the months” which is the first commandment given to Israel. What is the reason, then, that it commences with the account of the Creation? Because of the thought expressed in the text (Psalms 111:6) “He declared to His people the strength of His works (i.e. He gave an account of the work of Creation), in order that He might give them the heritage of the nations.” For should the peoples of the world say to Israel, “You are robbers, because you took by force the lands of the seven nations of Canaan”, Israel may reply to them, “All the earth belongs to the Holy One, blessed be He; He created it and gave it to whom He pleased. When He willed He gave it to them, and when He willed He took it from them and gave it to us” (Yalkut Shimoni on Torah 187).

(1) And you shall take possession of the land and settle in it, for I have assigned the land for you to possess: In my opinion, this is a positive commandment. He commands them to settle in the land and inherit it; He gave it to them and they should not abhor Hashem's inheritance. And if it should enter their minds to go and conquer the land of Shinar or the land of Ashur [Assyria] or to settle in some other place, they would be transgressing Hashem's commandment. And our rabbis have stressed (Ketubot 110b) the commandment to settle in the Land of Israel and forbade leaving it; they judged a woman rebellious for not wanting to ascend with her husband to the Land of Israel, and vice-versa for a man. It is from here that this commandment [of settling in the land of Israel] has been commanded to us, as this verse is a positive commandment. It is a commandment that recurs in many places [in the Torah]; e.g., "go in and possess the land" (Deuteronomy 1:8). Rashi, however, interprets "And you shall take possession of the land" to mean that you shall take possession of it from those who have settled it, and then you will settle in it and be able to survive in it; and if you don't, you wouldn't be able to survive in it (Rashi on Numbers 33:53). But what we interpret is the central point of the verse.

(1) והורשתם את הארץ וישבתם בה, “you will take possession of the land and dwell thereon.” According to the opinion of Nachmanides this verse is one of the positive commandments in the Torah. This means that if, for some reason, the people would decide to conquer a different land and to settle there, they would be in violation of this positive commandment to settle in the Holy Land. The commandment to take possession of the Holy Land and to settle thereon is deemed so important that the Torah repeats it on several occasions. Rashi does not interpret the words והורשתם את הארץ in the same manner, but sees the whole verse as describing the circumstances that make our settling in the land of Israel possible, i.e. taking possession of it, being undisputed owners. According to Rashi, unless we are in physical possession of that land, our living there will always be of a temporary nature.

(15) In my opinion this is a positive commandment. [God] commands them to dwell in the Land and to inherit it for He has given it to them and [commands them] not to disdain the inheritance of God. And should it occur to them to go and to conquer the land of Shinar or the land of Assyria or any other [country] and settle therein they would [thereby] transgress the commandment of God … this verse constitutes a positive commandment and [God] reiterates this commandment in many places, [e.g.] "Go and inherit the Land" (Deut. 1:8).