The law and the land

We need to understand Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy is the bridging book between the law and the land. Deuteronomy likely understands what it is about the land that informs the law.

Deuteronomy links the covenant at Sinai with the covenant at Moab. The drama at Sinai was principally divine; the drama at Moab was principally mundane. As Israel's sons enter the Land of Israel they reaffirm the covenant.

It would probably be a good thing if the Jewish people today, at this moment of their once again taking possession of the Land of Israel, were to unite to reaffirm the treaty at Sinai and, more important, the treaty at Moab.

The issue of the legitimacy of the Knesset is not whether it is ruled by the Moshiach (Anointed One) but whether it represents a people who have once again reaffirmed the treaty that was cut at Moab and then broken. That treaty delimited the executive and the judiciary and made room for the people and the land to have a voice.

It is in and of and with the voice of the people and their blood and their sex that the land speaks.