Rabbi Yossi opened his discourse, "When you have eaten and drunk your fill, then you shall bless the Lord your G‑d for the good land [of Israel] which He has given you" (Deut. 8:10). Now if one is in Israel one can [give thanks for the land "which He has given you"], but where do we learn that [a person who is] outside the Land [should bless after eating]? If you learn the obligation from this verse then maybe they don't need to.
However, when G‑d created the world, He divided it up: the area for settlement on one side and the desolate places on the other side. He divided the settled areas and revolved all of them around a central point. What is the central point? It is the Holy Land. The Holy Land is the middle point of the [settled] world, and the center of the Holy Land is Jerusalem. The center of Jerusalem is the Holy of Holies [on the Temple Mount], and all goodness and all sustenance flows down to the world from there. There is no place in the civilized world that doesn't receive its sustenance from there.
The desolate places where divided in a similar manner, and there was no desolate place in the whole world as barren as the [Sinai] desert, where Israel spent 40 years breaking the power and strength [of the forces of evil, known as the "Other Side"]. This is the meaning of the verse "Who led you through that great and terrible wilderness, with venomous snakes, scorpions and drought" (Deut. 8: 15). The Other Side ruled this desert, and Israel traveled 40 years against their will and broke its power.
If Israel had been found worthy in those 40 years [by fully repenting of their bad deeds, such as that of the Golden Calf and the episode of the Spies], they would have shattered the power of the Other Side completely [and removed it] from the world. Since they angered G‑d all of those times, the Other Side was strengthened, and they all fell and died there under its power.
Now, you could ask how it could be that Moses whose merits rose above all mankind could have died there? [However, with Moses] this was not so, because the faithful Moses did not [die] within its [the desert's] jurisdiction; instead he [died and was buried] on Mount Evarim. [It was thus called because "evarim" in Hebrew, denotes "dispute".] This was a mountain that was disputed amongst the spiritual rulers [since all wanted to rule over it], and it wasn't allocated to them, remaining in limbo until the faithful servant Moses was given dominion over it and buried there.
And no one dealt with his burial other than the Holy One, Blessed Be He, Himself, as is written, "And He buried him in Gai, in the land of Moab" (Deut. 34:6).
Who specifically was buried there is not stated. It is written in a hidden manner, and it refers to Moses but doesn't say [explicitly] about whom it is speaking. [Just as it is written] "And He called to Moses" (Lev. 1:1), which doesn't specify who called him, so [too] here [it is written], "And He buried him" without stating who performed the burial. Of course, the Companions [of Rebbe Shimon] know this place [the Shechina is also known as "Place" because it is the place of G‑d], and so we see that none ruled over that mountain except for Moses; and he was buried there. This is to teach all generations that would later come into the world that those who died in the desert will be resurrected; G‑d left their shepherd to dwell amongst them, that [in his merit] all will awaken in the future world.
On the Day of Atonement, the High Priest would tie a red thread on the goat that was to be sent to Azazel. This goat was then sent with a shepherd into the desert, where it would fall off a steep cliff and become a form of offering to the Other Side.
Now if you say that this desert was the stronghold of the Other Side, then why did G‑d command that a goat be sent to a different mountain called Azazel? They should have [been commanded] to send the goat to the mountain that Israel went to in the desert. However, Israel, who traveled 40 years in that desert, had broken [the Other Side's] stronghold [there, and the gift would have been rejected as an insult]. [The Other Side's] power was strengthened [only] in the place where mankind had never ventured, whereas Israel had been [around the area] of that mountain 40 years.
However that Mount Seir [the place of Azazel] was a place where there was a mighty cliff. Because of the steepness of the cliff, no one had ever been able to venture there. [It was at that place that the Accuser] was more in command and so could accept the offering, since it was beyond the reach of Israel. There will never be a place in the settled world in which the Accuser will be above [Israel].
Zohar, parashat Teruma p.157a; translation and commentary by Simcha-Shmuel Treister
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