Behold, he who doesn't live in Eretz Yisrael is called by the sages as, "One who is as if he has no G‑d." (Ketubot 111) The reason for this is simple. Every Jew's soul emanates from a holy place, and therefore the kelipot really have no real power to rule over him. That is derived from the verse, "For G‑d's portion is His nation." (Deut. 32:9) They are G‑d's portion, not the portion of the angels. Therefore the ministering angel of his country has no real power over him, yet the Shechinah is not resting directly upon him either. This is because he is engulfed by the depths of the sea of the kelipot that is in the contaminated airspace of his foreign country. Therefore he is considered to be without G‑d. Torah and mitzvot…are enclothed by the forces of that contaminated airspace of Chutz LaAretz
It is certain that his Neshama, Ruach, Nefesh, and Body are totally enclothed within that contaminated airspace. Therefore all his Torah and mitzvot aren't totally pure, for they too are enclothed by the forces of that contaminated airspace of Chutz LaAretz. If that is not enough, even when he dies and his soul leaves his body, his Neshama can't rise up in absolute purity, for it in enclothed by that kelipa. Aside from that, the soul must go through a rolling process until it finally reaches the airspace of Eretz Yisrael. Only from there can the Neshama ascend to the Garden of Eden. This we know from the sages' statement that "the entrance to the Garden of Eden is through the Cave of Machpela [in the holy Israeli city of Hebron]." (Zohar Chadash Rut) From the earthly Garden of Eden the Neshama ascends to the heavenly Garden of Eden.
When we contemplate upon the advantage of Eretz Yisrael over other lands we should make three categories. Yet we must also keep in mind that within each category lies many more sub-divisions and aspects:
1) The performance of mitzvot in purity and cleanliness his entire life.
2) The separation of the Neshama from the body upon death.
3) The resurrection of the deceased of the future.
These three categories are going to vary greatly dependent upon many factors. For he who was born in Eretz Yisrael and remained there all his life, his soul descended to his body in purity and was never contaminated by the air of foreign countries. That level is a tremendous boon to his service of G‑d. This level applies to a certain degree even to those who enter Eretz Yisrael before their Bar/Bat Mitzva. For according to the teachings of the sages (Zohar Mishpatim), the element of soul called the Good Inclination and full Neshama [sometimes even the Ruach and or Nefesh] only enters his being at Bar Mitzvah. Therefore all mitzvot that he does from then on, are in complete purity. He was raised in a good name and passed on with a good name.
Yet he who ascends to Eretz Yisrael in an advanced age can not attain that level. Rather he only merits the other two categories, the separation of soul and the resurrection in the future. Lastly, he who arrives in Eretz Yisrael only subsequent to dying, of course, only merits the resurrection. Which contains within it the advantage of the souls returning to the body, as in "And your bones I shall strengthen." (Isaiah 58:11) That is since he was interred in purity in Eretz Yisrael. A Jew who resides in Chutz LaAretz and performs…mitzvot with as much purity as he can, nonetheless… will send spiritual power to the ministering angel of that country
Now when we come to expound upon the advantages of the first category we find them numerous:
The Neshama has never been tainted nor contaminated by the air of Chutz LaAretz.
His mitzvot were performed in absolute purity. The very spirituality generated by those Torah and mitzvot never was tainted by that kelipa.
The divine influence that is drawn down by means of his Torah and mitzvot gives no nourishment or strength to the foreign angels. For a Jew who resides in Chutz LaAretz and performs Torah and mitzvot with as much purity as he can, nonetheless the spirituality generated therein will send spiritual power to the ministering angel of that country.
The above was certainly true when the Shechinah was residing openly in Eretz Yisrael. The fact that the foreign powers receive influence can be seen from the verse of King David, "For they have driven me away this day from connecting myself to the heritage of G‑d saying, 'go serve the god of others'" (Samuel I 26:19). Literally serve and channel influence to those foreign gods who are the kelipot as mentioned previously. The meaning of this is that he who lives in Eretz Yisrael even in its state of ruin, is as if he has a connection to G‑d. Yet if Eretz Yisrael is built up [i.e. with the Holy Temple and the Shechinah] then they literally are connected to G‑d. Whilst always in Chutz LaAretz its as if he has no G‑d. That is why David, who is our anointed one [the soul of Mashiach], said, "they have driven me away this day from connecting myself to the heritage of G‑d", for he experience a real exile. Furthermore, Eretz Yisrael in his time wasn't built up, there was no Holy Temple; even the Tabernacle had been laid useless (like a public altar) by the removal of the Holy Ark. Even regarding Our Teacher Moses, we see the Torah writes, "With me as well [Gam bi in Hebrew] G‑d got angry." (Deut. 1:37) Gam bi has the four letters (GMBI) that start the words from the verse of King David, "They have driven me away this day from connecting myself to the heritage of G‑d/Gershuni Mehestapayach Benachlas Hashem." (Samuel I 26:19)
[Note: the text continues enumerating further advantages of being in the Land.]
There are other extra mitzvot for the land that are only capable of being fulfilled while living in the land. There is no doubt that the benefits, advantages and qualities there are so great that one is precluded from performing them in Chutz LaAretz. This is because the power of that level of holiness is not befitting to supply influence to Chutz LaAretz, as was said by our sages that you shouldn't bring challah (the dough offering from Chutz LaAretz, and if it was brought then you should burn it like chometz (leavened bread) on Pesach Eve. The same applies to teruma (donations to the kohen), bikurim (first fruit offerings) and other similar mitzvot. The reason for that is because of the awesome greatness of those mitzvot in relation to the land.
The prayers in Eretz Yisrael are most desired and accepted by G‑d. This is true because in Eretz Yisrael there are not so many prosecuting forces intercepting our prayers. The reason for that is that the letters that we pronounce in our prayers are not engulfed by the impure air. This is why the prayers of the land transform into a crown befitting the Creator of the world. This is hinted to in the verse, "Behold, the cries of the children of Israel/Hinay Za'akas Bnei Yisrael have come to Me." (Ex. 3:9) The first letters spell, HaTzvi [meaning "deer" or "loveliness"] referring to the Land of Israel. In other words in the Land of the Tzvi, G‑d Himself immediately accepts our cries and prayers, without any angel as an intermediary. That is not the case outside the Land. For there the prayers are enveloped within the contaminated air, and there are a few of the External Forces that prosecute against the acceptance of those prayers. Once those prayers reach Eretz Yisrael they need to be purified and cleansed before being able to ascend before the heavenly throne. This is what is meant by Rav Cordovero (in his book Ohr Yakar): "This is why all the borders of Eretz Yisrael are bodies of water; East is the Jordan River, West is the Mediterranean, South is the Egypt River, and North is the Euphrates. For before anyone can enter her holy airspace they must first traverse a body of water and purify themselves by immersion. For only then (after purification) can that person receive his addition to his Neshama."
The second category of qualities has much sub-division as well. For example:
Death in Eretz Yisrael is not carried out by the Angel of Death, rather it is done by means of a holy angel. This angel, although stemming from the aspect of chesed, gets enclothed in gevura in order to remove the soul from the person. This is likened to an animal being ritually slaughtered [i.e. in a kosher manner] with a perfectly smooth blade rendering the person "pure". This is opposed to death in Chutz LaAretz, where death is meted out by Sama'el with a blemished and defective blade rendering the person invalid.
For one who dies in Chutz LaAretz, his soul, at the time of its departure from the body, is enclothed by the forces of Chutz LaAretz, thus being contaminated. The soul must exert tremendous effort just to reach the gates of heaven. There it is purified from its contamination in order that it should be allowed to ascend.
The body of those buried in Chutz LaAretz must roll underground from the place of burial until Eretz Yisrael, in order to arise at the time of the Resurrection of the Dead. With each border he must pass, he is harassed and tormented by the forces of each country. Upon this, the sages write, "there is no comparison to one who is absorbed into Eretz Yisrael while alive as opposed to after death. (Ketubot 111a)
Again, to expound upon the third category of qualities of Eretz Yisrael, there are many distinctions to be made. A few are:
The actual differences and specifics each soul will experience during that rolling from Chutz LaAretz.
The fact that the resurrection of the dead in Eretz Yisrael will precede that of those buried in Chutz LaAretz.
The souls return to visit their bodies on Shabbat and New Moons, as mentioned in the Zohar (I 81a and b). For those buried outside Eretz Yisrael, the Neshama must pass through the contaminated air space of Chutz LaAretz to reach its body. This causes much distress to both body and soul.
The above advantages are all attained by one who was born in Eretz Yisrael and never left. He who ascended to Eretz Yisrael in his youth has nearly all of them; a reduction of those advantages exists only because he was born into foreign soil. Yet one who grew up outside the land and then came doesn't even receive those benefits. That is true even if he was able to perform some of the mitzvot of the land. He who enters the land at an advanced age, and passes on, will basically benefit from the last two categories. One whose bones are interred from his grave abroad and brought to Eretz Yisrael benefits only from the third category, namely the resurrection and the ease of visitation of the Neshama. The soil of the Land is likened to the soil of the Altar, for man was created from the place of his atonement
Lastly, he who is brought as a corpse to Eretz Yisrael has an additional advantage. For the soil of the Land is likened to the soil of the Altar, for man was created from the place of his atonement. For us Jews, who were definitely created from this soil, it is befitting to return to the holy place from where we were hewn.
Yet the Zohar (parashat Acharei Mot 72) says something quite different. "Rav Yehuda says, 'Anyone who did not merit to dwell in his chamber in the Holy Land, and when he dies, only then does he arrive, upon him it is written, 'the place of My heritage you have made an abomination'. (Jeremiah 2:7) For his soul remains under the authority of the foreign land while only his body comes into the authority of the Holy Land. It is as if he has made the holy profane and the profane holy!" From the above Zohar it seems that one would be prohibited from bringing his corpse to Eretz Yisrael for burial. Soil from Chutz LaAretz that is brought into Eretz Yisrael …is the mystery of converts
Yet further, the Zohar (Teruma 141b) states, "G‑d made a healing for the land, for when that body (brought from Chutz LaAretz) has decomposed, G‑d blows a wind to extricate from the Land that contaminated spirit, for He has mercy on His land. [This basically prevents the contaminated spirit from entering the land; in other words, the body gets purified by G‑d's mercy for the purity of the land.]
The law is known that if the soil of Eretz Yisrael is taken out of its boundaries the legal status of that soil is "foreign soil". Soil from Chutz LaAretz that is brought into Eretz Yisrael is considered the soil of Eretz Yisrael. That is the mystery of converts. Therefore one who arrives in Eretz Yisrael whilst not yet decomposed, his benefits are great. Yet, if one leaves Eretz Yisrael after death it is inversely related. That was the reason for Our Father Jacob commanding that he be brought back to Eretz Yisrael immediately after his death.
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