#284 – part II
Date and Place: 1 Adar II, 5670 (1910), Yafo
Recipient and Background: Rabbi Dr. Meir Lerner, Rabbi of Altuna (Germany), who for years had interest in the settlement of Eretz Yisrael.
Body: [We continue with more answers to Rabbi Lerner’s inquiries.]
2. The price of land varies greatly, based on location and based on the quality of the land – choice, average, and low quality – as well as many other details. Around the area of the moshavot, the land goes for approximately 30-50 francs per dunam. In contrast, in new places, like Rafah, one can purchase for cheaper, approximately 5-8 francs per dunam. On the other hand, conditions of settlement are much more onerous in places that are far from where others live, to the extent that the expense is almost the same thing. Experts say that it is more worthwhile to pay the greater sum near the [existing] moshavot than to buy cheap land in distant places. If, though, hundreds of families join up to buy together, then one can also buy in distant places and establish a new locality, and the more people there are, the easier and safer it is.
Regarding crops, not all the places are the same. When the matter will hopefully come to fruition, it will be possible to clarify exactly. However, according to today’s market situation for wine, it is impossible to base a new settlement on it. For an orange grove, there is a need for a big investment in securing a well and installing special machines. When the settlement is blessed with riches, this is a good business, and one can obtain land that is fitting for this. But what is more correct is to work hard on simple agriculture, so that orchards are minor compared to growing wheat, barley, and vegetables. [It is best] when the farmers are not business owners but are people who eat the produce (i.e., subsistence farming) and live in peace on the holy soil with good will and happiness with Hashem and service of Him. For simple agriculture, the Galilee is more fit than Judea, the latter of which is better for fruit trees.
3. Regarding farmers, there are trained people for farming who are fully religious, and it is better to put them on the land than to bring in new people.
4. The full price of settling an average-sized family with all the resources it needs is assumed to be 17,000-20,000 francs.
5. You can use the number above to figure out how much it would cost to start a whole moshava. Granted, some expenses are smaller when shared by many people, but you must consider also public expenses and especially things having to do with religion, e.g., kashrut and public mitzva obligations.
To start a moshava of five or ten people, you can certainly only do so close to an existing moshava. This can be done in Kastina (near today’s Kiryat Mirachi). Also, the people of Kastina are simple people who keep Torah and mitzvot, and it would be proper to join up with them and increase the settlement together.
I find it necessary to encourage you to continue the great work with the Moriah organization and concentrate on strengthening our holy religion in the New Yishuv in the Holy Land. One can approach such a task without incredible resources. The fundamental achievement of “planting the tree of life in its place” (i.e., religious success in Eretz Yisrael) could expand to all of the scattering of Israel. This is because the very involvement in the strengthening of serving Hashem uplifts those who toil in it, and this will also strengthen religion throughout the Diaspora. If one tries to directly strengthen religion in the whole world, it will be too vast a challenge, and if the effort is unsuccessful, it will cause disappointment and weakening of resolve for those who involve themselves in it.
Paradoxically, we should learn from the actions of those who destroy religion, who focus all of their energy on the Holy Land. This is the strategy that those who are faithful to Judaism should take. Let us put all of our energy into improving the building of the Holy Land according to the path of the Torah, and as a result it will make the stature of fear of Hashem greater everywhere that Jews live.
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