My rabbi and techer, Prof. Yeshayahu Leibowitz ? whose yahrzeit (anniversary of death) falls this week ?took some of the most meaningful principles of his theology from this weeks Torah reading.

Many people prefer to ignore the inconvenient facts, and have interpreted ? and still interpret ? the verse, "The LORD your God shall keep with you the covenant and the mercy which He swore unto your fathers" (Deut. 7:12) as an eternal, unbreakable promise, a sort of security deposit to protect us against any and all failures, destruction or self-destruction.

But Leibowitz understood the verse very differently.

"The only thing given unconditionally was that (Joshua would) conquer the Land of Israel," he wrote. "But the question of whether the Jewish people will build the land, whether the Jewish people will live in its land ? that is entirely conditional. It depends on the people, and on their behavior.

Leibowitz based the main points of his theology and his faith on verses from this week's reading and on the many layers of explanations produced over many generations.

Classical commentators


"And (lest) you say in your heart: 'My power and the might of my hand hath gotten me this wealth. But you shall remember the LORD your God, for it is He that given you power to get wealth, that He may establish His covenant which He swore unto your fathers, as it is this day... Know therefore that it is not for your righteousness that the Lord your God has given you this good land to possess it; for you are a stiff-necked people." (Deut. 8: 17-18, 9:6).

Nor did the idea presented in the verses that the Jewish people has "conditional rights" to the Land of Israel did not escape the classical commentators. The 12th Century commentator Rashbam, a grandson of Rashi ? the greatest Torah commentator ? and others made their opinion clear: do mitzvoth, you'll get the Land of Israel. Don't do mitzvoth, you wont.

The God of Israel keeps his covenant, and is prepared to uphold it. But not under any and all conditions, and not in every generation.

Option, not promise


As the commentators said, "If the generation is worthy, He keeps the His promise to the founding fathers of Judaism to be kind to us. And if you (the Jewish people) don't keep the Mitzvoth, He will keep the promise in another generation."

All of this boils down to the following: The right to the Land of Israel is placed as an option before every generation. There is no promise the option can be fulfilled, and it is not necessarily this generation that will merit the land. It all depends on the ethical and moral behavior of the people in the Land.

Pride and punishment


Especially now, it is interesting to note what all the commentaries say on this Shabbat ?? about the connection between big, beautiful houses and eviction and punishment.

"Be careful, lest you forget? the Mitzvoth I have commanded you today: Lest hast built goodly houses, and dwelt therein... then your heart be lifted up, and you forget the Lord your God, who brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage (Deut: 8:11-12, 14).

And when all this happens, the result is inevitable: " I forewarn you this day that ye shall surely perish."(Deut: 8:19)

It also works the other way: if a patch of land with beautiful houses is stripped away with barely a breath, it must be because the inhabitants and their leaders have sinned by being overly proud.

Founding fathers


It would seem impossible to continue to draw credit from the righteousness of the founding fathers of our nation ? Abraham fought with God on behalf of all the people who lived here, the righteous of Sodom, and his partners amongst the original inhabitants of the land.

Then there was Isaac, who made a peace covenant with Avimelech, king of the Philistines. And Jacob, who got very angry with his sons Simon and Levi for exacting revenge on the people of Nablus for the rape of their sister Dinah.

They ? the founding fathers ? understood these lessons.

Modern failures


But some of us - their children and grandchildren - fail to understand this basic relationship between the Land of Israel and its dependence on interpersonal relationships.

Therefore, when the Torah comes along for the umpteenth time to tell us the only possible way to success ? to follow the way of God ? it is so different in our days from the ways of our rabbis and whoever is chutzpadik enough to have faith: Only the Lord had a delight in your fathers to love them (Deut: 10:15)

God loved the forefathers. He doesn't necessarily love us.

For the Lord your God, He is God of gods, and Lord of Lords, the great God, the mighty, and the awful, who regards not persons, nor takes reward (Deut: 10:17)

The most oft-repeated commandment in the Torah is the instruction to love the stranger, "for you were strangers in the Land of Egypt."

This is the way of God, these are His instructions, these are His Mitzvoth.

Thus, and only thus, we will merit to realize the covenant made with our forefathers, by merit rather than by charity, in our lifetime.