There is something about our homes that is uniquely ours. No place on earth can replicate our homes. The fanciest hotels and the most luxurious amenities are still not the same. A home is a home.
The Land of Israel is the Jewish people’s home. No other land in the world can be compared to Israel. No other land can be called our home. Every Jew, even if they don’t live in Israel, knows and feels it when they walk on the ground in Israel, that this land is our home.
The reason for this is because G-d gave the land of Israel to us! G-d told Abraham that He will give us this land as an inheritance to Abraham’s offspring, the Jewish people. Therefore, as Jews, we have the ownership rights to this land, and we feel it.
That is why it is so interesting when the Torah tells us in this week’s Torah portion, Vayigash, that Joseph gave the city of Goshen in Egypt to the Jews as an achuza, loosely translated as an “inheritance.” How is it possible that Goshen, Egypt should be ours? And if it is ours, why did we have to be freed from this land that is called “our land”?
There are many commentators who explain the hows and whys of the meaning of this word. Yet, what is really important to us is to take a lesson from the word.
The literal translation of the word achuza is “possession,” meaning, that the Jews took possession of the land. However, it can also mean just the opposite—that the land took possession of the Jews.
If our environment takes possession of us, it means that we have lost control, and the world around us is influencing us. In the case of the Jews in Goshen, it means that Egypt affected them. But if we take control of the world around us, and we influence it, then we are not only in control of our own lives, but we also have control over the world around us. In the case of the Jews in Egypt, this means that they had an effect on their environment.
This is the deeper meaning of the word inheritance: Inheritance means we are the sole possessor of what is given to us. We have it, and it is ours.
The lesson that Joseph is teaching his brothers is that even though you may be living in a land temporarily, you still have an obligation to make a difference. Never say I am here just for a while and therefore I will not invest myself in making a difference. Just the opposite is our obligation: Anywhere Jews go, they should take possession of their surroundings and change the world for the better.
Therefore, whether we are at home or on the road, everywhere we go, we have an obligation to make this world a better place.