Shalom and thank you for your question! In the first verse of the Torah, it says “In the beginning G-d created the heavens and the earth…” The famous commentator on the Torah, Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki, known as ‘Rashi’, explains that the Hebrew word Bereishit, which means ‘In the beginning’, breaks down into two Hebrew words, ‘Bishvil’ (for,) and ‘Reishit,’ (the first.) This means that G-d created the world for the Torah and for the Jewish people to follow the Torah, to study it and fulfill its commandment, and this must eventually take place in Israel. Rabbi Shlomo, (Rashi,) asserts that if future nations should come and say ‘You are robbers, for you have taken the land of Israel,’ the Jewish nation must point out that right in the beginning, G-d promised us the Land. Later on in Genesis, G-d makes a covenant with Abraham, the father of the Jewish nation, and promises him that the Jewish people will inherit the Land of Israel.
In the first part of the “Covenant of the Parts,” that G-d made with Abraham, G-d informs Abraham that his descendants would be enslaved, but that they would also eventually be redeemed. In the second part of the covenant, G-d tells Abraham that his descendants would forever inherit the land of Israel. Indeed the ‘Hebrews’, the descendants of Abraham who later on received the Torah at Mt. Sinai and became known as the Jewish people, were enslaved in Egypt, and later redeemed. They entered the land of Israel and were later exiled again, as you point out, but the land of Israel was promised to us as an eternal heritage. The Biblical land of Israel that is promised us actually extends beyond the borders of the present day state, and we await the coming of Moshiach when the entire Biblical land will be ours.
The Torah is G-d’s will and wisdom, it is G-d’s instruction to us as to how to live our lives. Since the Torah teaches that the land of Israel is ours, this is our clearest indication.
According to Torah teachings it is a positive thing for a Jew to make his/her home in the land of Israel. Over the centuries, Jews made efforts to come and live in the Holy Land, many did so in order to study Torah here, for it is written ‘The air (of the Holy) Land makes one wise,’. Many Jews who could not come to live in Israel asked to be buried here, at the least. It has not always been possible or easy for Jews to come and live in Israel, but nevertheless there has always been at least a small Jewish presence here.
On an individual level, if a Jew is living here, according to Torah law he may not leave, except for very specific reasons, which include finding a marriage partner, learning Torah with a particular teacher that one desires and seeks to learn from, and making a living, if one is not able to do so in Israel.
It remains an individual question for many Jews, whether or not to live in Israel. They may have a role in leading Jews in the diaspora who might otherwise lose their Jewish identity entirely! Every Jew must consult with a Rabbi when there is a question about moving to or away from Israel.
As mentioned in the beginning, the land was promised to us by G-d, and we must hold our heads high and not be intimidated by the nations of the world who SEEK to intimidate us.
During the Gulf War, in 1991, concerned people turned to the Lubavitcher Rebbe and asked if their family members who lived in Israel should leave. The Rebbe replied by giving a quote from the Torah that the land of Israel is the safest place to be! It is written: “The eyes of the L-rd are upon it from the beginning of the year and until its end…” Indeed we witnessed great miracles in that war, and currently also we have been privileged to witness many great miracles.
May we soon merit the time when all the nations of the world will live in peace and as Maimonides (the Rambam,)teaches, “the earth will be filled with the knowledge of G-d as the waters cover the sea…”
