The very short seventh aliyah of Kedoshim - an already short parasha - is, well short, but also jam-packed with spiritual nuggets one could spend a lifetime studying. These include the reasons why peoples are "expelled" from lands (and a warning to Yisrael not to follow suit or else they will meet the same fate), as well as what I believe is the first reference to the Land of Israel as "a land flowing with milk and honey." There is also, arguably, the root of Jewish individualism, as well as the root of antisemitism, when G-d proclaims that H' has "separated" Am Yisrael from "the peoples."
But perhaps the only verse I haven't mentioned yet is the one that most got me thinking - a short but mind-bending verse in which G-d states that the Israelites "will inherit their Land, and I will give it to you to inherit."
The repetition, and the apparent "out-of-order-ness" is certainly no mistake. So how can we possibly process the fact that this people will first inherit the land, and only then will G-d give it to us to inherit?
One of the most very fundamental ideas I have discovered about Judaism only in the past few years may help answer this question. The secret I have discovered for myself is that while we are in constant, eternal partnership with G-d in carrying out creation, G-d wants and needs us to "make the first move." There are almost no stories - and arguably there are none at all - of G-d just "doing us a favor" or performing a miracle when we haven't done something to earn it, or even just to ask of it. The closest example I can think of is the Exodus, which seemed to have appeared out of nowhere when G-d finally "remembered" us, but even then there is clear background that this act of taking us out of Egypt did not occur until we had at least performed one mitzvah, that of the paschal sacrifice.
The same logic applies here. G-d will not just, first, give us the Land to inherit. That comes second. First, we have to inherit it for ourselves, likely in the 14-year conquest described in Sefer Yehoshua (full disclosure: I still need to read everything in more than a piecemeal fashion after the Five Books). And only after we have taken these active steps towards inheritance (obviously, and like everything, with G-d's Help and Blessing) will G-d then give it to us to inherit.
A verse that is truly easy to rush over or shrug your shoulders at in confusion and perhaps disdain comes to teach the greatest of spiritual treasures.
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