IN NAME ONLY
by Rabbi Joshua (nominally known as The Hoffer) Hoffman

After God passed judgment on the people for their acceptance of the evil report
of the spies on the land of Canaan, sentencing them to die in the wilderness, He
commanded Moshe with several mitzvos that applied only in the land. A number of
commentators, most notably the Ramban and Seforno, explain that this was in
order to reassure them that their children would, indeed, enter the land, thus
offering them some form of consolation and encouragement in the wake of the
decree issued against them. Interestingly, the only agricultural mitzvah given
at this time was that of challah, the requirement to take off a small portion of
dough one is making and give it to the kohein. Why was this particular mitzvah
singled out to provide comfort to the people? Ramban says that this mitzvah took
effect as soon as the nation entered the land, unlike mitzvos such as terumah,
which would only take effect after seven years of conquest and seven years of
distribution of the land. I would like to expand on this explanation of the
Ramban, based on a teaching I first heard from my teacher, Rav Aharon
Soloveichik, zt'l, which he quoted from his father Rav Moshe, zt'l, and which
has a basis in the commentary of the Ramban (in the hashmatos, or appendix) and
Ritva to Gittin 2a.

Rav Moshe explained that there are two sources for the special character of
Eretz Yisroel. One source is that of capturing and distributing the land. This
aspect of the character of the land is known as 'Kedushas Eretz Yisroel,' or
'the sanctity of the land of Israel,' and the application of most agricultural
laws in the land depends on that process, at least in regard to the original
sanctity of the land that was developed by those who entered after the
redemption from Egypt. There is, however, a second aspect of the land,  which
goes back to the time of our  forefathers who entered the land and generated the
legal status of 'Eretz Yisroel muchzekes hi lanu meiavoseinu,' or 'Eretz Yisroel
is in the Jews' possession form the time of our forefathers.' This aspect of the
special character of the land is known as 'Shem Eretz Yisroel,' or 'the title,
or name, of Eretz Yisroel.' Ramban and Ritva to Gittin write that this aspect of
the land is referred to as 'Chibas Ha-aretz,' or 'love of the land.' Rav Aharon
explained that the reason challah took effect as soon as the nation entered the
land is that it depends on the aspect of Eretz Yisroel known as Shem Eretz
Yisroel, perhaps because its implementation does not depend on the flour for the
dough having grown  in the land, but on the dough being kneaded in the land.
Although, when asked, Rav Aharon, zt'l,  not give a definitive definition of
which mitzvos of Eretz Yisroel depend on Shem Eretz Yisroel and which depend on
Kedushas Eretz Yisroel, he did say that it is possible that this depends on
whether the material subject to the mitzvah must be grown in the land, or must
be in the land.

Based on the distinction between these two aspects of the land, we can suggest
that since challah depends on the aspect of Eretz Yisroel that is termed 'love
of the land,' the mitzvah of challah was given to the nation as a harbinger of
their children's future entry into the land in order to emphasize the importance
of love of the land. This was, in fact, the failure of the generation that
accepted the evil report of the spies. Yehoshua and Caleiv exhibited love for
the land and opposed the evil report. Yehoshua, in fact, came from the tribe of
Yosef, who showed a special attachment to the land, when, as a prisoner in
Egypt, he said that he had been kidnapped from the land of the Ivrim (Hebrews).
The midrash tells us that this is why Yosef merited to be buried in Eretz
Yisroel while Moshe, who was referred to by the daughters of Yisro as an
Egyptian, did not. Moreover, the daughters of Tzelafchad, who came from Yosef,
also exhibited a special love for the land, asking that they be given their
father's portion in the land, since he died without sons. It is, therefore,
little wonder that Yehoshua, who led the nation in conquering Eretz Yisroel,
came from the tribe of Yosef, which had such great love for the land. In order
to emphasize the importance of feeling a love for the land, then, the mitzvah of
challah, which is based on this aspect of the land referred to as Chibas
Ha-aretz, was given to the nation  in the aftermath the sin of the spies.

Perhaps we can add an additional reason for the giving of the mitzvah of challah
to the nation after their sentence of staying in the wilderness for forty years.
Rav Aharon's grandfather, Rav Chaim Soloveichik, in his commentary to the
Rambam, emphasizes the fact that in order for the mitzvah of challah to take
effect, the entire nation must enter the land (bias kulchem). This requirement
emphasizes the importance of the unity of the nation in order for the mitzvah of
challah to take effect. Since the sin of the  spies generated a breakdown in the
unity of the people that was exhibited at Mt. Sinai, which originally broke down
at the sin of the eigel, and was restored through the dedication of the mishkan,
the mitzvah of challah was given in the  aftermath  of this sin, as a way of
restoring that lost unity. The Zohar in Parshas Emor, in fact, explains the
verse in Sefer Shmuel (II, 7:23), which is incorporated in the Shemoneh Esreh
for mincha of Shabbos - 'umi kemacha Yisroel, goy echad be-aretz,' or. 'who is
like your nation of Israel, one nation in the land - that it is only in eretz
Yisroel that the Jews are truly united. The mitzvah of challah, then which
depends on the entry of the entire nation, as a unit, into the land, was chosen
as a symbol of the ultimate  unity that Eretz Yisroel brings to the nation.