The mitzvah (obligation) of Yishuv Ha’Aretz (settling the Land of Israel) obligates the entire nation of Israel to inherit the Land, namely, to apply sovereignty over it, and settle it. As it is written (Numbers 33: 53-54): ” You shall dispossess the inhabitants of the Land and dwell in it, for I have given the Land to you to possess it…to inherit the Land…” or as Ramban defined the mitzvah: “We were commanded to take possession of the Land which the Almighty, Blessed Be He, gave to our forefathers, to Avraham, to Yitzhak, and to Yaacov; and to not abandon it to other nations, or to leave it desolate”.
One can only respect the people who went up that stony, desolate hill, to build a Yeshiva (school) and spend their time studying old texts there. I designed the water, etc. infrastructure of the Yeshiva. It was difficult to get paid, but after two or three years they did pay me. It was frightful to drive to the site on those deserted mountain roads up the settlement, and to pass through enemy villages. The road was in fact the main street of the towns, with new mosques being erected and hundreds of children walking on the road, going to school. I was attacked only once. The courageous Rabbi reminds everybody the reason they are there.
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