Is There a Greater Reward for Mitzvos Done in Eretz Yisrael?
Absolutely — and not just reward in the Next World, but a heightened spiritual impact right now, in this world too. In Charedi thought, rooted in Chazal and the Rishonim, mitzvos performed in Eretz Yisrael aren’t simply more “valuable” in some vague sense — they are qualitatively different.
The air is different. The atmosphere is different. The spiritual circuitry is more direct.
Let’s unpack that.
The Land Where the Mitzvos Were Meant to Be Kept
When Hashem gave us the Torah, He gave it to a people destined to live in a specific Land. The Torah was not meant to hover in the abstract — it was meant to be lived in Eretz Yisrael.
That’s why so many mitzvos are only applicable there: terumos, ma’asros, shemittah, yovel, challah, and more. But even mitzvos that are technically chovos haguf — obligations on the person no matter where they live — are still elevated when performed in Eretz Yisrael.¹
The Sifri on Parshas Eikev states:
“Even though I exile you, be distinguished with mitzvos so that when you return, they will not be new to you.”²
Rashi brings this idea in Devarim (11:18): outside the Land, we perform mitzvos like training exercises, so that we’ll remember how to fulfill them properly when we return to the true stage — Eretz Yisrael.³
So yes — mitzvos outside the Land have tremendous value, but in Eretz Yisrael, you’re not rehearsing. You’re performing before the King.
A Direct Line to Shamayim
The Gemara in Kesubos 110b says:
“כל הדר בארץ ישראל דומה כמי שיש לו אלוקה, וכל הדר בחו"ל דומה כמי שאין לו אלוקה.” “Anyone who lives in Eretz Yisrael is like one who has a G-d, and anyone who lives outside the Land is like one who has no G-d.”⁴
What does this mean?
It doesn’t chas v’shalom mean that Hashem isn’t present elsewhere. He is. But in Eretz Yisrael, the hashgachah pratis is more intense, more immediate.
The Ramban, in his commentary to Vayikra 18:25, explains that Eretz Yisrael is where Hashem’s presence is most revealed, and where the spiritual effects of one’s actions are most direct.⁵
When you do a mitzvah here, you’re plugging into the main spiritual circuit board.
Gedolim Who Felt It
- Rav Chaim Volozhiner zt”l taught that Torah learned in Eretz Yisrael ascends directly to the Kisei HaKavod — without detour or delay.⁶
- Rav Avraham Yitzchak HaKohen Kook zt”l wrote that mitzvos in the Land are “alive,” infused with a natural kedushah that emerges from the very soil beneath our feet.⁷
- Rav Yaakov Emden zt”l, in his Siddur Beis Yaakov, explicitly states that even tefillah is more powerful in Eretz Yisrael — the gates of Heaven are more open.⁸
This is not poetic theory. This is spiritual physics.
Many who make aliyah report feeling different — more awake, more attuned, more alive. It’s not magic. It’s Eretz Yisrael.
Even Challenges Are Elevated
Let’s be honest: living in Eretz Yisrael isn’t always easy. The bureaucracy. The cultural clashes. The cost of living.
It’s real.
But even the struggles are part of the avodah. Even those are precious in Shamayim.
As the Midrash Tanchuma says:
“Every step a Jew takes in Eretz Yisrael is a mitzvah.”⁹
Even the sweat and effort of daily life here carries meaning.
You don’t have to be a tzaddik to benefit — You just have to live here and try.
In Summary
Yes — mitzvos in Eretz Yisrael are greater.
Not just in reward, but in depth, in purity, in connection.
Outside the Land, we’re holding the rope. Inside the Land, we’re climbing it.
When a Jew puts on tefillin in Boro Park or Antwerp or Melbourne, it’s a beautiful mitzvah.
But when he puts them on in Bnei Brak or Yerushalayim, it reverberates more directly in Shamayim.
And not because we are better here — but because the Land is holier.
And the Torah told us: This is where mitzvos were meant to live.
Sources
- Ramban, Hasagos to Sefer HaMitzvos, Positive Commandment #4
- Sifri, Parshas Eikev, §43
- Rashi on Devarim 11:18; see also Ramban ad loc.
- Talmud Bavli, Kesubos 110b
- Ramban on Vayikra 18:25 – “Eretz Yisrael is the inheritance of Hashem... it does not tolerate impurity, and His presence is more directly manifest there.”
- Nefesh HaChaim, Shaar 4, Chapter 11
- Rav Kook, Orot HaKodesh, Vol. 1
- Rav Yaakov Emden, Siddur Beis Yaakov, Tefillas HaShachar
- Midrash Tanchuma, Parshas Re’eh 8