Herzl, Uganda, and the Ramban

The Ramban writes in this week's Torah portion, Massei, that Herzl was in violation of a Torah commandment by acquiescing to accept Uganda, even temporarily, instead of the Land of Israel. 

Rashi shares that there is no commandment per se to settle the land, but rather, sees it as a causal consequence of conquest of the land. The Ramban, though, shares that were one to supplant the desire and actualization of one's dream to attain the land, by entertaining another - as fit for the Jewish people, then ipso facto, a communal, societal Torah obligation has been violated. 

That, perhaps, would explain the divine intervention in the rejection of Herzl's plan. 

The Ramban writes that the Torah forbids any attempt to conquer another land at the expense of the Land of Israel. It would seem, in Herzl's vision, that the choice of a land other than Israel, the historical complexity notwithstanding, went hand-in-hand with his willingness, and even aspiration, to achieve a secular state, one that should be, he writes, like every other. 

At this time, the 9 Days, it's all the more important to reflect on our historical link to a land from which we glean our very holiness.