I've always wanted to live in Florida, myself. Over my entire adult life I've expressed, countless times, the wish to live on a piece of coastal property in the Panhandle of Florida. But I don't expect Florida or anyone else to recognize any connection, even if my heirs felt the same way for 4000 years or eternity. Not even if I used to own a piece of land in Florida which was appropriated by the state.
The Jews have every right to want to go to Eretz Yisrael someday, or Miami if they'd rather, just as college kids have every right to want to go to Florida during spring break, and I have every right to want to buy a piece of seafront property.
Desire, however, doesn't confer right.
The US Constitution is the supreme act of legislative will of the people. Contrary to the allegation that it's about "feelings," its about how to govern a place that we already live in. If it were amended to include a clause expressing the desire to annex Canada, say the parts that were disputed during various wars, would that give us the right to Canada?
Or, using a closer example, if Spain decided to re-annex Florida, would that carry any juridical weight?
In the US, the statute of limitations for losing your land due to squatter's rights is in the vicinity of 30 years, not hundreds, far less thousands.
To the rabbis, of course, there are no squatter's rights to God's land. If that's your argument, why not come clean? |
