<div>Regarding the two issues of 1- The Jewishness of the Medinah (whether Jews having sovereignty makes the state Jewish) and 2- Qedushas ha'aretz</div>
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<div>I would suggest a new book, Nachlat Yaakov, 2 Vols., 930 pgs. which, among other topics, devotes, for example, 100 pages to the inyan of the three oaths.</div>
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<div>And to the point of the topic currently under discussion, the Gemera of Moed Katan, 26A, reads that kri'ah should be done for "the cities of Judea, the Mikdash and Yerushalyim" from which one can infer that these are three separate matters in that each one merits the ceremony for something intrinsic of each,
i.e., although they are equally treated by kri'ah, there are three distinct reasons why so or, on the other hand, while one might think that they are at different levels, the decision is that they are indeed equal after all.
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<div>There is an addition by Rabbi Chelbo there who adds a stipulation "in their destruction" and the question is what is the definition of such status? Is it no Jews living there? Is it physical destruction? Or is it "kol she'yad ha'ummot sholetet alav" - if sovereignty or its equivalent is in the nads of the non-Jew? For example, Jericho or Shchem today in that the ruling authority has been recognized as an institution termed the Palestine National Authority? The Satmar Rav, R' Yoelisch z"l, considered a secular Jewish government as worse ("elah adraba garua achshav b'otah memshalah...d'galut ha'erev-rav kasha yoter m'galut ha'ummot" - Divrei Yoel, O"H, 30:6).
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<div>The author, Rav Yaakov Zisberg, concludes that those cities administered by the PNA do not require kri'ah unless an actual state is established by the PNA.<br clear="all"><br>-- <br>Yisrael Medad<br>Shiloh<br>Mobile Post Efraim 44830
<br>Israel </div>