Conquest and the TTs
Conquering the Land.
Nachmanides holds that there is an obligation to conquer the Land of Israel. The opinion of Nachmanides has had political repercussions the Modern Era.
# “You shall possess the Land and dwell in it, for to you have I given the Land to possess it” (Bamidbar [Numbers], 33:53). “You shall possess” denotes conquest and sovereignty, while “you shall dwell” implies settling the Land so that it not remain desolate. Similarly, the Torah states, “You shall possess it and you shall dwell therein” (Devarim [Deuteronomy], 11:31). Accordingly, the Ramban defines the mitzvah as follows: “We were commanded to take possession of the Land that God, may He be blessed, gave to our forefathers, Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov; and we must not leave it in the hands of any other nation or let it remain desolate” (Addendum to Rambam’s Sefer HaMitzvot, Positive Commandment 4). #
This mitzvah [commandment] is incumbent upon the Jewish people in every generation. See: 1 - The Mitzvah of Settling the Land of Israel
The Lost Ten Tribes and Nachmanides, Quotations
# The Israelites went into Exile and ever since then Ephraim and all [the Ten Tribes of northern] Israel have never been in the Land of Israel. Concerning the future it says, 'And the heathen shall know that I the LORD do sanctify Israel, when my sanctuary shall be in the midst of them for evermore'.
# Behold I will recall a matter that is expressly mentioned many times in Scripture. It is known that with the Return of the Exiles under Ezra only the Tribes of Judah and Benjamin returned. These had been exiled to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar….
# There was no Redemption for the Ten Tribes who remained in exile.
# It has been made quite clear from our study that the only ones who returned from the Babylonian Exile were they who belonged to the Kingdom of Judah. Those however who are termed the House of Ephraim, or The House of Israel, meaning the Ten Tribes are still in Exile in Assyria. These Tribes did not have any participants in the Second Redemption, as I have noted...
# The Ten Tribes had already been exiled and they are still in Exile, in the area of the Canaanites, even unto Zaraphath:
'And this first exile of the children of Israel who are [now] from Canaan unto Zaraphath' [Obadiah 1:20].
#These places are at the extremes of the north. ...
# The general principle concerning these and all similar verses concerning the Redemption of Israel and the fall of Edom and the like is that it is all for the future.
See: THE TEN TRIBES WILL RETURN! Source: "Sefer HaGeulah" (The Book of Redemption) in Hebrew as prepared for publication by Rabbi Chaim David Chavel (5762) and published by Mossad HaRav Kook.
Nachmanides said the Ten Tribes in his time were in Zaraphath in the far north. "Zaraphath" in Rabbinical Exegesis and Jewish Tradition meant France (see Rashi) and the north or France and Britain together (Abarbanel). The verse in Obadiah 1:20 was understood as referring to the Lost Ten Tribes who were in Zaraphath (Rashi, Nachmanides).
Obadiah [from the Hebrew] 1: 20 AND THIS FIRST EXILE OF THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL WHO ARE IN CANAAN EVEN UNTO ZARAPHATH, AND THE EXILES OF JERUSALEM IN SEPHARAD SHALL POSSESS THE CITIES OF THE SOUTH.