No. I am not disagreeing that someone living in E”Y (not necessarily within the State of Israel, of course) gains that optional mitzva (if all else lines up).
My point was, however, as I keep mentioning, regarding the early poster commenting to the effect that she was working on “Ahavat Eretz Yisrael” by being there.
My question that nobody has answered is why one should work on “Ahavat E”Y” and, specifically relevant to this thread, why this “working on Ahavat E”Y” is a perceived advantage of going to seminary.
As mentioned earlier, I do not dispute that one who appreciates being in the platerin shel melech, etc. may feel joy as a result.
But why is it a good thing to work on loving the land? As mentioned, laying Tefillin is a mitzva chiyuvis for essentially all men, while living in E”Y is only applicable in certain cases. Shabbos is applicable to both men and women and is an os between us and Hashem, etc. also unlike E”Y. But we don’t teach our young men to love their tefillin, and neither men nor women to “love” Shabbos for that matter.
Once again, given the above, why is “Ahavat Eretz Yisrael”, emphasis on “Ahavat” perceived as a Jewish value?