The Merit System
Why will God not abandon His people Israel?
“For God will not abandon His people,” states one passage (Shmuel I 12:22), “because of His great Name.”
But another passage (Tehillim 94:14) declares, “God will not abandon His people nor forsake His heritage.”
When Jews in Eretz Yisrael are in trouble, God promises not to abandon them because of their merits and the merit of their Land which is called God’s heritage. But when Jews are outside of Eretz Yisrael God has mercy on them so that His great Name, which is identified with them, will not be desecrated.
(Rut Rabbah 2)