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Land of Israel Eliezer Schweid T he land of Israel, as national heritage and holy land, has played a singular and central role in the history of the Jewish people and in the formation of its culture and religion. The special relationship to the land expressed in the covenant between God and his people, the unique interrelationship between national and religious elements, and the peculiar destiny of a nation that for most of its history was either en route to its land or in exile from it are all embodied in the ways the nation has envisioned the land and in the attitudes of the nation toward its land. The point of departure for an understanding of this matter is that the Israelite tribes were united as a nation, on the basis of the Torah's covenant, prior to their arrival in the land. In the Bible the land is less often called the land of Israel than it is named after the Canaanites and the other peoples dispossessed by the Israelites. The land of Israel is perceived as the promised land, the acquisition of which involves a moral and religious problem and to the possession of which a moral condition applies. The previous inhabitants of the land lost their right to it because of their sins, and the 536 LAND OF ISRAEL Israelite tribes will continue to reside in the land only if they will be just. As a consequence of the problem and condition attached to the acquisition and possession of the land, it acquired a special role and assumed a special character. Even as the basis of the nation's material existence, it symbolizes a religious destiny. It is the holy land, and only in it will the nation achieve a worthiness such that the Lord will dwell in its midst. The land of Israel is thus the land that was promised as a national homeland, the basis of the nation's economic weal and state power, but at the same time it symbolizes the Torah's universal moral and religiOUS meaning. These two faces of the land were meant to be complementary, but in the course of the nation's history they were often in contention. Among the main expressions of the dual character of the relationship to the land are the commandments that "depend on the land," that is, that can be observed only in the land: the laws of the sabbatical and jubilee years, the tithes and offerings to the priests, and the laws of the harvest that guaranteed that shares be left over for the poor. These commandments depend on the land not only in that they apply to the nation when the nation is in its land, but also because they are concrete applications of the moral and religious condition on which possession of the land depends. The idea underlying these commandments is that the nation is not the absolute owner of its land. The land is God's, who created it. God makes the land available to the people so that they may live there justly, without powerful individuals or groups becoming masters of it, lording over all. The land is sanctified by moral possession of it. In addition to these commandments, there are ritual commandments specific to the land of Israel and Jerusalem. God may be worshiped by bringing sacrifices only to the Temple, which is the symbol that God dwells among his people. God reigns over his people in his land and is their leader; therefore, when the Temple is destroyed and the nation is not in its land, God cannot be worshiped in full nor can there be Jewish kingship. A fanatically exclusive attitude was shaped as a result: a legitimate Jewish kingdom is possible only in the land of Israel and only when the Temple exists in Jerusalem, and only there and then is it possible to live a fully realized Jewish way of life in keeping with the Torah. For that reason it is said of a Jew who lives among the Gentiles that "he is like one who has no God" (BT Ket. 110b). What is there about this land in particular for it to be made the homeland of the chosen people? The Bible sings the praises of the land's abundance and its beauty, but there is nothing religious in that. A theological dimension appears in Deuteronomy, where a point is made about the difference [3.144.244.44] Project MUSE (2024-04...

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