The Routledge Dictionary of Judaism
(Hebrew: “Land of Israel”) The territory that, in the narrative of Genesis, God promised to Abraham and gave to the people of Israel on condition that they keep the covenant. Originally the land of Canaan, the land of Israel was transferred by God to the people of Israel as the location for the formation of the kingdom of priests and the holy people that Israel undertook to form when it accepted God’s dominion in the Torah.
The question of the borders of the Land at various points in the history of Judaism is moot; for Judaism, the religion, what matters is the holiness of the Land, which is enhanced when the Land is occupied by the Holy People. The union of Land and People marked Israel’s attainment of Eden when Joshua led Israel into the Land. That union would have stood for ever, had Israel not sinned. Sinning, Israel lost the Land.
The restoration for good will take place, classical Judaism teaches, when Israel has repented its sin, atoned, and attained reconciliation with God. Then the Messiah will gather in the exiles of Israel and restore the People of Israel to the Land of Israel, the new Eden of the world to come. At that time, humanity at large will acknowledge the unity of God and enter into the condition of Israel too. So the Land in concrete and in theological terms defines a principal component of classical Judaism.
The only territories differentiated in world geography are the Land of Israel and, therein, the only city that is differentiated from all other cities is Jerusalem. These are heavily differentiated, e.g., as to levels of sanctification, while no other territory or city in the world is differentiated in any way at all. These are holy, and no other territory or city is holy, just as Holy Israel is different in genus from all other social entities in humanity.
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