The term "Holy Land"[a] is used to collectively denote areas of theSouthern Levant that hold great significance in theAbrahamic religions, primarily because of their association with people and events featured in theBible. It is traditionally synonymous with what is known as theLand of Israel (Zion) or thePromised Land in a biblical or religious context, or asCanaan orPalestine in a secular or geographic context—referring to a region that is mostly between theMediterranean Sea and theJordan River. Today, it chiefly overlaps with the combined territory of the modern states ofIsrael andPalestine. Most notable among the religions that tie substantial spiritual value to the Holy Land areJudaism,Christianity, andIslam.[2]
Pilgrimage and other religious activity in the Holy Land has long been central to theJudeo-Christian tradition and other Abrahamic religions.Restrictions on entry to the Temple Mount in theOld City of Jerusalem have been recurrent since the Ottoman era, withJordan and Israel currently splitting responsibility of the site's administration. A number of sites are contested between certain groups, but subject to the "Status Quo" in Jerusalem andBethlehem that effectively bars even the most minuscule changes in their status without universal consensus from the relevant religious parties. Pilgrims from all parts of theAbrahamic world visit the Holy Land to touch and see physical manifestations of their faith, to confirm their beliefs in the holy context with collective excitation,[4] and to establish a personal connection with the sites in order to strengthen their sense of spirituality.[5]
Judaism
Olive trees, like this one in Jerusalem, have intrinsic symbolism in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.[6]Jewish cemetery on theMount of Olives, Jerusalem. The holiness of Israel attracted Jews to be buried in its holy soil. The sage Rabbi Anan said "To be buried in Israel is like being buried under the altar."[7][8][9]
Researchers consider that the concept of a land made holy by being the "earthly dwelling of theGod of Israel" was present in Judaism at the latest by the time ofZechariah (6th century BCE).[10]
Jews commonly refer to theLand of Israel as "The Holy Land" (Hebrew:אֶרֶץ הַקוֹדֵשׁEretz HaKodesh).[11] TheTanakh explicitly refers to it as "holy land" in Zechariah 2:16.[12] The term "holy land" is further used twice in thedeuterocanonical books (Wisdom 12:3,[13] 2 Maccabees 1:7).[14] The holiness of the Land of Israel is generally implied by the Tanakh's claim that the Land was given to theIsraelites by God, that is, it is the "Promised Land", an integral part ofGod's covenant.[citation needed]
In theTorah, manymitzvot commanded to the Israelites can only be performed in the Land of Israel,[15] which serves to differentiate it from other lands. For example, in the Land of Israel, "no land shall be sold permanently" (Leviticus 25:23).[16]Shmita is only observed with respect to the Land of Israel, and the observance of manyholy days is different, asan extra day is observed in theJewish diaspora.
The uniqueness of the Land of Israel is...'geo-theological' and not merely climatic. This is the land which faces the entrance of the spiritual world, that sphere of existence that lies beyond the physical world known to us through our senses. This is the key to the land's unique status with regard to prophecy and prayer, and also with regard to the commandments.[17]
From the perspective of the 1906Jewish Encyclopedia, the holiness of Israel had been concentrated since the sixteenth century, especially for burial, in the "Four Holy Cities":Jerusalem,Hebron,Safed andTiberias – asJudaism's holiest cities. Jerusalem, as the site of theTemple, is considered especially significant.[18] Sacred burials are still undertaken for diaspora Jews who wish to lie buried in the holy soil of Israel.[19]
According to Jewish tradition, Jerusalem is MountMoriah, the location of thebinding of Isaac. TheHebrew Bible mentions the name "Jerusalem" 669 times, often because many mitzvot can only be performed within its environs. The name "Zion", which usually refers to Jerusalem, but sometimes the Land of Israel, appears in the Hebrew Bible 154 times.
TheTalmud mentions the religious duty of populating Israel.[20] So significant in Judaism is the act of purchasing land in Israel, the Talmud allows for the lifting of certain religious restrictions ofSabbath observance to further its acquisition and settlement.[21] Rabbi Johanan said that "Whoever walks fourcubits in Eretz Yisrael [the Land of Israel] is guaranteed entrance to theWorld to Come".[22][19] A story says that when R. Eleazar b. Shammua' and R.Johanan HaSandlar left Israel to study from R.Judah ben Bathyra, they only managed to reachSidon when "the thought of the sanctity of Palestine overcame their resolution, and they shed tears, rent their garments, and turned back".[19] Due to the Jewish population being concentrated in Israel, emigration was generally prevented, which resulted in a limiting of the amount of space available for Jewish learning. However, after suffering persecutions in Israel for centuries after the destruction of the Temple, Rabbis who had found it very difficult to retain their position moved toBabylon, which offered them better protection. Many Jews wanted Israel to be the place where they died, in order to be buried there. The sage Rabbi Anan said "To be buried in Israel is like being buried under the altar."[7][8][9] The saying "His land will absolve His people" implies that burial in Israel will cause one to be absolved of all one's sins.[19][23]
Christian books, including many editions of the Bible, often have maps of the Holy Land (considered to include the regions ofGalilee,Samaria, andJudea). For instance, theItinerarium Sacrae Scripturae (lit.'Travel book through Holy Scripture') of Heinrich Bünting (1545–1606), a German Protestant pastor, featured such a map.[24] His book was very popular, and it provided "the most complete available summary of biblical geography and described the geography of the Holy Land by tracing the travels of major figures from the Old and New testaments."[24] As a geographic term, the description "Holy Land" loosely encompasses modern-day Israel, Palestine,Lebanon, westernJordan and southwesternSyria.
In theQuran, the termAl-Ard Al-Muqaddasah (Arabic:الأرض المقدسة, English:'Holy Land') is used in a passage aboutMusa (Moses) proclaiming to theChildren of Israel: "O my people! Enter the Holy Land whichAllah has destined for you ˹to enter˺. And do not turn back or else you will become losers."[Quran5:21] The Quran also refers to the land as being 'Blessed'.[25][26][27]
Jerusalem, known in Arabic asAl-Quds (Arabic:الـقُـدس, 'The Holy') has particular significance in Islam. The Quran refers toMuhammad's experiencing theIsra and Mi'raj as "Glory be to the One Who took His servant ˹Muḥammad˺ by night from theSacred Mosque to the Farthest Mosque whose surroundings We have blessed, so that We may show him some of Our signs".[Quran17:1]Ahadith infer that the "Farthest Masjid" is in Al-Quds; for example, as narrated byAbu Hurairah: "On the night journey of the Apostle of Allah, two cups, one containing wine and the other containing milk, were presented to him at Al-Quds (Jerusalem). He looked at them and took the cup of milk. Angel Gabriel said, 'Praise be to Allah, who guided you to Al-Fitrah (the right path); if you had taken (the cup of) wine, yourUmmah would have gone astray'."Jerusalem was Islam's firstQiblah (direction of prayer) in Muhammad's lifetime, however, this was later changed to theKaaba in theHijazi city ofMecca, following a revelation to Muhammad by the ArchangelJibril.[28] The current construction of theAl-Aqsa mosque, which lies on theTemple Mount in Jerusalem, is dated to the early Umayyad period of rule inPalestine. Architectural historianK. A. C. Creswell, referring to a testimony byArculf, aGallic monk, during his pilgrimage to Palestine in 679–82, notes the possibility that the secondcaliph of theRashidun Caliphate,Umar ibn al-Khattab, erected a primitive quadrangular building for a capacity of 3,000 worshipers somewhere on the Haram ash-Sharif. However, Arculf visited Palestine during the reign ofMu'awiyah I, and it is possible that Mu'awiyah ordered the construction, not Umar. This latter claim is explicitly supported by the early Muslim scholar al-Muthahhar bin Tahir.[29] According to the Quran and Islamic traditions, Al-Aqsa Mosque is the place from which Muhammad went on anight journey (al-isra) during which he rode onBuraq, who took him from Mecca to al-Aqsa.[30] Muhammad tethered Buraq to theWestern Wall and prayed at al-Aqsa Mosque and after he finished his prayers, the angelJibril (Gabriel) traveled with him to heaven, where he met several otherprophets and led them in prayer.[31] The historical significance of the al-Aqsa Mosque in Islam is further emphasized by the fact that Muslims turned towards al-Aqsa when they prayed for a period of 16 or 17 months aftermigration toMedina in 624; it thus became theqibla ('direction') that Muslims faced for prayer.[32]
^Harris, David (2005). "Functionalism".Key Concepts in Leisure Studies. Sage Key Concepts series (reprint ed.). London: Sage. p. 117.ISBN978-0-7619-7057-6. Retrieved9 March 2019.Tourism frequently deploys metaphors such [as]pilgrimage[...] Religious ceremonies reinforce social bonds between believers in the form of rituals, and in their ecstatic early forms, they produced a worship of the social, using social processes ('collective excitation').
^Schweid, Eliezer (1985).The Land of Israel: National Home Or Land of Destiny. Translated by Deborah Greniman. Fairleigh Dickinson Univ. Press,ISBN978-0-8386-3234-5, p. 56.
^Feintuch, Yossi (1987).U.S. Policy on Jerusalem, Greenwood Publishing Group, p. 1.ISBN978-0-313-25700-1. Quote: "For the Jews the city has been the pre-eminent focus of their spiritual, cultural, and national life throughout three millennia [i.e. since the 10th century BCE.]."
^Zahavi, Yosef (1962).Eretz Israel in rabbinic lore (Midreshei Eretz Israel): an anthology. Tehilla Institute. p. 28.If one buys a house from a non-Jew in Israel, the title deed may be written for him even on the Sabbath. On the Sabbath!? Is that possible? But as Rava explained, he may order a non-Jew to write it, even though instructing a non-Jew to do a work prohibited to Jews on the Sabbath is forbidden by rabbinic ordination, the rabbis waived their decree on account of the settlement of Palestine.
^Vuckovic, Brooke Olson. (2005).Heavenly journeys, earthly concerns: the legacy of the mi'raj in the formation of Islam. New York: Routledge.ISBN978-0-203-48747-1.OCLC61428375.
^Buchanan, Allen E.; Moore, Margaret, eds. (2003).States, nations, and borders: the ethics of making boundaries. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.ISBN978-0-511-06159-2.OCLC252506070.
^Gatrella, Jay D.; Noga Collins-Kreinerb (September 2006). "Negotiated space: Tourists, pilgrims, and the Baháʼí terraced gardens in Haifa".Geoforum.37 (5):765–778.doi:10.1016/j.geoforum.2006.01.002.ISSN0016-7185.
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