The Jewish People in the Land of Israel; “An Echo of Eternity” Alex Grobman, PhD

Posted By on May 26th, 2017

Though demography was not an exact science, Jews may have numbered several million in the early Roman Empire.  For more than a century before the 70 CE destruction of the Second Temple, most Jews preferred living around the Mediterranean basin, instead of their aboriginal homeland.  Still, Jews were the majority in the Holy Land, perhaps until the late 6th century CE. Historical and religious sources like the Torah, the Gospels and the Koran affirm the existence of the Jewish People and their historical, demographic and cultural connection to their ancestral homeland.  There are, for example 16th-century Ottoman tax registers listing the names of the Jewish tax-payers. There were always Jews living in the Holy Land, where the total population (also including the Muslims and Christians) had by the 19th century fallen to a level much lower than in Roman times or today. 1.

When the Muslims invaded Palestine in 634, ending four centuries of conflict between Persia and Rome, they found direct descendants of Jews who had lived in the country since the time of Joshua bin Nun, the man who led the Israelites into the Land of Canaan. This means that for 2,000 years Jews and Christians constituted the majority of the indigenous population of Palestine, while the Bedouin’s were the ruling class under the Damascene caliphate. As far back as the Byzantine Empire, (313 to 636), rabbinical leaders in Palestine argued about “whether most of Palestine is in the hands of the gentiles,” or “whether the greater part of Palestine is in the hands of Israel.” This was essential to determine, since according to halacha (Jewish law), if the Jews ruled the country Jews they were obligated to observe religious agricultural practices in one way, and another if they were not in control.”2

Gerson D. Cohen, a professor of Talmud and a former Chancellor of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, added that “the Rabbis could no more conceive of Judaism without the land of Israel then they could have without the people of Israel.”  To place this in its proper historical perspective, Maimonides’s renowned legal code, the Mishneh Torah, compiled between 1170 and 1180 (4930–4940), devotes fully one third of the book to the land of Israel.  It had to be this way since “all of Jewish law is inextricably connected with the land of Israel.” There is “an unbreakable covenant between G-d and the Torah on the one hand with the people of Israel and the land of Israel on the other.” 3

“The Centrality of Israel to the Jews”

The land was reserved for the Jews at creation not only because of it being the most striking and bountiful of lands, but because of its spiritual character asserts Jewish philosopher Eliezer Schweid. A unique sanctity permeates the land making living there intrinsically of the uppermost importance, overshadowing all the other Biblical commandments. 4 Even Muslims accept the patriarchy of Abraham. 5

It follows then that the centrality of the land of Israel to the Jewish religion stems from the Torah’s formulating Jewish law and ritual conditional to the Jewish people possessing the land.  The agricultural laws found in the Torah are expressly connected with cultivating the earth of the Holy land.  Animal sacrifices were confined to the Temple in Jerusalem. Cities of refuge for those guilty of manslaughter could not be built anywhere but in the land of Israel. Leaving the country became a religious transgression laden with remorse. Those living outside of the Holy Land were considered unwilling accomplices in idolatry. 6

The rabbis were so concerned about the national welfare and the continuation of Jewish rule of the land, they refused to accept any foreign occupation as valid. Although they had to acquiesce to their rule, they viewed the Romans, for example, as intruders and their representatives as robbers. G-d had promised the Land to Abraham and his descendants and no one could change this right. The Jews did not accept their authority reflecting the humiliations and degradation they faced at the hands of these oppressors. 7

When the Roman Army destroyed the Temple in 70 C.E., the rabbis decided to establish ceremonies to commemorate the destruction, and maintain the belief that the Temple will be rebuilt “speedily in our days.” The success of these ceremonies, known as Zekher le-Hurban (Remembrance of the destruction), are practiced to this day by observant Jews.  The period of mourning commemorating the destruction of the first and second Temples begins on the 17th day of the Jewish month of Tammuz and ends on the ninth day of the Jewish month of Av, the day of the destruction, called the fast of Tisha B’Av. On this day Jews sit on the floor lamenting their past and entreat G-d to fulfill the messianic promise of return to their land to rebuild the Temple. 8

During the eighteen centuries of Jewish life in the Diaspora, the connection to the Land of Israel played a key role in the value system of Jewish communities and was a basic determinant in “their self-consciousness as a group” explained historian Shlomo Avineri. Without the connection to the Land of Israel, the people who practice Judaism would simply be a religious community, without national and ethnic components. Jews were distinct from the Muslim and Christian communities in which they lived, because of religious beliefs and practices, and the eternal link to the land of their forefathers. That is why Jews considered themselves—and are seen by others as “a minority in exile.”  9

Abraham Joshua Heschel, professor of Jewish Ethics and Mysticism at the Jewish Theological Seminary. explained that “This…is an intimate ingredient of Jewish consciousness, at the core of Jewish history, a vital element of Jewish faith…For the Jews and for them alone, this was the one and only Homeland, the only conceivable place where they could find liberation and independence, the land toward which their minds and hearts had been uplifted for a score of centuries and where their roots had clung in spite of all adversity… It was the homeland with which an indestructible bond of national, physical, religious, and spiritual character had been preserved, and where the Jews had in essence remained—and were now once more in fact—a major element of the population.” 10

Certainty of Returning to Zion

In the absolute certainty of the return of the Jewish people to their ancestral and spiritual homeland, the rabbis in the second century codified the areas of Jewish law that in time would become invaluable with the restoration of the Temple including: the intricacies of Temple worship and architecture, responsibilities of the high priest, the king and the Sanhedrin (highest judicial and ecclesiastical council). From this ardent religious link to the Temple, over centuries an individualized form of prayer developed, which became formalized with a fixed order. The liturgy is replete with prayers entreating a swift return to Zion and the restoration of the Temple service.  11

Three times a day Jews are obligated to pray wherever they might be in the world, but they must face the East, the direction of the Temple: “Sound the great shofar for our freedom; raise the standard to gather our exiles, and assemble us from the four corners of the earth…. Restore our judges as of old… And to Jerusalem your city return in mercy and dwell therein as you have said; and speedily establish therein the throne of David.” 12

Each year at the Passover Seder, Jews recite a prayer thanking G-d for redeeming them from Egypt. The holiday has become the symbol of their hope for the future.  They ask G-d to bring them to “other festivals and holy days that come to us, in peace, happy in the building of your city, and joyous in your (Temple) service.”  13

David Ben-Gurion observed that more than 3,000 years before the Mayflower left England for the New World, Jews fled from Egypt. Jews who are even slightly aware of their Jewish heritage know that every spring Jews commemorate and remember the liberation from slavery and the Exodus from Egypt to the Land of Israel at their Seder. 14

A Center of Spiritual Longing

The land of Israel functioned not only as a center of spiritual yearning for the Jews, but also of continual aliyot (immigration to the land of Israel) from the diaspora throughout the world. Thousands of Jews settled in Palestine during the six centuries preceding the advent of political Zionism—in order to hasten the Messiah through human initiative—mainly by going on aliyah.  They viewed the changing world around them as the conditions the sages described would herald the Messianic Era. 15

This expectation was focused on specific dates having mystical significance—a dawn of a new age. From the year 5000 on the Jewish calendar (1240 C.E.), the beginning of each new century heralded the prospect of redemption. This resulted in a considerable transformation in the connection between the people of Israel and the land of Israel. Jews and gentiles interested in the Ottoman Empire and the land of Israel became even more aware of the strengthening of the relationship between the Jews and their historic homeland. 16

This recurrent movement was not limited to the “lower” elements of society, but from every segment of society. Some of the leading Jewish personalities of their era led the way. Although the number of Jews who settled in Palestine never represented more than a small portion of world Jewry, these messianic aliyot had enduring importance, because of the prominence of those involved, their regularity over centuries, and the diversity of diaspora communities participating.  17

Among the foremost groups to reach Palestine were the disciples of the Ga’on Rabbi Elijah of Vilna (the Vilna Ga’on). By 1813 there were 511individuals who had come in a number of organized groups. This was considered a vast number at the time. The Vilna Ga’on was one of the most dominant Jewish leaders of his time.  His followers wanted to fulfill the commandment to live in the land of Israel, restore the classic rabbinic ordination and build Jerusalem. By going on aliyah, the Vilna Ga’on believed they would “stimulate redemption form on high.”  Though he began his own journey on aliyah, no one knows what caused him to abandon it and return home.  18

To reduce obstacles and hazards along the way, the groups left in the spring with the hope of arriving by the end of the summer. The leaders from Vilna were given funds to distribute to members if the kolel (an institute of advanced study of the Talmud and rabbinic texts). 19

Hasidic groups in Bohemia and Galicia also arrived as did Jews from Poland, Lithuania, Russia, Tripoli, Tunis and elsewhere. The success of the aliyah movement brought so many Jews that leaders from Vilna were alarmed about the effect this might have on the welfare existing Jewish community. They informed those who planned to live in Jerusalem not to rely entirely on subsidies provided by the Vilna community. 20

As long conditions remained fairly secure and without natural calamities such as epidemics and the devastating earthquake on January 1, 1837 in Safed and Tiberias where approximately one fourth of the Jewish population perished, the stream of aliyah continued.  Jewish immigrates flocked to Jerusalem, creating a housing shortage after the earthquake. Political instability and the arbitrary nature in which the local officials and the public treated the Jews, especially between 1819 and 1831, negatively influenced the growth of the Jewish community. Yet austere and severe living conditions did not stop the steady flow of Jews. Between 1808 and 1840, the number of Jews increased by 5,000 people, a clear demonstration of the formidable motivation they had to return to their ancient homeland.  21

The messianic yearning which generated these waves of immigration, and the belief in the centrality of the land of Israel were an integral part of Jewish tradition. The history of aliya from the 13th thirteenth to the 19th centuries demonstrates the intensity of the Jewish people’s connection to its ancestral homeland, a link that continued into the late 19th and 20th centuries, when modern Zionism emerged. 22

 A final remark.  As noted, there is both implicit and explicit Islamic acknowledgment of Israel’s centrality and it is the re-writing and the distortion of history in 20th and 21st century Palestinian Arab and Pan-Arab mythology that seeks to impose an Islamic overlay on what is otherwise recognized in the ultimate Islamic source, the Quran, as the place of Jewish dominion. 23

 

Footnotes

 

  1. http://www.allenzhertz.com/2011_10_01_archive.html); Email from Allen Hertz to author January 28, 2014); Moshe Gil, A History of Palestine, 634-1099 (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1997), 2; Kenneth W. Stein, The Land Question in Palestine, 1917—1939 (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1984.), 32; Dore Gold, “The Myth of Israel as a Colonialist Entity: An Instrument of Political Warfare to Delegitimize the Jewish State,” Jewish Political Studies Review (November, 2011), Volume 23 Issue 3/4, 86 ; Salo W. Baron, Social and Religious History of the Jews. Ancient Times to the Beginning of the Christian Era: The First Five Centuries Volume II revised and enlarged (New York; Columbia University Press, 1966), 122-126; Salo W. Baron, Social and Religious History of the Jews. Ancient Times to the Beginning of the Christian Era Volume I (New York; Columbia University Press, 1966), 250-258.
  2. Yaacov Herzog, A People That Dwells Alone (New York: Sanhedrin Press, 1975), 33; Abraham Joshua Heschel, Israel: An Echo Eternity (New York: Farrar, Straus, 1967), 57.
  3. Gerson D. Cohen “Zion in Rabbinic Literature,” in Abraham S. Halkin, Ed., Zion in Jewish Literature (New York: Herzl Press, 1961)39-40.
  4. Eliezer Schweid, The Land of Israel: National Home or Land of Destiny (New York: Herzl Press, 1985), 39.
  5. Robert Spencer, “The Qur’an: Israel Is Not for the Jews: Claims to the Holy Land,” Middle East Quarterly (Fall 2009): 3-8; Muhammad Al-Hussaini, “The Qur’an’s Covenant with the Jewish People: Claims to the Holy Land,” Middle East Quarterly (Fall 2009): 9-14; Shaykh Prof. Abdul Hadi Palazzi, “What The Qur’an Really Says,” http://www.templemount.org/quranland.html
  6. Abraham S. Halkin, op.cit. 39-40.
  7. Ibid.48.
  8. Ibid. 54.
  9. Shlomo Avineri, The Making of Modern Zionism: The Intellectual Origins of the Jewish State (New York: Basic Books, Inc. Publishers, 1981), 3.4.
  10. Heschel, op.cit. 57.
  11. Halkin, op.cit. 55.
  12. Ibid. 55-56.
  13. Ibid. 58.
  14. The Jewish Case Before The Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry on Palestine (Jerusalem: The Jewish Agency For Palestine, 1947), 63, 65.
  15. Arie Morgenstern, Hastening Redemption: Messianism and the Resettlement of the Land of Israel (New York: Oxford University Press, 2006.), v-vi, 4, 47-49; Arie Morgenstern “Dispersion and the Longing for Zion, 1240-1840,” Azure (Winter 5762 / 2002), number 12.
  16. Ibid. 52.
  17. Ibid.
  18. Ibid, 53-56, 80, 88-94.
  19. Ibid. 56-57.
  20. Ibid. 61-62.
  21. Ibid. 57-61, 66-74, 99-103, 132,206.
  22. Ibid.
  23. Palazzi, op.cit; Yitzhak Reiter, “All of Palestine is Holy Waqf Land,” A Myth and Its Roots,” Law, Custom and Statute in the Muslim World, Ron Shaham, Ed. (Boston, Massachusetts: Brill, 2007), 173; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAmNKowAO5o; Prof. Mordechai Kedar to Al-Jazeera: “Arabs deny Jewish history on the Temple Mount” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAmNKowAO5o; Mordechai Kedar, “How Jerusalem Came to be so “Holy” for the Muslims, The Jewish Press (December 22, 2011); Yitzhak Reiter, Islamic Endowments in Jerusalem Under British Mandate (Portland, Oregon: Frank Cass, 1966), 180.); “Even the Qur’an says that God gave the Land of Israel to the Jews!” http://www.takeapen.org/Takeapen/Templates/showpage.asp?DBID=1&LNGID=1&TMID=84&FID=996

 

Alex Grobman, a Hebrew University-trained historian, has written a number of books on Israel including: BDS: The Movement to Destroy Israel; Erosion: Undermining Israel through Lies and Deception; Cultivating Canaan: Who Owns the Holy Land? and The Palestinian Right To Israel. He is a consultant to the America-Israel Friendship League, a member of the Council of Scholars for Scholars for Peace in the Middle East (SPME), and a member of the Advisory Board of The Endowment for Middle East Truth (EMET).

 

Copyright © 2017 Alex Grobman All Rights Reserved.

 

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