What Does the Land of Israel Mean to Jews?
The simple answer is – EVERYTHING!
Judaism as a religion is steeped in the belief that the land of Israel is the holiest place for every Jewish person. It is one of the commandments of Judaism, and walking approximately two meters on the land is a special blessing. A prominent British Rabbi once stated that he cut ties with a decent Muslim leader who asked him why Jews need a state in Israel. This, in many Jewish circles, is the most offensive thing to ask!
It is amazing how surprised Jews and Muslims look when they hear each other’s views of the Holy Lands. Jewish eyes widen when they hear about the Islamic interpretations of Jews and vice versa.
When it comes to the land of Israel, Jews believe it is the end of the promise God made to Abraham (Ibrahim in Arabic) in Genesis 12:1. The land is tied to all the figures of the earliest prophets of Judaism and all the sacred practices. According to some of the leading Rabbis of Judaism in the past, less than two-thirds of the 613 commandments Jews live by can be performed outside the land of Israel.
However, throughout history, Jews outside the land of Israel prayed three times each day for thousands of years with a request to return to the land of Israel. That is because the Jew is not complete outside the land of Israel. And Israel is the height of the spiritual practice and spiritual essence of being Jewish.
Jewish Claim to Israel & Muslims’ Claim
To be clear, Judaism is one of the few major modern religions that do not believe that only their members are right. Jews accept that all human souls will transition into an afterlife they deserve. In Jewish thought, the righteous non-Jews have a share in the afterlife.
Jews respect the rights of all Abrahamic Faiths to the land of Israel. One of the acts of Muslims that Jews recognize as a legitimate right to settle in Israel is male circumcision (Khitan). This is a divine commandment handed to Abraham, the Father of the two Faiths. Although Jewish and Islamic approaches to male circumcision vary, it is a unifying point that grants legitimacy to the claim of Muslims to the land.
Thus, the most hostile Jew to his Arab neighbors implicitly recognizes the common kinship the two Faiths share.
The Jew sees Israel and no other land to be the most sacred space on the planet. Due to this, the Jewish people are ready to live on it at the cost of everything they possess. This is at the core of the Jewish resolve to hold on to the land of Israel.
Do Jews want to go beyond the Biblical borders of Israel?
No.
Ancient Jewish texts show that adjoining lands are not on the same level as the Biblical borders of Israel. Thus, if a Jewish leader controls land anywhere in Jordan or Egypt or Syria, that land does not have the same level of holiness or sacredness as the land of Israel.
Thus, Jews are not keen on taking on new possessions except for the Biblical borders of Israel. And that might explain why they give the state of Israel all their attention and all their efforts.
Do Jews want to destroy Present-day Jerusalem?
Again, the answer is No.
From Jewish teachings that exist to this day, a time will come when the world will be in perfect peace. This will be an era when spirituality will rise so high that not every individual and nation will be at peace, and a final arrangement will come where every nation will be satisfied.
This is an era that no human being living today can create on their own. And this is the very reason Jews avoid using force to seize their most sacred grounds that are not under the control of the state of Israel.
At the time of perfect world peace, all disagreements between all the groups in the House of Abraham will be resolved. Jews, Christians, and Muslims will realize the vision of Abraham in a clear way beyond any reasonable doubt.
Conclusion
The land of Israel is the most sacred piece of land to Jews. It has been so throughout the ages, and no Jewish prayer in over 2000 years has been said without mentioning the return to the land of Israel. The modern state of Israel allows Jews to meet their basic obligation of connecting to the land. However, Jews believe in a time of total world peace where spiritual clarity will be so apparent that all states and nations will be granted their genuine possessions. At that point, no state will rise up against the other. This is the reason Jews limit their territorial claims to the Biblical borders of Israel and do not seek more lands than that.
