Holy Land

 

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The expression The Holy Land (Hebrew: ארץ הקודש, Standard Éreẓ haQodeš Tiberian ʾÉreṣ haqQāḏēš ; Latin: Terra Sancta ; Arabic: الأرض المقدسة, al-Arḍ ul-Muqaddasah) generally refers to Israel and sometimes adjacent territory. It concerns the areas that hold significant religious importance to the three monotheistic Abrahamic religions: Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Part of its sanctity stems from the religious significance of Jerusalem and its importance as the Land of Israel.

The Crusades were started on the pretext of recovering the Holy Land for the religion of the New Testament. More recently, the region is at the center of the Arab-Israeli conflict.

Judaism

Main articles: Four Holy Cities, Jerusalem in Judaism, and Zion

Judaism's holiest cities are Jerusalem, Hebron, Tzfat, and Tiberias. Jerusalem has been the holiest city in Judaism and the spiritual homeland of the Jewish people since the 10th century BCE.^[1] Jerusalem has long been embedded into Jewish religious consciousness. Jews have studied and personalized the struggle by King David to capture Jerusalem and his desire to build the Jewish temple there, as described in the Book of Samuel and the Book of Psalms. Many of King David's yearnings about Jerusalem have been adapted into popular prayers and songs.

Jerusalem appears in the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible) 669 times and Zion (which usually means Jerusalem, sometimes the Land of Israel) appears 154 times. The first section, the Torah, only mentions Moriah, the mountain range believed to be the location of the binding of Isaac and the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, and in later parts of the Tanakh the city is written explicitly. The Tanakh (or Old Testament), is a text sacred to both Judaism and Christianity. In Judaism it is considered the Written Law, the basis for the Oral Law (Mishnah, Talmud and Shulkhan Arukh) studied, practiced and treasured by Jews and Judaism for three millennia.^[2] The Talmud elaborates in great depth the Jewish connection with the city.

The core reason why Jews view the land as holy is due to the special status that the Hebrew Bible gives it with regard to Jewish religious observance, the fact that Jerusalem was the site of the Temple, and most of all, the fact that the Hebrew Bible refers to it as a divine gift.

Jewish kingdoms and states existed intermittently in the region for over a millennium.

Under foreign conquests, Jewish presence in the province dwindled due to forced mass expulsions and persecution by Romans and, later, Christian Crusaders. In particular, the failure of the Bar Kokhba Revolt against the Roman Empire resulted in widescale expulsion of Jews. It was at this time that the Romans changed the name Syria Palaestina to the geographic area, in an attempt to erase Jewish ties to the land, even changing Jerusalem to Aelia Capitolina, but with little success as it had had with changing Judea to Palestine. The Mishnah and Jerusalem Talmud, two of Judaism's most important religious texts, were composed in the region during this period.

Christianity

The Holy Land is significant in Christianity, mainly because it is the place of birth, ministry, Crucifixion and Resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth, the Saviour or Messiah to Christianity.

Holy cities for Christians of all denominations:

• Jerusalem is believed to be the site of some of Jesus's teaching, the Last Supper, the subsequent institution of the Holy Eucharist as well as his entombment; Christians believe he was crucified on a nearby hill, Golgotha (sometimes called Calvary). It contains the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and the Church of All Nations.
• Bethlehem is the birthplace of Jesus.
• Nazareth is Jesus's hometown and the site of many holy places, including the Church of the Basilica of the Annunciation and Mary's Well.

During the Crusades, Christian pilgrims often sought out the Holy Places in the Outremer, especially early in the 12th century immediately after Jerusalem was captured. ^[3] The Holy Places included sites in Jerusalem and Bethlehem as well as

• Sephoria, where the Virgin Mary was said to have spent her childhood
• The River Jordan, site of Christ's baptism
• Cave dwelling of John the Baptist
• Sea of Galilee
• Mount Tabor, site of the Transfiguration of Jesus
• Jericho, along the road to which was the location of the Good Samaritan's charity.

Islam

See also: Religious significance of Jerusalem in Islam.

Sharing similar religious beliefs with Jews and Christians, Muslims consider the land west of (but not limited to) the Jordan River to be sacred as mentioned in the Qur'an, (5:20-21).

The Quran also says,

"And We rescued him and Lout (Lot) to the land which We have blessed for the 'Alamîn (mankind and jinns)."[21:71]

The "land which We have blessed", according to Abdullah Yusuf Ali refers to the land of Syria, which includes Palestine and the cities of Tyre and Sidon.^[4]

Early Islamic tradition by Az-Zujaj describes Holy Land as "Damascus, Palestine, and a bit of Jordan", and by Qatada as "the Levant (ash-Sham)" and by Maad ibn Jabal as "the area between al-Arish and the Euphrates", and by Ibn Abbas as "the land of Jericho".

Muslims also consider the depression below Mount Sinai, also known as the Tuwa, to be sacred as mentioned in the Qur'an (20:12). This place is usually referred to as the "Holy Valley" (الوادي المقدس).

Jerusalem was the first qibla (direction of prayer) in Islam, before the Kaaba in Mecca. In Islam it is considered the third holiest city. In Arabic, the city of Jerusalem is commonly known as "al-Quds", meaning "the Holy".

Muslims believe that prophet Muhammad have been taken by the flying steed Buraq to visit Jerusalem, where he prayed, and then to visit heaven, in a single night in the year 620. The Qur'anic verse (17:1) is interpreted by all widely used tafsirs (commentaries) as referring to this journey, with the term "the farthest Mosque" (al-masjid al-Aqsa) which lies in the Noble Sanctuary in Jerusalem.

The term "Holy Land" is also sometimes used by Muslims (although not in the Qur'an) in reference to the Hijaz, land of the holy cities Mecca and Medina.

Notes

1. ^ Since the 10th century BCE:
   • "Israel was first forged into a unified nation from Jerusalem some three thousand years ago, when King David seized the crown and united the twelve tribes from this city... For a thousand years Jerusalem was the seat of Jewish sovereignty, the household site of kings, the location of its legislative councils and courts. In exile, the Jewish nation came to be identified with the city that had been the site of its ancient capital. Jews, wherever they were, prayed for its restoration." Roger Friedland, Richard D. Hecht. To Rule Jerusalem, University of California Press, 2000, p. 8. ISBN 0520220927
   • "The Jewish bond to Jerusalem was never broken. For three millennia, Jerusalem has been the center of the Jewish faith, retaining its symbolic value throughout the generations." Jerusalem- the Holy City, Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, February 23, 2003. Accessed March 24, 2007.
   • "The centrality of Jerusalem to Judaism is so strong that even secular Jews express their devotion and attachment to the city and cannot conceive of a modern State of Israel without it... For Jews Jerusalem is sacred simply because it exists... Though Jerusalem's sacred character goes back three millennia...". Leslie J. Hoppe. The Holy City:Jerusalem in the theology of the Old Testament, Liturgical Press, 2000, p. 6. ISBN 0814650813
   • "Ever since King David made Jerusalem the capital of Israel 3,000 years ago, the city has played a central role in Jewish existence." Mitchell Geoffrey Bard, The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Middle East Conflict, Alpha Books, 2002, p. 330. ISBN 0028644107
   • "For Jews the city has been the pre-eminent focus of their spiritual, cultural, and national life throughout three millennia." Yossi Feintuch, U.S. Policy on Jerusalem, Greenwood Publishing Group, 1987, p. 1. ISBN 0313257000
   • "Jerusalem became the center of the Jewish people some 3,000 years ago" Moshe Maʻoz, Sari Nusseibeh, Jerusalem: Points of Friction - And Beyond, Brill Academic Publishers, 2000, p. 1. ISBN 9041188436
   • "The Jewish people are inextricably bound to the city of Jerusalem. No other city has played such a dominant role in the history, politics, culture, religion, national life and consciousness of a people as has Jerusalem in the life of Jewry and Judaism. Since King David established the city as the capital of the Jewish state circa 1000 BCE, it has served as the symbol and most profound expression of the Jewish people's identity as a nation." Basic Facts you should know: Jerusalem, Anti-Defamation League, 2007. Accessed March 28, 2007.
2. ^ List of Jewish prayers and blessings
3. ^ Sean Martin, The Knights Templar: The History & Myths of the Legendary Military Order, 2005. ISBN 1-56025-645-1
4. ^ Ali (1991), p.934

References

• Ali, Abdullah Yusuf (1991). The Holy Quran. Medina: King Fahd Holy Qur-an Printing Complex. 
• Hanan Isachar, Ceremonies in the Holy Land, Melzer 2005

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