{"id":48863,"date":"2019-02-06T15:11:31","date_gmt":"2019-02-06T13:11:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=48863"},"modified":"2022-08-31T22:09:42","modified_gmt":"2022-08-31T19:09:42","slug":"the-god-of-everywhere-can-be-found-anywhere","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/the-god-of-everywhere-can-be-found-anywhere\/","title":{"rendered":"The God Of Everywhere Can Be Found Anywhere"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[384,430,354],"acf":{"old_id":"48863","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":33923,"related_cahpter":"150","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"So why is the God beyond place to be found specifically in this place?","content":"

The long journey is nearing its close. The Jordan is almost within sight. Finally God tells Moses: \u201cTake possession of the land and settle in it, for I have given you the land to possess\u201d (33: 53). This, according to Nachmanides, is the source of the command to dwell in the land of Israel and inherit it.<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>With this we come to one of the central tensions in Judaism and Jewish history: the religious significance of the land of Israel. Whatever the subplots and subsidiary themes of Tanakh, its overarching narrative is the promise of and journey to the land. Jewish history begins with Abraham and Sarah\u2019s journey to it. Exodus to Deuteronomy are taken up with the second journey in the days of Moses. Tanakh as a whole ends with Cyrus king of Persia granting permission to Jews, exiled in Babylon, to return to their land: the third great journey.<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>The paradox of Jewish history is that though a specific territory, the holy land, is at its heart, Jews have spent more time in exile than in Israel; more time longing for it than dwelling in it; more time travelling than arriving. Much of the Jewish story could be written in the language of today\u2019s chapter: \u201cThey journeyed from X and camped at Y\u201d.<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>Hence the tension. On the one hand, monotheism must understand God as non-territorial. The God of everywhere can be found anywhere. He is not confined to this people, that place \u2013 as pagans believed. He exercises His power even in Egypt. He sends a prophet, Jonah, to Nineveh in Assyria. He is with another prophet, Ezekiel, in Babylon. There is no place in the universe where He is not. <\/span><\/p>\n

On the other hand, it must be impossible to live fully as a Jew outside Israel, for if not, Jews would not have been commanded to go there initially, or to return subsequently. Why is the God beyond place to be found specifically in this place?…<\/span><\/p>\n

What was and is unique about Israel is that it is the sole place on earth (barring shortlived exceptions like the Himyarites in the 6th century and Khazars in the 8th, whose kings converted to Judaism) where Jews have had the chance to create an entire society on Jewish lines. It is possible to live a Jewish life in Manchester, Monsey, Madrid or Minsk. But it is always a truncated experience. Only in Israel do Jews conduct their lives in the language of the Bible, within time defined by the Jewish calendar and space saturated in Jewish history. Only there do they form a majority. Only there are they able to construct a political system, an economy and an environment on the template of Jewish values. There alone can Judaism be what it is meant to be: not just a code of conduct for individuals, but also and essentially the architectonics of a society.<\/span><\/p>\n

From:<\/span>The Religious Significance of Israel (Covenant & Conversation, Matot 5769)<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":88575,"id":88575,"title":"ps107-israeli independence day","filename":"ps107-israeli-independence-day.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/ps107-israeli-independence-day.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/independence-day-psalm\/ps107-israeli-independence-day\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"ps107-israeli-independence-day","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":88570,"date":"2021-02-09 13:46:23","modified":"2022-12-14 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