The Land of Israel; National Home or Land of Destiny

New York, N.Y.: Herzl Press, 1985. Presumed First English Language Edition. Hardcover. Very good/Good. 225, [1] pages. DJ has some wear, soiling, edge tears and chips. Review slip laid in. Includes Introduction, Conclusion--Is Man Noting but the Shape of His Native Land, Notes, and Index. Part 1 covers National Home or Land of Destiny; Part II covers From the Exile: Memoires and Visions of the Destined Land; Part III covers Regaining the Land of Destiny as a Homeland; and Part 4 covers Building the Homeland. Eliezer Schweid (born September 7, 1929) is an Israeli scholar, writer and Professor of Jewish Philosophy at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He is a fellow of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs. In 1994, Schweid was awarded the Israel Prize, in Jewish thought. Eliezer Schweid analyzes the relationship and explores the unique attachment of the people of Israel to the land. throughout the generations. The Israelites had a specific Promised Land as their goal. The Bible tells of the Promise, and relates the story of the settlement of the land, and the ultimate exile from it. The author begins with the Biblical basis for Israel's attachment to the land, and proceeds to analyze the ways in which that attachment varied--and the manner in which land itself was viewed--when the people were exiled and when the return to rebuild the land began. He surveys the Talmudic authorities. Schweid deals with the legitimacy of Israel's claim to the land, and resolves the dilemmas resulting from the varying approaches. Schweid differentiates between the concept of Israel as the Biblical Promised Land and the physical homeland as it was built and rebuilt by generations of settlers and resettlers. This book is about the meaning of the land of Israel to the Jewish people, as it is reflected in the history of Jewish thought. It suppose is to attempt to answer the question for the relationship of the people of Israel to their land, and their right to return to that land--a subject of probing debate throughout the history of Zionism.