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Map of the Holy Land, Pietro Vesconte, 1321. Described by Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld as "the first non-Ptolemaic map of a definite country"[1]
Sidon's Sea Castle, built by the Crusaders as a fortress of the Holy Land in Sidon, Lebanon

The Holy Land (Hebrew: אֶרֶץ הַקּוֹדֶשׁ Eretz HaKodesh, Latin: Terra Sancta; Arabic: الأرض المقدسة Al-Arḍ Al-Muqaddasah or الديار المقدسة Ad-Diyar Al-Muqaddasah) is an area roughly located between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea that also includes the Eastern Bank of the Jordan River. Traditionally, it is synonymous with both the biblical Land of Israel and historical Palestine. The term usually refers to a territory roughly corresponding to the modern State of Israel, the Palestinian territories, western Jordan, and parts of southern Lebanon and southwestern Syria. It is considered holy by Jews, Christians, and Muslims.

Part of the significance of the land stems from the religious significance of Jerusalem, the holiest city to Judaism, the historical region of Jesus' ministry, and the site of the Isra and Mi'raj event in Islam.

The holiness of the land to Christianity was part of the motivation for the Crusades, as European Christians sought to win back the Holy Land from the Muslims, who had conquered it from the Christian Byzantine Empire.




Jewish cemetery on the Mount of Olives, Jerusalem. The holiness of Israel attracted Jews to be buried in its holy soil. The sage Rabbi Anan said "To be buried in Israel is like being buried under the altar."[3][4][5]
Olives trees, like this one in Qefin, have intrinsic holiness in Judaism, especially during the Sabbatical Year. This "seventh year holiness" carries with it many religious laws.[6]

Jews do not commonly refer to the Land of Israel as "Holy Land" (Hebrew: אֶרֶץ הַקוֹדֵשׁ Eretz HaKodesh). The Tanakh explicitly refers to it as "holy land" in only one passage.[7] The term "holy land" is further used twice in the deuterocanonical books.[8][9] The holiness of the Land of Israel is generally implied in the Tanakh by the Land being given to the Israelites by God, that is, it is the "promised land", an integral part of God's covenant. In the Torah many mitzvot commanded to the Israelites can only be performed in the Land of Israel,[10] which serves to differentiate it from other lands. For example, in the Land of Israel, "no land shall be sold permanently" (Lev. 25:23). Shmita is only observed with respect to the land of Israel, and the observance of many holy days is different, as an extra day is observed in the Jewish diaspora.

According to Eliezer Schweid:


From the perspective of the 1906 Jewish Encyclopedia, the holiness of Israel had been concentrated since the sixteenth century, especially for burial, in the "Four Holy Cities": Jerusalem, Hebron, Safed and Tiberias - as Judaism's holiest cities. Jerusalem, as the site of the Temple, is considered especially significant.[12] Sacred burials are still undertaken for diaspora Jews who wish to lie buried in the holy soil of Israel.[13]

According to Jewish tradition, Jerusalem is Mount Moriah, the location of the binding of Isaac. The Hebrew Bible mentions the name "Jerusalem" 669 times, often because many mitzvot can only be performed within its environs. The name "Zion", which usually refers to Jerusalem, but sometimes the Land of Israel, appears in the Hebrew Bible 154 times.

The Talmud mentions the religious duty of colonising Israel.[14] So significant in Judaism is the act of purchasing land in Israel, the Talmud allows for the lifting of certain religious restrictions of Sabbath observance to further its acquisition and settlement.[15] Rabbi Johanan said that "Whoever walks four cubits in Eretz Yisrael is guaranteed entrance to the World to Come".[16][17] A story says that when R. Eleazar b. Shammua' and R. Johanan HaSandlar left Israel to study from R. Judah ben Bathyra, they only managed to reach Sidon when "the thought of the sanctity of Palestine overcame their resolution, and they shed tears, rent their garments, and turned back".[17] Due to the Jewish population being concentrated in Israel, emigration was generally prevented, which resulted in a limiting of the amount of space available for Jewish learning. However, after suffering persecutions in Israel for centuries after the destruction of the Temple, Rabbis who had found it very difficult to retain their position moved to Babylon, which offered them better protection. Many Jews wanted Israel to be the place where they died, in order to be buried there. The sage Rabbi Anan said "To be buried in Israel is like being buried under the altar."[3][4][5] The saying "His land will absolve His people" implies that burial in Israel will cause one to be absolved of all one's sins.[17][18]


Crusader castle of Toron in the village of Tibnin, Lebanon

For Christians, the Land of Israel is considered holy because of its association with the birth, ministry, crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus, whom Christians regard as the Savior or Messiah, and because it is the land of the Jewish people (according to the Bible). Christian books, including editions of the Bible, often had maps of the Holy Land (considered to be Galilee, Samaria, Judea). For instance, the Itinerarium Sacrae Scripturae (Travel book through Holy Scripture) of Heinrich Bünting (1545-1606), a German Protestant pastor, featured such a map.[19] His book was very popular, and it provided "the most complete available summary of biblical geography and described the geography of the Holy Land by tracing the travels of major figures from the Old and New testaments."[19]

As a geographic term, the description "Holy Land" loosely encompasses modern-day Israel, the Palestinian territories, Lebanon, western Jordan and south-western Syria.


Al-Aqsa Mosque in the Old City of Jerusalem

In the Qur'an, the term Arabic: الأرض المقدسة‎ (Al-Ard Al-Muqaddasah, English: "Holy Land") is used in a passage about Musa (Moses) proclaiming to the Children of Israel: "O my people! Enter the holy land which Allah hath assigned unto you, and turn not back ignominiously, for then will ye be overthrown, to your own ruin." (Surah 5:21) The Quran also refers to the land as being 'Blessed'.[20][21][22]

Jerusalem (referred to as Al-Quds (Arabic: الـقُـدس‎, "The Holy")) has particular significance in Islam. The Quran refers to Muhammad's experiencing the Isra and Mi'raj as "a Journey by night from Al-Masjidil-Haram to Al-Masjidil-Aqsa, whose precincts We did bless ..." (17:1).[20] Ahadith infer that the "Farthest Masjid" is in Al-Quds; for example, as narrated by Abu Hurairah: "On the night journey of the Apostle of Allah, two cups, one containing wine and the other containing milk, were presented to him at Al-Quds (Jerusalem). He looked at them and took the cup of milk. Angel Gabriel said, "Praise be to Allah, who guided you to Al-Fitrah (the right path); if you had taken (the cup of) wine, your Ummah would have gone astray". However, some modern scholars argue that the 'Farthest Mosque' was a building or prayer-site just outside Medina.[23][24] The present building of Al-Masjid Al-Aqsa in Jerusalem had not been built in Muhammad's day, and the Quran does not contain any other reference to Jerusalem, apart from the reference to the change of the Qiblah from Jerusalem to Mecca. Jerusalem was Islam's first Qiblah (direction of prayer) in Muhammad's lifetime, however, this was later changed to the Kaaba in the Hijazi city of Mecca, following a revelation to Muhammad by the Archangel Jibril,[25] by which it is understood by scholars[who?] that it was in answer to the rejection by the Jews of Muhammed's Prophetship.

The exact region referred to as being 'blessed' in the Qur'an, in verses like [17:1], [21:71] and [34:18],[20][21][22] has been interpreted differently by various scholars. Abdullah Yusuf Ali likens it to a wide land-range including Syria and Lebanon, especially the cities of Tyre and Sidon; Az-Zujaj describes it as, "Damascus, Palestine, and a bit of Jordan"; Muadh ibn Jabal as, "the area between al-Arish and the Euphrates"; and Ibn Abbas as, "the land of Jericho".[26] This overall region is referred to as "Ash-Shām" (Arabic: الـشَّـام‎).[27][28]

Bahá'í faithEdit

Bahá'ís consider Acre and Haifa sacred as Bahá'u'lláh, the founder of the Bahá'í Faith, was exiled to the prison of Acre from 1868 and spent his life in its surroundings until his death in 1892. In his writings he set the slope of Mount Carmel to host the Shrine of the Báb which his appointed successor `Abdu'l-Bahá erected in 1909 as a beginning of the terraced gardens there. The Head of the religion after him, Shoghi Effendi, began building other structures and the Universal House of Justice continued the work until the Bahá'í World Centre was brought to its current state as the spiritual and administrative centre of the religion.[29][30] Its gardens are highly popular places to visit[31] and Mohsen Makhmalbaf's 2012 film The Gardener featured them.[32] The holiest places currently for Bahá'í pilgrimage are the Shrine of Bahá'u'lláh in Acre and the Shrine of the Báb in Haifa which are UNESCO World Heritage Sites.[33]

See alsoEdit


  1. ^ Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld (1889). Facsimile-atlas to the Early History of Cartography: With Reproductions of the Most Important Maps Printed in the XV and XVI Centuries. Kraus. pp. 51, 64.
  3. ^ a b Ketubot (tractate) 111, quoted in Ein Yaakov
  4. ^ a b Michael L. Rodkinson (Translator) (2010). The Babylonian Talmud: all 20 volumes (Mobi Classics). MobileReference. p. 2234. ISBN 978-1-60778-618-4. Retrieved 7 December 2011.
  5. ^ a b Moshe Gil (1997). A history of Palestine, 634-1099. Cambridge University Press. p. 632. ISBN 978-0-521-59984-9. Retrieved 7 December 2011.
  6. ^ Seasons in Halacha, Pinchos Yehoshua Ellis, pg. 74.
  7. ^ Zechariah 2:16
  8. ^ Wisdom 12:3
  9. ^ 2 Maccabees 1:7
  13. ^ Joseph Jacobs, Judah David Eisenstein. "PALESTINE, HOLINESS OF". Retrieved December 7, 2011.
  14. ^ Isaac Herzog (1967). The Main Institutions of Jewish Law: The law of obligations. Soncino Press. p. 51. Retrieved 27 June 2011.
  15. ^ Yosef Zahavi (1962). Eretz Israel in rabbinic lore (Midreshei Eretz Israel): an anthology. Tehilla Institute. p. 28. Retrieved 19 June 2011. If one buys a house from a non-Jew in Israel, the title deed may be written for him even on the Sabbath. On the Sabbath!? Is that possible? But as Rava explained, he may order a non-Jew to write it, even though instructing a non-Jew to do a work prohibited to Jews on the Sabbath is forbidden by rabbinic ordination, the rabbis waived their decree on account of the settlement of Palestine.
  16. ^ [1]
  17. ^ a b c "PALESTINE, HOLINESS OF -". Retrieved 2018-10-30.
  18. ^ "Why Do Jews Fly Their Dead to Israel for Burial?". Retrieved 2018-10-30.
  20. ^ a b c Quran 17:1–16
  21. ^ a b Quran 21:51–82
  22. ^ a b Quran 34:10–18
  23. ^ Mordechai Kedar (15 Sep 2008). "The myth of al-Aqsa:Holiness of Jerusalem to Islam has always been politically motivated". Ynetnews.
  24. ^ Martin Kramer. "The Jewish Temples: The Temples of Jerusalem in Islam". Jewish Virtual Library.
  25. ^ Quran 2:142–177
  26. ^ Ali (1991), p. 934
  29. ^ Jay D. Gatrella; Noga Collins-Kreinerb (September 2006). "Negotiated space: Tourists, pilgrims, and the Bahá'í terraced gardens in Haifa". Geoforum. 37 (5): 765–778. doi:10.1016/j.geoforum.2006.01.002. ISSN 0016-7185. Retrieved 30 March 2014.
  30. ^ Smith, Peter (2000). "Arc-buildings of; Bahá'í World Centre". A concise encyclopedia of the Bahá'í Faith. Oxford: Oneworld Publications. pp. 45–46, 71–72. ISBN 1-85168-184-1.
  31. ^ Leichman, Abigail Klein (7 September 2011). "Israel's top 10 public gardens". Retrieved 30 March 2014.
  32. ^ Dargis, Mahohla (8 August 2013). "The Cultivation of Belief - 'The Gardener,' Mohsen Makhmalbaf's Inquiry Into Religion". New York Times. Retrieved 30 March 2014.
  33. ^ UNESCO World Heritage Centre (2008-07-08). "Three new sites inscribed on UNESCO's World Heritage List". Retrieved 2008-07-08.

External linksEdit

  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domainSinger, Isidore; et al., eds. (1901–1906). "Palestine, Holiness of". Jewish Encyclopedia. New York: Funk & Wagnalls Company.