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The Land of Israel ( thought concerning what is considered to be the historic and divinely ordained/given territory of the Jewish People . DEFINITIONS OF THE TERM AND ITS EARLIEST ROOTS The term, "Land of Israel," is derived from two Hebrew words used in the Hebrew Bible : ארץ (''Eretz'') which means "land" in English, and ישראל (''Yisrael'') which is written as "Israel," a direct near- Romanized and Transliterated Proper Noun adopted directly by English from Hebrew. The two words used together in this context mean "Land {Link without Title} Israel." The name "Israel" derives from the biblical patriarch Jacob , later known as ''Israel'', literally meaning "struggled with God/he struggles with God". According to the account in the Book Of Genesis , Jacob wrestled with a stranger (in later tradition said to have been an angel) at a river ford and won through perseverance. God then changed his name to ''Israel'' signifying that he had deliberated with God and won as he had wrestled and won with men. Jacob's descendents were termed the Children Of Israel or Israelites and the land they inherited from Abraham , Isaac and Jacob became known as the ''Land of Israel''. The modern State of Israel מדינת ישראל (''Medinat Yisrael'') derived and Based Its Name on the earlier usages and applications of "Israel" in Jewish History . THE LEGEND OF THE PROMISED LAND at the time of King David 's death.]] According to the Bible, particularly in Genesis, the Land of Israel was promised as an everlasting possession to the descendants of the Jewish Patriarch s Abraham , Isaac and Jacob by God, making it the Promised Land . On that day, God made a covenant with Abraham, saying: "To your descendants I have given this land, from the river of Egypt as far as the great river the Euphrates . The land of the Kenite s, Kenizzite s, Kadmonites ; the Hittites , Perizzite s, Refaim ; the Emorites , Canaanites , Girgashites and Jebusites ." THE DIMENSIONS OF THE LAND OF ISRAEL ACCORDING TO THE BIBLE The . Genesis 15:18-21 describes what is referred to in Jewish tradition as ''Gevulot Ha-aretz'' ("Borders of the Land") regarded as the full extent of the land promised to Abraham. 34:2 and the borders are known in Jewish tradition as the "borders for those coming out of Egypt". The English expression "Promised Land" can denote either the land promised to Abraham in Genesis or the land of Canaan, although the latter meaning is more common. describes the Land of Israel which, according to Ezekiel's prophecy, is a repeat of the promised land with tribal allocations for Israel to return to after their captivity (Ezekiel was during the Babylonian captivity after the fall of Jerusalem in 597 and 586 BC by Nebuchadnezzar ). The definition is a reminder that both God's promise and desire for Israel was not canceled completely by the situation that led to captivity. The borders of the land described by the text in Ezekiel include from the northern border of modern Lebanon eastwards (the way of Hethlon) to Zedad and Hazar-enan in modern Syria ; south by southwest to the area of Busra on the Syrian border (area of Hauran in Ezekiel); the West Bank and a strip of western Jordan down to the Gulf Of Aqaba near Ezion-geber ; either the entire Sinai Peninsula (see debate in the following paragraph) or from Eilat / Taba on the Gulf of Aqaba via Kadesh-barnea to the Brook of Egypt; the Gaza Strip and all the land in between. There are several points of debate however. The border with Egypt is given as the ''Nachal Mitzrayim'' ( Brook Of Egypt ) in Numbers and Deuteronomy, as well as in Ezekiel. The traditional Jewish understanding of the term (as expressed in the commentaries of Rashi and Yehuda Halevi as well as the Aramaic Targum s) is that it refers to the Nile , more precisely the Pelusian branch of the Nile Delta according to Halevi, a view supported by Egyptian and Assyrian texts. Later commentators identified it with the Wadi El-Arish and the Besor has also been suggested in recent times. Genesis however gives the border with Egypt as ''Nahar Miztrayim''. This is generally understood to be the Nile, ''nahar'' denoting a large river. If different to ''Nachal Mitzrayim'', the Genesis verse includes a larger area of land westwards. A minority interpret ''Nahar Mitzrayim'' together with ''Nachal Miztrayim'' as a wadi as well. The precise southern and eastern borders of the Land of Israel are also the subject of debate. Only the Red Sea and Euphrates are mentioned which can be understood to mean that the whole Arabian Peninsula is included as well. More reticent interpretations take the southern border to be a line from the mouth of the Euphrates to Eilat or a line of latitude from the mouth of the Gulf Of Eilat . Still another view is that the Euphrates forms only a northern border and that the southern and eastern border extends from Eilat to an undetermined point on the Euphrates. Another point of debate for some religious scholars is the consistent reference to the inclusion of "the Land of the Hittites" within the borders. Some view the Hittites as one of the tribes that had settled in Canaan and was conquered by Joshua , while others refer to a greater empire that encompassed most of central Turkey . From Dan to Beersheba The common Biblical phrase used to refer to the territories actually settled by Israelites (as opposed to military expansions) is "from Dan to Beersheba " (or its variant "from Beersheba to Dan"), which occurs in the Biblical verses Judges 20:1, 1 Samuel 3:20, 2 Samuel 3:10, 2 Samuel 17:11, 2 Samuel 24:2, 2 Samuel 24:15, 1 Kings 4:25, 1 Chronicles 21:2, and 2 Chronicles 30:5. THE LAND OF ISRAEL AND THE STATE OF ISRAEL During the British Mandate Of Palestine , the name ''Eretz Yisrael'' (abbreviated א״י ''Aleph-Yod''), was part of the official name of the territory, when written in Hebrew . The official name "(פלשתינה (א״י" was also minted on the mandate coins. Some in the government of the British Mandate Of Palestine wanted the name to be פלשתינה (''Palestina'') while the Yishuv wanted ארץ ישראל (''Eretz Yisrael''). The compromise eventually achieved was that the initials א"י would be written in brackets whenever פלשתינה is written. Consequently, in 20th century political usage, the term "Land of Israel" usually denotes only those parts of the land which came under the British mandate, i.e. the land currently controlled by the State Of Israel , the West Bank , and the Gaza Strip , and sometimes also Transjordan (now the Kingdom Of Jordan ). The Declaration Of The Establishment Of The State Of Israel commences by drawing a direct line from Biblical times to the present:
THE LAND OF ISRAEL IN JEWISH LAW ( HALAKHA ) See Also: Laws and customs of the Land of Israel in Judaism According to Jewish law ( Halakha ), several religious laws only apply to Jews living in the Land of Israel and some areas in Jordan , Lebanon , and Syria (which are thought to be part of Biblical Israel). These include agricultural laws and laws regarding taxation. Many of the laws which applied in ancient times are applied in the modern State Of Israel ; others have not been revived, since the State of Israel does not fully adhere to Mishpat Ivri . Additionally according to some Poskim , every Jew has an obligation to dwell in the Land of Israel, and may not leave except for specifically permitted reasons (e.g., to get married).The Ramban 's addition to the Rambam 's Sefer HaMitzvot. Other poskim, however, hold that there is no obligation to live in the Land of Israel when the Jewish people are still exiled from the Land of Israel - a situation which, according to some poskim, is still the case. There are also many laws dealing with how to treat the Land itself. .]] SEE ALSO
NOTES
A sequence from the Book Of Ezekiel provides a vision of borders in end times of a smaller region allocated to the 12 tribes in equal divisions west of the Jordan.
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