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It is appropriate to praise and love the Land of Israel, following the example of the Torah, which calls it “the land of milk and honey” fifteen times. The verses elaborate: “For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land, a land with streams and springs and fountains issuing from plain and hill; a land of wheat and barley, of vines, figs, and pomegranates, a land of olive trees and honey; a land where food will not be scarce, and you will lack nothing; a land whose rocks are iron, and from whose hills you can mine copper. When you have eaten your fill, give thanks to the Lord your God for the good land which He has given you” (Deuteronomy 8:7-10).
The Talmud tells us about Sages who left Babylonia for the Land of Israel. Upon reaching the boundaries of Israel, they kissed its stones and rolled in its dirt. This was an expression of their great love of the Land and a fulfillment of the verse, “Your servants take delight in its stones and cherish its dust” (Psalms 102:15). Throughout history, kissing the ground was common among new immigrants to Israel. The love and longing for the Land were also reflected in the poems and songs that Jews in the diaspora wrote, expressing yearning for the Land. We will cite here just a few lines from two of the many poems of longing written by Rabbi Yehuda Halevi, who lived in medieval Spain:
O Zion, won’t you ask how your captives are – the exiles who seek your welfare, who are the remnant of your flocks?... When I dream of your exiles’ return, I am a lute for your songs... If only I could roam through those places where God was revealed to your prophets and heralds! Who will give me wings, so that I may wander far away? I would carry the pieces of my broken heart over your rugged mountains. I would bow down, my face on your ground; I would love your stones; your dust would move me to pity (“Ode to Zion,” translated by T. Carmi).
For you my soul is longing from limits of the west... O that I might fly on eagles’ wings, that I might water your dust with my tears until they mingle together. Shall I not be tender to your stones and kiss them, and the taste of your soil be sweeter than honey to me? (“Beautiful of Elevation,” translated by Nina Salaman).
