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The Perushim believed that redemption of the Land would precede redemption of the nation, and saw themselves as fulfilling a divine mission in settling and developing it. They actively favored broad-based immigration and economic development of the Land in fulfillment of the commandment to settle it, and their community organization (kolel) undertook to provide housing and other services for the immigrants. Zevi Hirsch Lehren and the Clerks’ Organization disagreed with this radical idea, and there was a profound gap between his traditional view of redemption as a heavenly phenomenon, entailing radical changes in the ways of the world and the Perushim’s idea of redemption as an extended natural process. The increasing Jewish population of Jerusalem, especially during the reign of Muhammad Ali in the 1830s, led to overcrowding, and Jews began to live outside the old Jewish quarter, beginning with the short-lived Jewish settlement in the Bab al-Hota neighborhood. Efforts were made to develop and diversify the community’s economic base, reducing reliance on the haluqah (charitable allocations from outside the Land) but also extending haluqah funding to people other than full-time Torah students — a step opposed by Zevi Hirsch Lehren. Among the leading immigrants to come with plans for pursuing business opportunities in the Land were Eliezer Bregman and his family. Bregman and Lehren had an extended adversarial relationship, grounded in their fundamentally different ideas about how the redemption should be brought about. The Perushim also pursued ambitious plans for agricultural development. The project secured the support of Moses Montefiore, but ultimately failed because of the inability to secure needed legal changes before the overthrow of Muhammad Ali in 1840.

This chapter reflects on Rashi's view on the uniqueness of the Jewish people. In his view, Israel was chosen as God's cherished possession for three reasons: the merit of the patriarchs; Israel's agreement to accept the Torah and fulfil its commandments; and the mutual love between God and his people. Israel's agreement to accept the Torah and observe its commandments had a powerful effect on all of human history; only after Israel accepted the Torah did the world attain stability. Rashi also believes that there was distinctive value to fulfilling the commandments in the Land of Israel. The chapter then looks at Rashi's teachings on miracles, exile and redemption, and the nations of the world.

This chapter explains that alongside the pidyon shevuyim network, there existed another economic and religious system covering the entire Jewish world that was focused on the eastern Mediterranean. This was the philanthropic network dedicated to supporting Jewish settlement in the Land of Israel. Though its goals were different, it overlapped with the pidyon shevuyim network: most communities collected money for both causes, sometimes even combining them into a single fund. The two systems thus acted in parallel, always in tension, and sometimes even in competition with each other. To understand this phenomenon and its broad significance for the Jewish world in both philanthropic and religious terms, the chapter looks at the issue of raising money for the Jews in the early modern Land of Israel. It also considers the spread of Sabbatheanism.

The last section of this chapter marks the end of one form of Jewish life and the beginning of another for the Jews of the Iberian peninsula. Like all other Jews, Sephardim collectively mourned the loss of Zion; as Sephardim, they also collectively mourned the loss of Spain. The chapter discusses the deportation of the Jews from their ancient homeland and how they produced the first diaspora in history, although the term was not applied to Jewish settlements outside the Land of Israel until Hellenistic time. Jewish life unfolded between exile and return. Some Jewish diasporas were ephemeral, others more enduring. Some diasporas were exceptionally creative, others merely derivative. Ultimately, the chapter illustrates how the Jewish communities tended to relate to each other through shared memories and common traditions and laws, regardless of the cultural level.

A study of holiness in time and space illumines the phenomenon of holiness in ways that an abstract conceptual study would not. Holiness is not only about separation and restraint but also yearning and longing. It entails more than the combination of mysterium and fascination, awe and wonder. Although in part an affective state; holiness also presupposes the reality of a deity. Holiness draws humans to respond actively and to come close despite the awe of God. Holiness as attached to the world, to time and space, has ramifications for human action. It has both theological and legal dimensions. These two are often in tension, but, especially in the Torah, are never separated. The legal is in effect based on the theological; the theological dimension is expressed by the norms and rules of law. These two dimensions are found in the theology and laws of the land of Israel as expressed in the Torah.

In The Land of Promise, a Zionist propaganda film directed by Yehuda Leman and produced in 1935, there is a sequence depicting a prominent cultural phenomenon in the life of the Yishuv (the Jewish community in Palestine) in the early 20^th century—the community sing-along....