My weekly rides across the country from my home, in the Judean Desert, to my academic home at the University of Haifa are lengthy. At times, they extend from the Jordan Valley, through the Jezreel Valley and the Carmel. At times, I travel through Jerusalem, the Judean Plain, and northward to Haifa, with Samaria to the east and the Mediterranean coast to the west. This journey is always an opportunity to contemplate the meaning of space and its place within identity—in the very landscape that shaped and was shaped by Jewish identity in antiquity.
This book is the product of an enduring interest in Jewish identity’s territorial dimension in antiquity. In reality, the question of territory’s interplay with identity accompanies daily life in Israeli society and is significant on the international plane as well. Studying early sources on the world of antiquity makes it possible to employ a perspective that is free of the contemporary element; however, we cannot disregard the fact that research is always conducted in a specific place and time.
My previous book, Between Borders: The Boundaries of the Land of Israel in the Consciousness of the People of the Second Temple and the Roman-Byzantine periods (Jerusalem: Yad-Ben-Zvi, 2014; in Hebrew) served as a basis for a number of the chapters in this book, primarily those that discuss the link between identity and the way in which the land’s boundaries are perceived. But while my previous book analyzed the textual sources, the present volume contains a conceptual dimension; it closely examines the place of territory in Jewish perceptions in antiquity. This volume includes chapters that survey approaches to the land as geographical territory—both on the part of diaspora Jewry during the Second Temple period and on the part of the rabbinic sages, living alongside the evolving Christian community. An additional new section studies the sages’ understanding of space, identity, and sacred sites against the backdrop of the world in which they lived.
I am pleased to be able to thank my teachers and colleagues, who have accompanied me for many years as I delved into the literature about the land of Israel and its world in antiquity. In writing this book, I consulted with a wide variety of scholars and colleagues and benefited greatly from their counsel. Their insight is an integral part of the volume, although the responsibility for what is written in the book is solely my own.
Daniel Schwartz read most of the volume, commenting and critiquing on it. Yair Furstenberg, too, devoted himself to reading and commenting on the manuscript. Oded Irshai, Hillel Newman, Aryeh Kofsky, and Serge Ruzer read the chapters that relate to the Christian world. Uzi Leibner critiqued a number of the chapters as well. My discussions with Chaim Ben David, Jonathan Ben-Dov, Micah Goodman, Nati Kupfer, Ora Limor, Fergus Millar, Vered Noam, Uzi Fuchs, Hanan Mazeh, Elchanan Reiner, Ishay Rosen-Zvi, and Israel Yuval caused me to reconsider and recalibrate a number of the ideas in the book again and again. Comments made by Gil Klein and David Goodblatt were very valuable. I owe a special debt of gratitude to Ra’anan Boustan for his wise comments, as well as for his friendship. My thanks to Ori Weisberg, who translated the manuscript. It was a pleasure to work with Deena Glickman, who edited the translation. Her efficiency and astute advice helped give the book its final form.
This book was published with the support of the Israel Science Foundation. I completed the book at the Herbert D. Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies. My heartfelt thanks go out to the center for its unique atmosphere and for the intellectual setting, which made conducting research a pleasure.
A trusted partner in my research and writing, my late father Shlomo read initial drafts of the book in his characteristically thorough manner. This volume is dedicated with love to my wife Hila, whose wisdom is permeates these pages, and to my children, Naama, Idit, Yael, and Gilad. Our lives together infuse meaning into the space in which we live; because of them, that space is an integral part of our identity.