Many courses about Israel are primarily concerned with an historical or cultural perspective. They consider the role the land played in antiquity, its passage through many hands, and the reasons that the land continues to be a source of conflict today. This course, however, attempts to do something different, and addresses the source of the underlying bond that Jews feel with the land of Israel. An examination of history, culture, and politics helps us understand why Israel has become home to such a large concentration of Jews in the modern age. But at a time when life for Jews in the Diaspora (and particularly, the US) is safe and secure, while Israel is plagued by daunting challenges to its very existence, it is important to understand why so many of us feel so vested in what happens there. Because wherever we fall on the political divide we care about Israel. Whether we champion its decisions or decry them, we feel the right to comment on its policies. We need Israel to be morally superior (though we may differ on our definitions of moral superiority). Regardless of whether we have ever visited Israel, we are concerned about its fate.
Quite simply, our connection is a mystery. Many people love their homes and their countries, but once they relocate, they form new allegiances. They cannot trace the ancestral homeland that their families claimed two millennia ago, nor do they continue to long for those places. Yet no matter where they have lived, Jews have continued to dream about the land of Israel. And even those Jews who would not think of moving to Israel know that somehow, this land means more to them than other lands.