The Land of Israel: Its Theological Dimensions A Study of a Promise and of a Land's "Holiness"

• Yes, the Bible tells us that the Land was promised by God to the patriarchs of Israel and their progeny: Does that promise include Jews of the 21st Century?
• Assuming the answer to the above question is in the affirmative, what is the role and status of Muslims in, and outside of, the Land?
• Yes, the Bible tells us that the Land of Israel is "holy": Does that mean that the Land is inherently sacred, or is it such depending on the people's religious behavior on the Land.

In this book, the author explores in detail the above and related issues. His analyses are rooted in the Biblical (and relevant rabbinic) texts. In addition, he amplifies his analyses by employing other scholarly disciplines including historical, sociological, and anthropological perspectives which impinge on the subject.

What does all this have to do with the claims, conflicts, and confrontations that roil in Israel, in the Jewish diaspora and in the Muslim world?

This book promises to bring clarity to issues of great moment—both in the past and in our time.

For two decades, Jack Shechter served as Associate Professor of Biblical Studies and Dean of Continuing Education—renamed The Whizen Center for Continuing Education—at the University of Judaism (now the American Jewish University). Prior to his tenure at the University of Judaism, he served as Executive Director of the New England Region of the United Synagogue of America, followed by a decade as the Rabbi of Congregation B'nai Israel in Pittsburgh. He was ordained at the Jewish Theological Seminary and received the Ph.D. in Biblical Studies from the University of Pittsburgh, and is the author of Journey of a Rabbi (2014), The Idea of Monotheism: The Evolution of a Foundational Concept (2018), In Search of the Religiosity in Religion: Sacred Thought, Sacred Action Revisited (2020), Monotheism: Unfolded in Historic Time (2021) and Personal Encounters: Stories, Ideas, Lessons From Jewish Life (2022).