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From: dsg@mhuxi.UUCP (David S. Green)
Newsgroups: net.religion.jewish
Subject: Re: Jews and ISRAEL
Message-ID: <348@mhuxi.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 30-Aug-85 09:29:44 EDT
Article-I.D.: mhuxi.348
Posted: Fri Aug 30 09:29:44 1985
Date-Received: Sat, 31-Aug-85 08:30:29 EDT
References: <3780073@csd2.UUCP> <7881@Shasta.ARPA>
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories, Murray Hill
Lines: 27

> from Asher Meth
> > So it is with the holy land, Eretz Yisrael. When Jews live there, and follow
> > the teachings of HaShem, it can support any number of them (no matter how
> > large) for then they embody the spirit of the land.  
 
> Excuse me, but is this for real?  Does he really believe that Israel,
> the geographic entity, has "magical", ie supernatural, properties?
> -andy  decvax!decwrl!Glacier!Shasta!andy goes to andy@su-sushi.arpa

I can't speak for Asher vis-a-vis what he believes; I assume what he
posted is from the Midrash.  Briefly, the Midrash contains the teachings
of the Jewish Chazal ( who are the "Rabbis" of a few thousand years ago ).
The Midrash contains much "Aggadah" ( Jewish folklore ).  I heard from a 
friend of mine that "One who literally believes the Midrash is a fool
and one who ignores the Midrash is also a fool".

Also, there is much Jewish mysticism contained in the Zohar and other
Kabbalistic writings.  If you are really interested in this, I would 
suggest reading Chaim Potok's fiction book "The Book of Lights" which
is about a young rabbinical student who finds himself interested in
the Zohar and studies Jewish mysticism against the wishes of the
Rabbinic faculty members of his school.   

If you are interested in the Midrash, there is a recent translation
called "The Midrash Says" which can be found in most Jewish bookstores.
"The Midrash Says" contains selected passages from the Midrash in English 
and follows the weekly Torah reading.