Two sparks issued from between the two cherubim and destroyed the serpents and scorpions and burned the thorns in the wilderness.  The smoke thereof, rising and spreading, perfumed the world, so that the nations said (Cant. iii. 6), “Who is this that cometh out of the wilderness like pillars of smoke, perfumed,” etc.

Ibid., Vayakhel.

Better to lodge in the wilderness of the land of Israel than dwell in the palaces outside of it.

Midrash Rabbah, chap. 39.

“And give thee a pleasant land” (a coveted land) (Jer. iii. 19).  Why is it called a coveted land?  Because the Temple was in it.  Another reason why it was so called is, because the fathers of the world have coveted it.  Rabbi Shimon ben Levi says, “Because they (who are buried) there will be the first to be raised in the days of the Messiah.”

Shemoth Rabbah, chap. 32.

“When the Lord thy God shall enlarge thy border, as He hath promised thee” (Deut. xii. 20).  Rabbi Yitzchak said, “This scroll no man knows how long and how broad it is, but when unrolled it speaks for itself, and shows how large it is.  It is so with the land of Israel, which, for the most part, consists of hills and mountains; but when the Holy One—­blessed be He!—­shall level it, as it is said (Isa. xl. 4), ’Every valley shall be raised and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places smooth,’ then shall that land speak, as it were, for herself, and its extent stand revealed.”

Devarim Rabbah, chap. 4.

Blessed are they who dwell in the land of Israel, for they have no sin, no iniquity, either in their lives or in their deaths.

Midrash Shochar Tov on Ps. lxxxv.

“Better is a dry morsel and quietness therewith” (Prov. xvii. 1).  This, saith Rabbi, means the land of Israel, for even if a man have nothing but bread and salt to eat, yet if he dwells in the land of Israel he is sure that he is a son of the world to come.  “Than a house full of sacrifices with strife.”  This means the outside of the land, which is full of robbery and violence.  Rabbi Y——­ says, “He who walks but an hour in the land of Israel, and then dies within it may feel assured that he is a son of the world to come; for it is written (Deut. xxxii. 43), ‘And his earth shall atone for his people.’”

Midrash Mishle.

See also the Talmud, Kethuboth, fol. 111, col. 1.  Dr. Benisch renders “and make expiation for His ground and His people.”  The Targums of Jonathan and the Yerushalmi have, “He will make atonement for His land and for His people;” and Onkelos puts it thus, “He will show mercy unto His land and His people.”  Our rendering, however, is in accordance with the sense given to it in the Talmud.  There are Jews who travel about the world with bags of earth from the Holy Land, which they sell in small