Love of the Land - Stones of Substance
  Selections from classical Torah sources which express the special relationship between the People of Israel and Eretz Yisrael STONES OF SUBSTANCE When Rabbi Chanina Hagadol went from Babylon to Eretz Yisrael there were no signposts or border guards to indicate that he had reached his destination. But he had his own litmus test. He would pick up stones and feel their weight. As long as the stones were still too light he would cast them aside with a sense of disappointment that he had yet not reached his goal. When he finally picked up some stones of real substance he declared that these were "Eretz Yisrael stones," and he kissed them in fulfillment of King David's words (Tehillim 102:15) "Your servants hold dear her stones."
(Midrash Tanchuma, Parshas Shlach - quoted by Tosefos
in Kesuvos 112a)
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Written by Rabbi Mendel Weinbach, Dean, Ohr Somayach Institutions
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