E. Ben-Eliyahu (Univ. Haifa): The Dynamic Nature of the Borders of the Land of Israel in the Rabbinic Literature

The Bible itself contains a variety of border schemes for the land rather than one absolute domain. The biblical promise relates to a border that is not precisely demarcated, and several other layouts for the land’s boundaries are found in Scripture. In the rabbinic literature, too, there are two essential boundary outlines. The limited system, “the border of the Babylonian immigrants,” is a dynamic demarcation that changes with the demographic continuum. It can expand, purifying spaces from the “impurity of the gentile’s land,” or shrink  with demographic shifts accompanied by economic considerations, such as the exemption of Beit She'an and localities in Samaria from the commandments that depend on the land. I propose that despite local and periodic variants, in this case rabbinic law—unlike the Midrash and the Aggadah—takes a uniform approach, indicating demographic and economic motivations. The controversies and changes within the border schemes are minor in relation to the big picture. The Rehov inscription highlights the relevance of the halakhic boundary layout to the world outside of the Beit Midrash and the corpus of the rabbinic literature, and emphasizes the central place held by halakhic tradition.