“Ki Li HaAretz”: Changes in Meaning of “The Holy Place” (and Zionism) in Heschel’s Thought
Dr. Dror Bondi
Dror Bondi is dedicated to bringing Abraham Joshua Heschel’s thought to Israel, translating his words into Hebrew and transforming Israel by his spirit. Dror has a doctorate in Jewish Thought from Bar-Ilan University and his dissertation, Heschel’s Hermeniutics, will be published next year. Dror has translated several of Heschel’s books into Hebrew. He is the author of Where Art Thou? which won the Shalem Prize in 2006. He lives with his family in Jerusalem in Beit Yisrael, an urban-kibbutz community of religious and non-religious Jews who unite together in social and spiritual activism.
Shemittah’s social laws reflect a deep religious attitude to the “holy land.” Since the rise of Zionism, this term has taken on political implications, which caused Abraham Joshua Heschel to change his mind time and again about its meaning. In this course we will consider the various religious understandings of Shemittah in the Torah alongside the various interpretations of the “holy land” in Heschel’s thought.