Coming Home

Haim Lifshitz relates in his book on Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak Hakohen Kook, Shivchei Harayah, Someone once told Rabbi Kook, God willing, we will move to the Land of Israel. Rav Kook replied, ''God is certainly willing. What counts is that you be willing.'' Rabbi Dov Lipmans Coming Home, a survey of Jewish thought on the significance of living in the Land of Israel, is epitomized by this exchange. Coming Home presents the sources in classic Jewish texts regarding the primacy of living in the Land of Israel in Jewish tradition. Beginning with the story of the first aliyah Avraham to twentieth-century leaders, the book includes sources, commentaries, and stories to make the point that living in the Land of Israel is among the highest ideals in Judaism. The book can be appreciated by teenagers through seniors and can be used as a basis for a syllabus or curriculum for a course in schools and synagogues.