As nothing can grow without the dust of the soil, so the nations cannot exist without Israel, through whom they receive their blessing. As sand mixed in bread injures the teeth, so those who persecute Israel suffer for it. As sand cannot be burned in fire, but turns into glass, so Israel cannot be consumed in the fire of Gehenna, but emerges stronger from Purgatory.
~ Talmud, Pesikta Rabbati, 11, 5
The first Christian writer to mention the term “holy land” was Justin Martyr in his Dialogue with Trypho (c. 160).
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