Landscapes Of The Spirit

No two people are exactly alike. No day is precisely like another. And no two places are the same. Every country has its own character, em- bodying the values of its people and the concepts it holds dear. Eretz Yis- rael especially has its unique person- ality and its very special role in world history. Perhaps less well-known is the fact that every city within Eretz Yis- rael is also distinctive. Each major event in the Torah is associated with a specific place, which was chosen for its spiritual essence. As the early Kabbalists teach us, each section of the land corresponds to a particular aspect of spirituality. Thus, Yericho performs a different function in the life of the nation than Yerushalayim or Chevron. This city will effect a certain connection between Hashem and His people, and that one, an- other. Landscapes of the Spirit exam- ines twenty-five areas of Eretz Yis- rael, discovering each ones spiritual strengths and weaknesses and charting its course in Jewish destiny. Woven throughout this fascinating study are such timeless topics as the link between this world and the next, spiritualizing the physical, and the coming of Mashiach. Landscapes of the Spirit draws on Talmudic and Midrashic sources and the leading commentators of the past several hundred years, includ- ing such luminaries as Ramchal, the Vilna Gaon, the Chida and other Se- fardic writers, and Chassidic think- ers like the Sefas Emes and Rabbi Tzadok HaKohen ~f Lublin. The author, Rabbi Abba Zvi Naiman, has made traditional sources accessible to the layman in an absorbing and highly readable format.