"Better is a dry morsel and quietness therewith" (Prov. xvii. 1). This, saith Rabbi, means the land of Israel, for even if a man have nothing but bread and salt to eat, yet if he dwells in the land of Israel he is sure that he is a son of the world to come. "Than a house full of sacrifices with strife." This means the outside of the land, which is full of robbery and violence. Rabbi Y---- says, "He who walks but an hour in the land of Israel, and then dies within it may feel assured that he is a son of the world to come; for it is written (Deut. xxxii. 43), 'And his earth shall atone for his people.'" _Midrash Mishle._ See also the Talmud, Kethuboth, fol. 111, col. 1. Dr. Benisch renders "and make expiation for His ground and His people." The Targums of Jonathan and the Yerushalmi have, "He will make atonement for His land and for His people;" and Onkelos puts it thus, "He will show mercy unto His land and His people." Our rendering, however, is in accordance with the sense given to it in the Talmud. There are Jews who travel about the world with bags of earth from the Holy Land, which they sell in small quantities for high prices to such as can afford it, and believe in its virtue as a protection against the worms of the grave. Jerusalem is the light of the world; as it is said, "And the Gentiles shall come to Thy light" (Isa. lx. 3). And the light of Jerusalem is the Holy One--blessed be He!--as it is written, but "the Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting light" (Isa. Ix. 19). _Bereshith Rabbah_, chap. 59. Ten portions of wisdom, ten portions of the law, and ten portions of hypocrisy are in the world; nine portions of each are in the land of Israel and one outside of it. _Midrash Rabbah Esther._ "And it shall come to pass that from one new moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before Me, saith the Lord" (Isa. lxvi. 23). But how is it possible that all flesh shall come every new moon and Sabbath to Jerusalem? Rabbi Levi saith, "In the future Jerusalem will be as the land of Israel, and the land of Israel will be as the whole world." But how will they come from the end of the world every new moon and Sabbath? "The clouds will come and carry them and bring them to Jerusalem, where they will perform their morning prayer, and will carry them back to their several homes; and this is the meaning of the prophet's saying (Isa. Ix. 8), 'Who are these that fly as a cloud (in the morning), and as the doves to their windows (in the evening)?'" _Pesikta._