Eretz

The picture shows the dividing at the creation of the world, of "Mayim", water, from dry land. And that dividing line shifts and sways where I live, by the shores of the "Yam", the sea, that forms one long and dancing border of Eretz Yisrael, the land of Israel.

"Eretz", the land.

"Ba-Aretz" means "In the land".

In the Torah, this land is promised to Abraham until the end of time, and his children and grandchildren will thrive there and become as many as the stars in the sky and as many as the sands beside the sea.

"Eretz zavat chalav u dvash" it is called in the Torah, a Land of Milk and Honey.

People here talk of the whole world as two places. You are either: "Ba-Aretz", here in the Land, or "chutz la-Aretz", outside of the Land (and this implies a "not yet" - you have not yet arrived in the Land")

Eretz Yisrael, the land of Israel.