"For Your servants hold dear her stones and cherish even her dust." (Tehillim 102:15)

The touching scene of Jews kissing the earth upon their arrival in Eretz Yisrael has its roots in the words of King David and in the actions of our Talmudic Sages. Rabbi Abba kissed the rocks at the port of Acco. Rabbi Chiya bar Gamda rolled in the dust of the land. Rabbi Chanina went even further by repairing the roads so that his beloved country would not have a bad reputation with those who traveled upon them. (Ketuvot 112)