Why do the Jews need the Holy Land?

Answer 1

Israel is important to Jews because God promised it to Jacob (Genesis ch.28), the father of the Israelites, and his descendants. Jacob was renamed Israel by God (Genesis ch.35); and the Israelites lived in Israel during the era of the Patriarchs (220 years), during the era from Joshua until the First Destruction (850 years), during the Second Temple era (420 years) and afterwards. They remained a majority in the land for another 300 years after the Second Destruction; and a minority of Jews remained there throughout the ensuing centuries.
Israel had been the site of the First Temple, built by King Solomon; the dynasty of King David; the Second Temple, built by Ezra; and the Hasmonean Dynasty. It was where the Hebrew Prophets lived, and where the Mishna (Oral Torah) was codified. Also, many of the Torah's commands apply only in Israel.

Answer 2

Jews do not need the Holy Land, as they majority of Jews have shown from 70 C.E. to 1948 C.E. that it is entirely possible for them to live without it.

However, there is amazing benefit conferred to Jews for having the sites and relics which both Religious and Non-Religious Jews connect to their past and heritage. I leave it to my colleague Dan Galilee to explain the religious benefits and claims of having Israel. It also allows the Jew to escape the position of eternal victim and have an actual say in whether he stands or submits.

It is also something odd, I find, that people question why Jews should have the land that was holy to their forefathers and the seat of their civilization. Nobody questions the right of Catholics to control the Vatican, the right of the Orthodox Patriarchate to remain in Istanbul (even though there are almost no Christians left in Turkey), the right of Mecca to be in the control of Muslims, the Sikhs to run Amritsar, etc. It is exclusively the Jew whose right to his ancestral home is questioned.