[Avodah] The Mitzvah of Aliyah

[Moshe Feldman]

Prof. Levine wrote on Areivim:

>  Many years ago I asked Rabbi Dovid Kronglass, ZT"L, who was the Mashgiach
> of Yeshivas Ner Yisroel for many years, about moving to Eretz Yisroel. After
> all, I said, Orthodox Jews are interested in doing mitzvahs, and one can
> certainly do more mitzvahs in Israel. He responded by pointing out that the
> additional mitzvahs that one can do in Israel are only of rabbinical origin
> at this time.

Many disagree with this.  First, many poskim believe that the halacha
is like the Ramban that there is a mitzvah of aliyah (it's not even
clear that the Rambam disagrees--he simply does not count this as one
of the 613 mitzvos, but there are many reasons why a mitzvah may not
count as one of the 613--such as mitzvah kolleles).

Second, both Rashi and Ramban quote the Midrash on the second parsha
of kriyas shema (Devarim 11:18) that *all* mitzvos are meant to
performed specifically in EY.  Those outside EY perform the mitzvos
just as "ha'tzivi lach tziyunim"--to remember how to perform the
mitzvos once they return to EY.  The Ramban references to what he
writes on Vayikra 18:25 where he explains that only EY is nachalas
Hashem and one cannot achieve true tahara through kiyum hamitzvos in
Chu"l.  Ramban writes that the ikkar of kiyum hamitzvos is in EY and
brings the smichus hapsukim (Devarim 11:31-32): v'rishtem osa
vi'shavtem bah, ushmartem la'asos es kol hachukim v'es ha'mishpatim.

Prof. Levine continued
> .... "You just don't go to Israel," he told me. "You have to be on
> the right spiritual level before you go."<<

On Jan 1, 2008 10:09 PM,  <T613K at aol.com> wrote on Areivim:
> I don't believe my father would have agreed with that advice.  It's a
> catch-22.  It's very, very difficult to achieve  a high spiritual level in
> chu'l.  Eretz Yisrael itself has a way of raising people's spiritual levels
> tremendously.  If you stay in chu'l it is far more likely that you will
> never reach a high enough spiritual level to live in E'Y.
>
> I don't think you have to be a tzaddik before you can consider aliyah.

The Avnei Nezer 454 s"k 27 - 39 agrees with RTK.  See what I wrote at
http://www.aishdas.org/avodah/vol23/v23n138.shtml#03:
> He argues: (1) there is a mitzvah to live in E"Y, so one
> has no right to question whether he is ra'ui to live there-- b'hadei
> kavshei d'rachmana lama lach.

(discussed at greater length in that post).

Kol tuv,
Moshe