[Avodah] [Areivim] Assur to live in Israel

Marty Bluke marty.bluke at gmail.com
Sun Jul 29 01:01:08 PDT 2018


Moving to Avodah for a more in-depth torah discussion.

RHS expressed the following shita about moving to Israel many times in his
shiurim.

It is clear that the majority of poskim hold that there is some kind of
mitzva nowadays either kiyumis or chiyuvis (see for example Igros Moshe EH
1:102 where he assumes that most poskim hold it is a mitzva and he says its
a mitzva kiyumis) to live in Eretz Yisrael. As Torah observant Jews we want
to do as many mitzvahs as possible even if it is not a mitzvah chiyuvis,
for example, all of us wear a four cornered beged with tzitzis even though
there is no chiyuv to do so. Therefore he said that a person's attitude
should be to ask himself why he is not being mekayem this mitzva? What is
my heter to not be mekayem this mitzva? Now it is very possible that you
have a good reason not to be mekayem the mitzva, but you shouldn't be proud
of it. You should be sad that circumstances dictate that you can't be
makayem this mitzva and hopeful that at some point your circumstances will
change and you will be able to be mekayem the mitzva. Look at all of the
tefilos that Moshe davened to be allowed just to step foot in EY.

RHS told the story about himself that on one of his visits to Israel he met
the chief Rabbi. The Chief Rabbi told him he should come to live in Israel
an he will find him a position as a Rosh yeshiva. RHS the proceeded to
explain all that he does in America, the shiurim he gives, the work he does
for the OU etc. and after that the chief Rabbi told him, "I am paskening
that you must stay in America". RHS work in America outweighed the mitzva
of living in Israel. Every person has to make this cheshbon/ask this
shaila. If the answer is if for whatever reason we can't be mekayem the
mitzva we should be sad and not proud.

Here is a quote from the Kuzari (2:23). In 2:22 the Chaver extolled the
virtues of the land of Israel. In 2:23 he calls out the hypocrisy of the
people who daven about a return to Zion but have no interest in actually
returning to Zion.

"Al Khazari: If this be so, thou fallest short of the duty laid down in thy
law, by not endeavouring to reach that place, and making it thy abode in
life and death, although thou sayest: 'Have mercy on Zion, for it is the
house of our life,' and believest that the Shekhinah will return thither.
And had it no other preference than that the Shekhinah dwelt there five
hundred years, this is sufficient reason for men's souls to retire thither
and find purification there, as happens near the abodes of the pious and
the prophets. Is it not 'the gate of heaven'?
...
Yet your first forefathers chose it as an abode in preference to their
birth-places, and lived there as strangers, rather than as citizens in
their own country. This they did even at a time when the Shekhinah was yet
visible, but the country was full of unchastity, impurity, and idolatry.
Your fathers, however, had no other desire than to remain in it. Neither
did they leave it in times of dearth and famine except by God's permission.
Finally, they directed their bones to be buried there.

The Rabbi: This is a severe reproach, O king of the Khazars. It is the sin
which kept the divine promise with regard to the second Temple, viz.: Sing
and rejoice, O daughter of Zion' (Zachariah 2:10
<https://www.sefaria.org/Zechariah.2.10>), from being fulfilled. Divine
Providence was ready to restore everything as it had been at first, if they
had all willingly consented to return. But only a part was ready to do so,
whilst the majority and the aristocracy remained in Babylon, preferring
dependence and slavery, and unwilling to leave their houses and their
affairs. An allusion to them might be found in the enigmatic words of
Solomon: I sleep, but my heart waketh (Song of Songs 5:2-4
<https://www.sefaria.org/Song_of_Songs.5.2-4>). He designates the exile by
sleep, and the continuance of prophecy among them by the wakefulness of the
heart. 'It is the voice of my beloved that knocketh' means God's call to
return; 'My head is filled with dew' alludes to the Shekhinah which emerged
from the shadow of the Temple. The words: 'I have put off my coat,' refer
to the people's slothfulness in consenting to return. The sentence: 'My
beloved stretcheth forth his hand through the opening' may be interpreted
as the urgent call of Ezra, Nehemiah, and the Prophets, until a portion of
the people grudgingly responded to their invitation. In accordance with
their mean mind they did not receive full measure. Divine Providence only
gives man as much as he is prepared to receive; if his receptive capacity
be small, he obtains little, and much if it be great. Were we prepared to
meet the God of our forefathers with a pure mind, we should find the same
salvation as our fathers did in Egypt. If we say: 'Worship his holy
hill--worship at His footstool--He who restoreth His glory to Zion' (Psalms
99:9 <https://www.sefaria.org/Psalms.99.9>, Psalsm 99:5), and other words,
this is but as the chattering of the starling and the nightingale. We do
not realise what we say by this sentence, nor others, as thou rightly
observest, O Prince of the Khazars. "
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.aishdas.org/pipermail/avodah-aishdas.org/attachments/20180729/2ccc0cdb/attachment.html>


More information about the Avodah mailing list