Myles Kantor Calls those Advocating Aliyah "GRUBKEIT"

Myles Kantor

This self appointed spokesman for all "Jews living in Galus," Myles Kantor, aka Menachem Ben-Mordechai, writes sometimes for the Jewish Press. 

When he does, he like the meraglim, bashes Aliyah and Israel at every opportunity.

Why The Jewish Press, (the last US Jewish Newspaper still pro Israel, ) would give this nobody and Israel-hater, a forum, is anyone's guess.

In a recent article, headlined 

"Memo To Aliyah Advocates: Stop Being So Smug" 

this former weight-lifter, now an "expert in diaspora affairs" viciously attacks "Aliyah Advocates" for warning Jews in the Galut to watch the signs of anti-Semitism and look towards making plans to making Aliyah before its too late ...using the Yiddish euphemism for "their arrogance"...."Grubkeit" ... 

To bolster his foolish nonsense ...he attempts to bring proof from a quote from  Harav Aharon Lichtenstein z"l, former Rosh Yeshivah of Yeshivat Har Etzion, a tzaddik that ironically advocated and  encouraged Aliyah to all his talmidim:

“Klal Yisrael has always been bound up with Eretz Yisrael. These are our roots, and ultimately, this is our future.”

So whats his proof? 

Something that R' Lichtenstein wrote:

I hope and trust that I am neither so vain nor so foolish as to fantasize, personally, presumed superiority to peers who have chosen to serve the Ribbono Shel Olam and to service Knesset Israel within the context of continued residence in the Diaspora. And yet, without harboring illusions, I also trust that I am fully appreciative of the spiritual benefits harvested by my family and myself due to pitching our own tent on the soil of eretz hakodesh.

From the above quote, the "weigh-lifter" turned "writer" comes to his erroneous misleading conclusion that R' Lichtenstein would have been against those warning Galut Jews about the impending danger...???

but then he adds a story which is figment of his wild imagination something that he actually made up...

"Rav Lichtenstein actually considered aliyah inappropriate in some cases. Rabbi Dovid Gottlieb recounts guidance Rav Lichtenstein gave him: “He didn’t feel someone who was in klei kodesh in America should come to Israel to be a farmer or to be an accountant.”

The above story is a fabrication ....

Rabbi Dovid Gottlieb is a Ra”m at Yeshivat Har Etzion (Gush) and the rabbi and co-founder of Ganei Ha’ela. Why would Rabbi Lichtenstein have given this advice to Rabbi Gottlieb ...?

R' Gottlieb is an educator, was an educator and never had any intention of working on a "farm" or "be an accountant."? .... I know Rabbi Gottlieb very well... he lives in my neighborhood ..

Well I'll let a DIN reader answer this....

To the Editor ;

Miles Kantor's disgraceful attack on Aliyah reminds one of the  pre-WWII attacks on Aliyah advocates , many of whom were Rabbonim who loved Eretz Yisrael . They were shouted down from the pulpits, demeaned in the press, and harassed to no end. ( See  Lemaan Tziyon Lo Echshe- Harav Maimon - Mosdos Harav Kook ).

Moshiach may come this afternoon , but if he doesn't, we have an obligation to make Aliya for a number of reasons. The USA is in turmoil and it doesn't bode well for the Jewish community. The leftist radical agenda pushed mostly by the Democrat Party and its allies, the media,

Anti-Semitism is on the rise , Jewish influence and advocacy has eroded day by day. When Democrats booed G-D and Jerusalem at the infamous DNC gathering, the handwriting was on the wall.  Things spiraled downward ever since, and anti-Semitism has gone mainstream..

The Diaspora , no matter how comfortable it is, no matter where it exists, is doomed.

Where are the Jewish people -shuls, streets,  yeshivos,  and institutions of Poland, Lithuania, Estonia, Rumania, Hungary ,and Belarus ?

Yes , the Divine kicks hard when we forget that there isn't a single significant remnant of Jewry that survived  in any country over the last 2,000 years.

 Hashem has myriads of messengers to deliver His messages. Covid 19 has already wiped out jobs, businesses and bank accounts , some forever.

Just when you thought that you live safely  and richly  in the Sir Habbassar and forget our Holy Land, the Almighty has shown that you're in delusion.

When just about every nation is deteriorating, Eretz Yisrael is growing in every way , every single moment.

Your shameful attack on those of us who love Eretz Yisrael and advocate and plead for our brothers and sisters to come home,  is not new.

Nevertheless, you WILL come running. Hopefully you can salvage some savings  before  the rampaging  socialists and WOKE mob grab it all.

 Shalom & Bracha from Jerusalem

and from another DIN reader:

Dear Editor:

Myles Kantor owns the smugness he ascribes to Aliyah advocates with selective viewpoints and gratuitous smears.

He apparently ignores the psak of most Rishonim that living in Eretz Yisroel , even b'zman hazeh, is a mitzvah. He ignores that the Torah mentions mitzvos associated with agriculture such as bikurim , shmittah , maser , terumah etc. after it introduces verses 

" Upon entering the Land...…"

The farmers included scholars, G-D fearing Yidden from all tribes , including Levites, many who planted crops in their 48 cities.

He ignores the fact that many of our Chazal were farmers and tillers. Abaye and Rave told their students not to appear before them in the days of Nissan and Tishrei , but to instead tend to their farms and work their properties. ( Brachos ,35). 

Are there any greater Klei Kodesh these days than these holy Amaraim?

At the turn of the last century, many G-D fearing Yidden immigrated to the Yishuv and became farmers , much against their nature , but they prevailed..

Mr. Kantor casually drops lashan hara , but not a single word about the endeavors of yeshivos, kollels, Torah learners by the thousands , chessed, prayers, tzedakah, and mitzvos that can be fulfilled only in Eretz Yisrael.. 

He deliberately ignores what's holy and beautiful, instead, throwing mud about what is wrong.

This could be overridden by religious Yidden making Aliyah en masse, and showing Bitachon in Hashem and in this Land of daily miracles.

Come , and change the culture , instead of throwing cold water on exciting Aliyah advocacy..

Yes, Hashem is sending messages, but at the very least, let us be careful that we don't chas veshalom fall into the ugly sin of the Spies.

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