The Meraglim .. Rav Avigdar Miller.. Vayoel Moshe

The parsha read in Israel is Parshas Shlach, the parsha of the meraglim. It is therefore no coincidence that the FJJ the Flatbush Jewish Journal, decided to print the following question and answer transcribed from one of the Rabbi Avigdar Tapes. 

*לא נוכל לעלות*

Question: Must one undergo a special spiritual preparation in order to go to Eretz Yisroel? 

Answer: And the answer is, absolutely! 

 Yermiyahu Hanavi said in the name of Hashem, “You came and you defiled My land” (Yermiyahu 2:7). And therefore, it is of the utmost importance that someone should be ready to behave if he wants to go to Eretz Yisroel. He should learn how to conduct himself perfectly al pi hatorah before he goes to Eretz Yisroel. 

And even if he is good here, he must make a resolve to be even better there. There are no two ways about that. It’s Eretz Hakodesh and it’s only for Jews who live b’kedusha. 

Now you’ll ask me, what about the Arabs? 

First of all, the Arabs don’t ask us any questions.  They’re not asking me for my opinion. And second is that an Arab, we consider him just like a bird.  There birds who fly into Eretz Yisroel don’t have to have any kedusha. But the Am Yisroel is a different story. They are pogem, they cause damage. When they do a sin they cause great harm in the world. And therefore it’s of the utmost importance that a Jew, before he goes to Eretz Yisroel, must make up his mind to be there b’kedusha. Even if it’s just for a visit. 

Nobody should go unless he’ll go b’kedusha.  The land of Eretz Yisroel has to have something made to its taste. It’s a land of And the land will vomit out its inhabitants (Achrei Mos 18:25). 

Eretz Yisroel is Finicky. It’s a delicate land and only those people who behave properly can please the land. 

TAPE # 200 (January 1977)

*עלה נעלה*

I feel that this answer from Harav Avigdar Miller must be challenged, as this view has proliferated in the minds of the Flatbush Beards  as "Toras Moshe."

The idea that only "tzaddikim" should make Aliyah, learned from this pasuk, is also the view of the Vayoel Moshe.

But this idea that only "tzaddikim" should make aliyah derived from this pasuk is very dangerous and can lead to heresy, G-d Forbid.

The pasuk in Parshas Achrei Mos 18:25 states:

ולא תקיא הארץ אתכם בטמאכם אתה

"You should not cause the land (Eretz Yisrael) to vomit you out when you defile it" 

The Torah prior to this verse lists a number of prohibitions and abominations and concludes with the above quoted verse.

If Rabbi Miller's and the Vayoel Moshe are correct, then how would they explain the following?

In the year 1012, Jews from Mainz were "vomited out", in 1276 all Jews from Upper Bavaria were "vomited out", In 1182 Philip Augustus "vomited out" Jews from Paris. In France, Jews were "vomited out" in 1254, 1306, 1322, 1359, and in 1394. In 1288 Jews were "vomited out" from Italy, in the year 1290 England "vomited out" all its Jews. In 1294 in Berne, Switzerland all Jews were "vomited out" .In 1360 Hungary "vomited out" its Jews. In 1420 Jews were "vomited out" of Austria, in 1442 Jews were again "vomited out" of Bavaria. In 1492 Jews were "vomited out" of Spain and Sicily. In 1496 Portugal "vomited out" its Jews and in 1499 Nuremberg "vomited out" its Jews. 

I could go on and on, but the most tragic episode in Jewish History was when from 1938- 1945, Germany not only vomited out over 6 million Jews but murdered and gassed them! 

The irony is that in Eretz Yisrael during this the biggest tragedy to have befallen the Jewish people, Jews were relatively safe.

From the above historical facts, it seems that "vomiting out" is not unique to Eretz Yisrael.

It also seems that  Ezra and Nechemia disagreed with Rabbi Avigdar Miller and the VaYoel Moshe 

Let's see who Ezra & Nechemia brought from Bavel to Eretz Yisrael? 

"Tzaddikim"?

Get your popcorn out and take a seat.

The gemarrah in Kiddushin 69a lists 10 types of Jews that made Aliyah with Ezra. Included in this list are bastards, challalim (disqualified kohanim), freed slaves, and men married to shiksas. In fact Ezra (9:1-2) writes the kohanim and the leviim living in Eretz Yisrael were more or less intermarried and Ezra throws in the "askanim" for good measure.  

And even though Ezra convinced the people to divorce their shiksas, intermarriage was still prevalent in the days of Nechemyah  (Nechemyeh 13:3, 23). The returnees had no idea that there was a Torah obligation to make a succa and have a Lullav and an Esrog on Succos. Most were mechalleil Shabbos openly and in fact designated Shabbos as the "Market Day." (ibid 13:15-18) 

Chazal (kiddushin 70a) take this a step further. R' Avuha asserts that they engaged in sodomy and adultery, thus increasing the number of mamzeirim. 

Why did Ezra and Nechemyeh bring such people to Eretz Yisrael?

Would it have not be more prudent to leave these sinners in Chutz Le'aaretz? Were they not concerned that they would be defiling the Land, and the Land would then "spit them out?"

No one denies that the redemption after Bavel led to the building of the Second Bais Hamikdash and that came about from sinful Jews! 

This is why the majority of the Jews including many of the Anshai Knesses Hagedoleh remained in Bavel, refusing to go up with Ezra, they reasoned like the anti-Zionists, that the redemption could not possibly come in such a fashion. 

Ezra cursed those who remained and Chazal (Yoma 9a) sharply criticized them. 

So what about the big elephant in the room, the pasuk in Achrei Mos?

To understand this pasuk is to understand how we judge people.

 Lets see how the grandfather of the Chida translates the word "tzaddik"

The Kabbalist, R' Avraham Azulai, writes in his sefer Chesed LeAvraham  (Ma'ayan 3, Nahar 12) that

 "anyone who lives in Eretz Yisrael is considered a "tzaddik"  even though it does not seem that way. For if he was not a tzaddik. the Land would vomit him out, and since the Land does not in fact vomit out its inhabitants means that they are tzaddikim, even though they are presumed to be wicked."

The Netziv (Shivat Zion sec 2 p.6) writes as follows:

" Ezra the Scribe gathered a few thousand Jews in Bavel, all types of people, great Torah scholars, G-d-fearing individuals and also men who had foreign wives, people who regularly violated the Shabbos, and those who had no Torah knowledge whatsoever. These people worked together and prepared the land for settlement, until it was eventually filled with its children. We, too must awaken to the sound of G-d's desire, which resonates from one end of the earth to the other, wherever our brethren are scattered,,,all types of Jews"

Question: 

Is a Jew who is not a "tzaddik" exempt from the mitzvah of succah?

Well there is a direct correlation between Succah and the mitzva of Yishuv Eretz Yisrael, because these are the only two mitzvas that one performs with his entire "guf" body and that is when he enters either a Succah or Eretz Yisrael. In fact the Vilna Gaon quotes a pasuk in tehillim (76:3) to bolster this idea and connection

"ויהי בשלם סכו ומעונתו בציון"

"Then in Yerushalayim in His Succah and in His dwelling in Zion"

פירוש: 'ויהי בשלם'

The Gra in a play on words explains this verse to refer to the mitzva of  succah and the mitzva of living in Eretz Yisrael , equating them.

 איזוהי מצוה שהיא בשלימות בכל גופו של האדם --סכו....היא מצות סוכה .ומעונותו בציון ...לדור בציון . היא מצות ישיבת א''י 

So let's take Rav Avigdar Miller's and the Vayoel Moshe's logic and extend this to Succah!

Would they now say that someone who is not a tzaddik is exempt from the mitzva of succah? Or let's say a "not-a-tzaddik" guy decides to go into the succah, would he not be mekyeim the mitzvah of succah? Would a guy who doesn't put on tefillin or is a mechaalel Shabbos be be prohibited from entering a succah? 

Is a wicked guy exempt from the mitzvah of Succah? So why is he exempt from mitzvas Yishuv Eretz Yisrael? 

Is a rasha exempt from any mitzvah? How about a guy who doesn't put on tefillin, can he now be  mechalleil shabbos? Is a mechaalleil shabbos exempt from fasting on Yom Kippur? 

I have news for R' Miller and the Vayoel Moshe 

The gemarrah in Kesubois 111 says:

כל הדר בארץ ישראל שרוי בלא עון

The chiloinie in a bar in Tel Aviv who lives in Israel may actually be a great tzaddik, according to the just quoted gemmarra! 

According to the Pri Megadim, Mishne Berurah and the Kaf Hachayim one is credited for the mitzva of succah (bedeved) even if one has no intention of wanting to be mekaim the mitzvah!

I could go on and on and bring you countless rabbanim who state that anyone living in Eretz Yisrael is considered a "tzaddik" and even the Chazon Ish considered the Zionists "tinok she'nishba" 

With all due respect this is not "Toras Moshe" its "Toras Avigdar"