On December 21, 2025, I posted an interview between Rabbi Shoff and Rabbi Michal Weichbrod on the topic "Should Jews leave America?'
One of Shoff's argument was that there is a good chance of "your children going off the derech if you make Aliyah"
Another argument that people have "If my child enlists in the army, there is a good chance his spirituality will get destroyed."
I am not in any way belittling their concerns, but this was exactly בדיוק what the meraglim were arguing!
They argued that HKB"H Himself stated that when they will enter Eretz Yisrael, they will certainly, 100% worship Avoda Zara!
"Hashem said to Moshe,"Behold, you will lie with your forefathers, but this people will rise up and stray after the gods of the foreigners of the Land, in whose midst it is coming, and it will forsake Me and annul My Covenant that I have sealed with it."
Now, the above verse does not say that it "may" happen, the verse states unequivocally that it will certainly happen!
The meraglim like those in the US were concerned about their spirituality, they said:
Rashi said: "כביכול כלפי מעלה אמרו" .... "they said this with respect to Him Who is Above"
They were concerned about their own ruchinus in Olam Haba (שם משמואל שלח, תרע"ה)
The meraglim told Hashem:
"RBS"O if we enter Eretz Yisrael, will be forced to close our gemarras and establish a medina, to plow the earth, to populate the land, to establish a government, to be financially solvent,, to build homes, to join the army! ותורה מה תהא עליה?
It is far better that we remain here, in the midbar, protected by the clouds, eating manna that is absorbed by the body, our clothes don't warp, and have absolutely no worries other than sitting and learning"
These arguments were לשמה! it was all for the sake of Hashem!
But what happened? It was precisely for this very argument, that Klall Yisrael was punished for generations!
Because at the end of the day, the question is not "what is good for me, what is fit for me," not even from a perspective of ruchniyois.
The question is what does the Ribbono Shel Olam want?
And the RBS"O wants Jews to go to Eretz Yisrael and establish Medinas Yisrael even if the result is:וְזָנָ֣ה ׀ אַחֲרֵ֣י ׀ אֱלֹהֵ֣י נֵכַר־הָאָ֗רֶץ , even if the result is that you will wind up worshipping Idols!
The Torah understands it to be a near-certainty that this will happen and yet does not propose refraining from entering the Land on that account. On the contrary, we will enter, we will fall and rise, and will probably fall again and rise again, For this is the way of the Torah , to fall and rise.
We did not come to this world to be angels, we are here to show the world that Torah can be applied not only in the wilderness but also in the army, in high-tech, in culture, in every place a human hand can touch and improve.
This is our task, Will we always succeed? Probably not. Will there be failures? Yes. Is it our duty to continue with the mission? Clearly,
This is what we are in the world to do!
There are no guarantees that your children will stay frum should you make aliya, but there is no one not even Rabbi Shoff that can guarantee that your children will not go off the derech in the USA! For that we need prayer, but at least in Israel they will marry Jewish!
We weren’t commanded to enter Eretz Yisrael because it’s safe — we were commanded to enter because it’s ours. The Torah never promised that Aliyah protects your ruchniyus. It promised that avoiding the mission destroys it.
The meraglim taught us that “What will happen to my ruchniyus?” is the wrong question. The only question that matters is “What does Hashem want?” And Hashem already answered: Go. Build. Fall. Rise. Repeat. That’s the mission.
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