Why Every Single Jew Needs the Jewish State!

 

B”H

According to Google Analytics, this site is approaching 40 million views, and a large portion of the readership comes from Charedi communities—meaning that most were educated in Charedi moisdois.

I myself was educated in those very moisdois, and I can say firsthand: there was absolutely no effort on the part of the institutions to instill in us a love for Eretz Yisrael. I am choosing my words carefully. I am not talking about the “State of Israel.” I am talking about Eretz Yisrael, the land we mention constantly in our tefillos and brachos.

Not once did anyone encourage us to think about the words we say in Al HaMichya:

וּבְ֒נֵה יְרוּשָׁלַֽיִם עִיר הַקֹּֽדֶשׁ בִּמְ֒הֵרָה בְיָמֵֽינוּ, וְהַעֲלֵֽנוּ לְתוֹכָהּ, וְשַׂמְּ֒חֵֽנוּ בְּבִנְיָנָהּ וְנֹאכַל מִפִּרְיָהּ וְנִשְׂבַּע מִטּוּבָהּ, וּנְ֒בָרֶכְ֒ךָ עָלֶֽיהָ בִּקְ֒דֻשָּׁה וּבְ֒טָהֳרָה,

Nor did anyone urge us to reflect on what we say be’kavvanah in Birchas HaMazon:

נוֹדֶה לְּךָ… עַל שֶׁהִנְחַלְתָּ לַאֲבוֹתֵינוּ אֶרֶץ חֶמְדָּה טוֹבָה וּרְחָבָה…בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יְהֹוָה עַל הָאָרֶץ וְעַל הַמָּזוֹן

And certainly no one encouraged us to think about what we recite—often by rote—in Shemoneh Esrei:

תְּקַע בְּשׁוֹפָר גָּדוֹל לְחֵרוּתֵנוּ…וְקַבְּצֵנוּ יַחַד מְהֵרָה מֵאַרְבַּע כַּנְפוֹת הָאָרֶץ לְאַרְצֵנוּ…

וְתֶחֱזֶינָה עֵינֵינוּ בְּשׁוּבְךָ לְצִיּוֹן בְּרַחֲמִים…

I am not entering the politics of Zionism—that is not my point. But I am willing to bet that Jews in the concentration camps did think deeply about these tefillos, assuming they even had food to make a bracha on.

Growing up among survivors, I saw how the Holocaust hovered silently over many homes. People rarely spoke about it. No one I knew had grandparents; some had a few uncles or aunts; cousins were scarce. There was no need for “Holocaust Studies” in the yeshivas—we lived with survivors, felt their pain during Yizkor, and saw the tension every year during Iyar, Sivan, and Tammuz when survivors fought over the amud.

But I assumed that my children and grandchildren would be taught about the Holocaust in their yeshivas. That never happened.

I began to wonder: Why the reluctance? And after speaking with many children of survivors—people now in their 70s and 80s—giving them my perspective, they said that I was spot on.

If you teach the Holocaust honestly, unavoidable questions arise:

• Why didn’t they escape?

• Did they know what was coming?

• Did rabbanim advise them to stay?

• And the most uncomfortable question of all: How is it that Jews living in Eretz Yisrael survived, while most of the Gedoilim that were against a medina perished?

Yeshivas avoid these questions because they cannot answer them truthfully And even more, because answering them might lead to a conclusion they do not want to articulate:

That maybe Jews do need a State—so that we are never refugees again. Whatever you think of the State of Israel, their doors are open to ALL Jews, there are no Jewish refugees anywhere in the world because we do have a State!

This is the reason Yeshivas refuse to teach the Holocaust, they are afraid that the students, that their typical Shmulie or Yankee would then naturally think, "wow how lucky am I to live in a generation where there is a Jewish State that allows us all in" "hey, thank G-d, we have a State, where we can run to" but that thinking is exactly thay don't want because it goes against their agenda!

So they determined that its better not to teach about the worst tragedy in the history of Klall Yisrael which happened not too long ago, and there are still witnesses to that tragedy, to hold on to their false beliefs. Is it any wonder that we see Yeshivah Boys holding signs that they would rather be in "Aushwich than enlist!?" They have no clue the living hell Jews many still alive, went through! Is it any wonder that they call Jewish Children in uniform "Nazis?"

In the three years since October 7, over 100,000 Jews have made Aliyah. I watch the new olim disembark from El Al, and I rarely see Charedim among them. The olim are overwhelmingly Modern Orthodox, YU, or Dati Leumi.

Why?

Because their moisdois did instill a love of Eretz Yisrael. They now see the writing on the wall and are doing the natural thing—coming home.

Charedim, on the other hand, were not taught to love Eretz Yisrael. Many were taught—"lehepach" implicitly or explicitly—to resent it.

And instead of saying that outright, they offer excuses:

1. “It was built by secular Jews.” So was the Second Beis HaMikdash—see Ezra.

2. “The Three Oaths.” The Rambam never mentions them in his extensive Mishna Torah. The Shulchan Aruch never mentions them. Tannaim, Amoraim, Geonim, Rishonim, Acharonim, talmedei Ha'Gra and Talmedei Bal Shem Tov made Aliyah without ever referencing them.

3. “The army will make my children go off the derech.” There is much work to be done to integrate Charedim safely, yes. But tens of thousands of Charedim have gone off the derech without ever serving. No one is guaranteed “erliche children.” For that we need to daven! The Mordechai writes that the Rabbeinu Gershom had a son that converted to Christianity and the Rabbeinu Gershom sat shiva twice—once for the conversion, once for the death.At least in the army, a child is protecting Jewish lives.

• “The government wants to eradicate frum Jews.”
  

I hear this from otherwise reasonable people, but I strongly disagree. If the Government wants to eradicate Judaism, they are doing a very bad job, since no where in the history of the State of Israel has there been so many Frum Jews. No where in the History of Klall Yisrael is there so much Torah being learned in the here and now in Israel. The State of Israel has more Moisdois Ha'torah than ever before in its entire history! And even if it were true—vote them out. Though the frum parties themselves are fragmented and at each other’s throats. But that is not my focus here.

Watch the video below with an open mind. 

And then tell me—with honesty—why every single Jew needs a Jewish State, Now!