AB: Once again, a letter-writer who happens to be too humble to introduce himself by name is nonetheless having enough self-confidence to herald to the FJJ readers that “the time has come” to ascend to Zion en masse.
Apparently, the sefer he has read – but whose name he has chosen to keep in secret – made him feel guilty for not living in Eretz Yisroel and his letter is an attempt to at least somewhat alleviate this sense of guilt. I did not read the sefer and don’t even know what sefer he’s referring to and who its author is, so I’m not in a position to jump to conclusions about its contents.
DIN: I also don't know which sefer he read, but I can refer you to the Drishas Tzion by Harav Tzvi Kalisher, Eim Habanim Semicha by Harav Yisacher Shlomo Teichtal, Aleh Naaleh by Harav Shlomo Avinar, Ki Eis Le'chenneh by Harav Reuvein Friedman, and the Avnei Nezer, just for starters!
AB: But I am confident that there’s no reason to feel guilty. My unwillingness to feel guilty for residing outside of The Land does not take away my respect to those who live there, particularly those who have chosen to move there.
DIN: Thanks, we living in Israel, all needed that, we cherish "your respect." However your "unwillingness to feel guilty for residing outside of The Land" is an affront to the gift that Hashem gave the Jewish people and if you don't have any "guilt" living in the tumidika chutz le'aaretz, you should do a quick check of your DNA!
AB:“The Brooklyn Analyst” is asking whether we can declare that" we’re on the west but our heart is on the east. "
The level of your affinity to Eretz Yisroel is not something you can measure in units. For one person it means making Israel his primary vacation destination while for another it means moving there regardless of any challenges. But the Jewish nation has been living in the east and the west simultaneously since the Talmudic times, only the designation of the two directions have swapped due to changes of the Jewish geography, with Israel changing from being the “West” to being the “East”.
DIN: Completly incoherent! Does anyone out there know what the hell he is talking about?
AB:But here are my answers – mostly in form of questions – to “The Brooklyn Analyst”:
Are you more knowledgeable than the sages of the past generations who vehemently opposed Zionism?
DIN: What does making Aliyah have to do with Zionism? There are and were Gedoilei Yisrael that made Aliya and opposed Zionism. In fact most gedoilei hador of Klall Yisrael live in Israel and aren't necessarily supporters of Zionism. The majority of the Gedoilim that vehemently opposed Zionism pre-WW2 were murdered in the gas chambers, the majority of the Gedoilim survivors did in fact make Aliyah!
But how about "Sages" that supported Zionism, are YOU more knowledgeable than them? Are you more knowledgeable than the Netziv? How about Rav Zvi Kalishcher, Rav Elyahu Guttmacher, star students of Rabbi Akiva Eigar? Are you more knowledgeable than Rav Shmuel Mohliver or Rav Moshe Shmuel Glasner? Just a smidgen of respected Gedoilei Yisrael that supported Zionism! How about R' Yaakov Emden known as the Yaavetz that pushed Aliyah back in the 1700's are you more knowledgeable than him?
AB:Why was the concept of religious Zionism essentially non-existent prior to Rav Kook?
DIN: That is actually a bald faced lie, all the above mentioned gedoilim except for R' Yaakov Emden were all religious Zionists way before Rav Kook was even known! And even if we were to go with your fabricated premise, so????It had to start sometime. didn't it? Every thing in life is "non-existent" before it exists!
AB:The Chofetz Chaim was yearning to move to Eretz Yisroel; yet he didn’t impose that as a must for everyone. If the notion of our return to the Land being a prerequisite for the redemption was an unarguable postulate, most Orthodox rabbis would’ve signed on to it; yet, they don’t. Are they not credible to you at all?
DIN:Excuse me.....Actually the Chofetz Chayim DID IN FACT "impose that for everyone as he put Mitzvas Yishuv Eretz Yisrael in his Sefer Ha'Mitzvos Ha'kitzur.
You failed to mention the Vilna Gaon who actually sold his home and was on his way to Eretz Yisrael but was turned back because his daughter got sick, but practically all his talmidim did make aliyah, unless the "talmeidei-ha'gra" buried in Har Hazeisim are imposters. In fact the minhag in Yerushlayim follows the GRA because of the talmidim who lived there and instituted it.
What about the talmedei Bal Shem Tov all buried in Tveria, all made aliyah! What about the Ari Hakodosh? What about the Mechaber of the Shulcha Aruch, R' Yosef Karo? R'Shlomo Alkabetz the mechaber of Lecha Dodi? What about the Orach Chayim Ha'kodosh? What about R' Shmuel Salant? R' Tzvi Pesach Frank? R' Zonninfeld? Belzer Rebbe, Gerrer Rebbe, the Kloizinberger, Rav Gustman, The Steipler, the Chazon Ish?
"Are they not credible to you at all? "
AB:You care about Israel, right?
I’m sure you do. If so, please tell me how you expect it to successfully accommodate the hordes of new olim who are too young to retire (and receive their social security from America or elsewhere) but too old to start their career from scratch (and to serve in the IDF, which is said to be the entry pass to the Israeli society). You don’t want Israel to become a welfare state, do you?
DIN: Eretz Yisrael is referred in Tanach as "Eretz Ha'Tzvi" the "land of the deer" Just like the skin of a deer expands as the deer grows so does Israel. There is room in Israel for another 12 million people with no problem !
AB:You’re wondering why we stay in Galus?
Because G-d has put us into Galus two millennia ago. Who said that by stepping on the ground of Eretz Yisroel and becoming the citizen of the State of Israel you’re no longer in Galus? With no Beis HaMikdash, no Sanhedrin, no way of becoming tahor and bringing karbonos, there’s no basis to claim that the status of Eretz Yisroel has changed over the past couple of centuries to a non-Galus.
DIN: It seems that the Chasam Sofer disagrees with you as the CS (see Sefer Ha Ish al Ha'choma)gave constant warnings against feeling at home in Galus. The CS said that the main reason for the inability to create mass aliyah movement in Hungary and Austria seems to have been the relatively comfortable and benign conditions enjoyed by Jews in those lands.
The Yaavetz, R' Yaakov Me'Emden, writes in his Sefer "Sulam" printed in his siddur, says that all pogroms, inquistion, and expulsions were a message from the RBS"O for Jews to leave Chutz Le'aaretz and make Aliyah!
AB:No one disputes the advantages of being surrounded by the kedusha of the Land itself and by the many extra mitzvos only available there. But it had already been so all along and does not eliminate the reality of Galus.
DIN: This is exactly what Jews said in Europe pre-WW2, so how did that work out?
AB:Is there a mitzvah to adjust our lives to Israel rather than vice-versa? Never heard of that one. Which makes me suspect that this “mitzvah” is a modern day invention that has nothing to do with the Torah.
DIN:This comment is the sickest of them all, and a reflection of the hate that Yeshivos instill in their students against Israel, wiping out a mitzva to further their agenda of keeping Jews in diaspora!
The Ramban holds that the Mitzva of Yishuv Eretz Yisrael is a Mitzvas "eseh mideorissah" a positive Biblical commandment "bezman hazeh" in the here and now,and as he was one of the "moneh ha'mitzvois"he counts Mitzvas Yishuv Eretz Yisrael as part of the Taryag Mitzvois!
The Chofetz Chayim counted Mitzvas Yishuv Eretz Yisrael as a Biblical commandment in his Sefer Hamitzvois Hakatzir.
Harav Yosef Chayim Zonninfeld said that Mitzvas Yishuv Eeretz Yisrael is "be'geder chova" an obligation.
The Chazon Ish said and wrote that Mitzvas Yishuv Eretz Yisrael is a Biblical commandment now, according to both the Ramban and the Rambam, and he adds that "there is no disagreements between them" (Kovetz Igrois Chazon Ish Letter 174)
The Minchas Yitzchak, The Avi Ezri, The Tzitz Eliezer, The Avnei Nezer all held that to live in Eretz Yisrael today is a "mitzva eseh mi'doirisah"
AB:The last but not the least, how come you’re still in America?
If you had made a move and were by now posing yourself not as “The Brooklyn Analyst” but as “The Jerusalem Analyst” or “The Tel Aviv Analyst” or some sort of a kibbutz or settlement analyst, your position would at least sound credible. But being “The Brooklyn Analyst” while heralding about the “time having come” or the “call of Zion” doesn’t make a lot of sense.
First, show us an example.
And secondly, even your example won’t necessarily justify the imposition of your standards on everyone else.
Aaron Berkovich
