Tuesday, November 19, 2024

Am I Like the Meraglim?

That's a standard aliyah propaganda line, that anybody who points out the shortcomings of life in SSOI is repeating the sin of the spies.

The Jews in the Midbar were commanded by Hashem to enter the land. The spies were on a fact finding mission. They weren't supposed to sway the people against a Divine command.

We do not have such a command. The mitzvah of yishuv ha'aretz in our time is optional. So says the posek HaDor Rav Moshe Feinstein who says this is the case even according to the Ramban. And the Ramban himself didn't come to EY until the last two years of his life when he escaped persecution in Spain. I'm talking about real persecution, not somebody tearing down a poster on the Columbia campus.

Not only that but moving to Israel puts your obligatory mitzvahs at risk. Will you be able to learn as much Torah? Answer is no because you and your spouse will have to work six days a week. Will you be able to house guests? Usually not because you'll live in a tiny apartment. Will your middos improve? Definitely not. They will plummet. 

So we are in a totally different situation than were the meraglim. I would never make it seem as if its impossible to keep Shabbos in the modern economy because Hashem commanded us to keep Shabbos and therefore He will make it so that we can succeed in doing it and even if not, we should keep it anyway.

Living is Israel is not like that. You have to go with the halacha, not with your fantasies. And I feel obligated to warn people that moving to SSOI puts their religious observance at risk. 







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