In the 1930s, Ze’ev Jabotinsky saw a fire burning in pre-war Europe and famously called upon European Jewry to “eliminate the Diaspora before the Diaspora eliminates you.” Speaking in Warsaw in October, Jabotinsky warned:
“It is already three years that I am calling upon you, Polish Jewry, who are the crown of World Jewry. I continue to warn you incessantly that a catastrophe is coming closer. I became grey and old in these days, my heart bleeds that you, dear brothers and sisters, do not see the volcano which will soon begin to spit its all-consuming lava. I see that you are not seeing this because you are immersed and sunk in your daily worries.
“Today, however, I demand from you trust. You were convinced already that my prognoses have already proved to be right. If you think differently, then drive me out of your midst. However, if you do believe me, then listen to me in this 12th hour: In the name of God!!! Let any one of you save himself as long as there is still time, and time there is very little.”
However, Jabotinsky’s prophetic words fell upon deaf ears. Few heeded the clarion call and escaped the clutches of Hitler and the Nazis in time.
Today's calls to aliyah
Responding to the dramatic rise in antisemitism, anti-Israel hate, and violent attacks on Jews around the world, some internet influencers and social media personalities today are making predictions that another Holocaust is coming, Heaven forbid, and encouraging Jews to make aliyah before it’s too late.
Still, alarmism, scare tactics, and doomsday prophecies do not work. Not in any significant way, at least. Unfortunately we know this to be true from Jewish history. After one attack or incident, the Jewish community goes back to their normal, everyday lives. Quickly.
Instead of fearmongering, we should be encouraging an aliyah of ideals and idealism.
As we read this past Shabbat, Moshe yearns and prays to be allowed to enter into the Land of Israel. According to our sages, Moshe longed to enter Israel because “the People of Israel were commanded to perform many mitzvot that can only be observed in the Land of Israel” (Sotah 14a).
The Torah text itself teaches that the proper place for the performance of the mitzvot is in the Land of Israel:
“See, I have taught you laws and ordinances, as Hashem my God has commanded me, for you to observe in the Land that you are about to enter and possess” (Devarim 4:5).
“At the same time Hashem commanded me to teach you laws and ordinances for you to observe in the Land that you are about to cross into and possess” (Devarim 4:14).
“But you remain here with Me, and I will give you the entire commandment and the laws and ordinances that you shall teach them for them to observe in the Land that I am giving them to possess.” (Devarim 5:28)
“This is the commandment and the laws and the ordinances that Hashem your God has commanded to teach you, to be observed in the Land that you are about to cross into and possess.” (Devarim 6:1)
The significance of living in Israel
The Land of Israel is central to Torah observance – 202 of our 613 mitzvot can only be performed on her soil. Two-thirds of the Talmud is intimately tied to this land! Here the Torah lives and breathes in its natural habitat. And according to the Midrash, the sole purpose for observing mitzvot in the Diaspora is merely for practice, “so that when you return [to the Land], they will not be new to you.” The Midrash continues with a parable:
“A king of flesh and blood grew angry with his wife and sent her back to her father’s home, saying to her, ‘Be sure to continue to wear your jewelry so that when you return, they will not be new to you.’ Thus the Holy One Blessed Be He said to Israel: ‘My children, continue to be marked by the commandments, so that when you return they will not be new to you.’ Hence Jeremiah says, ‘Set up road marks.’ These are the mitzvot by which Israel is marked.” (Sifrei, Eikev 43).
In his work Eim Habanim Semeichah, Rabbi Yissachar Shlomo Teichtal indicts the religious leadership in pre-war Europe for not encouraging their flock to emigrate to Israel when they had the opportunity. He famously writes that there are two ways to lead an animal: by striking the animal and forcing it to follow, or by calling to the animal and having the animal come willingly.
For Rabbi Teichtal, the Jewish people can be driven out through pain and suffering or heed the call and return to Israel willingly.
Chief Rabbi Avraham Yitzhak HaKohen Kook drew upon the verse, “Who are these? Who fly like a cloud, like doves returning to their cotes?” (Isaiah 60:8), and explained that while some will return to Israel like clouds – pushed by winds and driven by storms – others will return to their homeland out of love and longing, like a dove to its nest.
The ideal aliyah is not one made out of fear, but rather out of love and longing; not an aliyah running from something, but running towards something. The ideal aliyah is rooted in ideals and idealism and in an eternal attachment with our ancestral homeland. A desire to live the authentic Jewish experience. A desire to play a part in the Jewish history and destiny that is playing itself out on the stage that is the modern State of Israel.
The writer lives and teaches in Jerusalem, where he serves as rabbi of Har Nof’s Kehilat Zichron Yosef and rosh kollel of the Sinai Kollel.