Everyone readily understands that there are levels of measurement and performance. Some people have a higher IQ than others. Some people are stronger than others. Some cars can drive faster than others. There is Major League Baseball and there is the Little League. There are magnificent championship golf courses and there is miniature golf.
In the same way, there is a difference between the Judaism of the exile and the Judaism of Eretz Yisrael. Not only quantitatively, in the greater number of mitzvot a person can perform in the Land of Israel, but also qualitatively, in a deeper understanding of what Torah is all about. A Jewish person receives this enlightened perspective when he studies the Torah in the proper fashion.
Let me cite an example. Once, I was in the city of Toronto to raise money for a kiruv program in Israel. Invited to speak at a large Orthodox synagogue, I arrived early and had time to browse through the local Jewish weekly newspaper. On the cover was a big picture of the skyline of Toronto. The headline read: “Looking Forward to the Next Decade of Jewish Life in Toronto.” I took the newspaper into the auditorium and held it up for everyone to see.
“What is going on here?” I asked in amazement. “Everything I learn says that a Jew is supposed to look forward to the next decade of Jewish life in Jerusalem. I have a feeling that if the Mashiach were to come today, he would spoil your plans.”
The point is that when a person has the proper understanding of Judaism, he, or she, longs to live a life of Torah in the Land of Israel. He longs for Redemption from exile; he longs for the ingathering of the exiles to the Holy Land; he longs to take a part in the rebuilding of Jerusalem and the renaissance of the Nation of Israel in its Land, just as we request in our prayers three times a day. This is the whole direction and goal of the Torah. Without it, Judaism is a dry, lifeless, miniature version of the real thing. No matter how pleasant the Jewish community in Toronto may be, it’s not the real thing.
Of course, throughout the long and painful generations that we were outcast from our Land, the Judaism of the exile was all that we had and its value was beyond all measure, preserving the Nation and its sacred heritage until the time arrived when we could return. But now that we can come home, why linger on in gentiles countries which are becoming more hostile every day?
Let me cite another example. Once, I was in Boca Raton visiting my parents before they made aliyah. Entering the Boca Raton Synagogue to pray, I noticed a flyer on the bulletin board. It featured a photo of WDC and the headline read: “This Summer Visit Our Nation’s Capital with the Rabbi.” Now if the Rabbi of an Orthodox synagogue is teaching his congregation that their nation is America, and that their capital city is Washington, how can you expect them to have a proper understanding of Torah?
I remember when I was a boy, my grandfather would take me on trips to Lake George in upstate New York. On the way, there were all kinds of attractions for tourists like “Frontier Town” and “Indian Village.” Now, the Birthright Program is a wonderful thing in that it affords young Jews to visit Israel for free, but instead of teaching them that Israel is their one and only homeland, and the place where they should be living, they use the Land of Israel as a giant “Israeli Village” to strengthen feelings of Jewish pride and identity. This approach distorts the real value of Eretz Yisrael and totally misses the foundation upon which all the Torah rests – that Eretz Yisrael is the Land of the Jews, the place that the Master of the Universe set aside for His People. In actuality, the truth is the other way around from the Birthright doctrine. In truth, Israel is our home, and America is a place you can visit for a ten day vacation – if you can find a valid halachic reason for leaving the Land.
Rabbi Kook wrote:
“The thought regarding Eretz Yisrael that it has merely a peripheral value to facilitate the subsistence of the unified nation; even when it comes to fortify the concept of Judaism in the Diaspora, in order to preserve its form, and to strengthen the belief and fear of G-d, and to strengthen the performance of the commandments in a proper fashion – this orientation toward Eretz Yisrael is not worthy of lasting fruition, for its foundation is rickety in light of the towering, unshakable holiness of Eretz Yisrael” (Orot, 1:1).
Eretz Yisrael is more than a Jewish Disneyland to bolster Jewish identity for ten days before flying back to Toronto or LA.
Someone who thinks that Jewish life in Toronto, or Brooklyn, or Monsey, is all roses and dandy, doesn’t understand that Torah doesn’t just concern itself with the life of the individual Jew, but rather Torah concerns itself with the welfare of the “Clal,” the Jewish Nation as a whole. Many commandments of the deal with national issues like the Kingship of Israel, the Israelite army, the judicial system, the agricultural laws of Eretz Yisrael, and of course everything connected with the Temple. The Prophet teaches “For from Zion shall go forth the Torah and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.” From Jerusalem – not from Brooklyn or South Florida or Berlin.
And for Diaspora Jews who maintain that their hermetic religious communities are safe from assimilation and danger, they are deluding themselves into thinking that their future is secure. As our history has taught us the hard way, time and again, and as the Talmud attests, when a brushfire breaks out amongst the weeds, it isn’t long before the winds carry it along to burn up the haystacks as well. The haystacks are the flourishing Jewish communities. In Europe, not so long ago, when the fires of anti-Semitism erupted, they didn’t ravage only the weaker non-religious communities, they burnt up the stronger, more righteous bastions as well. Today, once again, the fires of anti-Semitism are blazing all over the globe. Hashem is calling us home.
