“In a lengthy responsum by Rabbi Saul Israeli, which appeared in the Almanac Shanah be-Shanah in 5725 (published by Heichal Shlomo, Jerusalem), he quotes Rabbi Solomon Duran (Reshbash) from his sefer Eretz Nachalah (p. 34) and other supporting geonim that one is not obliged to settle in the land if one cannot find a livelihood there, for without food and shelter there can be no real ‘settlement.’ Therefore, Rabbi Lord Immanuel Jakobovits (late chief rabbi of England) quoted this in the book Studies in Torah Judaism, published by Yeshiva University (1965), and stated that the precept of settling in the land presupposes a comfortable existence and excludes a life involving undue hardships.
“Rabbi Moshe Feinstein (Iggrot Moshe, Even HaEzer 1, end of chapter 102) states that today there is no mandatory mitzvah requiring one to dwell in Israel. He distinguishes between two distinct categories of positive commandments. There are precepts whose performance is mandatory, e.g. circumcision, wearing tefillin, etc., and others which are not mandated as obligatory responsibilities but nevertheless, when indeed performed, constitute the fulfillment of a commandment.
“Rabbi Feinstein maintains that even according to Nachmanides [Ramban], residence in Eretz Yisrael is not obligatory because the commandment is not a mandatory one. According to this interpretation, Nachmanides’ position is that the act of dwelling in Israel constitutes the voluntary fulfillment of a commandment, rather than the discharge of an obligation.
“Lest one thinks that we have become anti-Zionist, I will quote the story told about the Netziv (Rabbi Naftali Tzvi Yehuda Berlin) – the rosh yeshiva in Volozhin who lovingly supported the settling in the Land of Israel. Once, when some leaders of the community complained that the settlers in the Holy Land were not religious or G-d-fearing, the gaon posted the following notice in the main synagogue of Volozhin:
“‘Dwelling in the Land of Israel is one of the greatest mitzvahs and it matters not who the people dwelling there are. When Ezra the Scribe gathered the Jews from Babylon to settle in the Holy Land, he chose people from every walk of life. Some were great scholars and G-d-fearing people, while others had intermarried with heathen women (we do note that he later persuaded them to divorce these women). Some violated the Sabbath and many never even knew the meaning of the Torah or its mitzvos. All these people were gathered together to rebuild the Holy Land and the Beit Hamikdash. Out of them came the sons and daughters who populated the land and made Israel grow strong again.
“‘Therefore, it is incumbent upon us, the Jews in the Diaspora, to return to the Land of Israel and colonize it again, as did our ancestors of yore. Let us come from all the corners of the world, religious and nonreligious, poor and rich alike, and rebuild the land as did our ancestors, Ezra and the prophets of his time. Through the merit of these endeavors, G-d will bless us all.’”
Thus concludes my uncle’s citation. Let us now turn to the Rambam (Hilchos Melachim 5:11) who cites R. Elazar (Ketubot 111a): Whoever resides in the land of Israel lives without sin, as the verse (Isaiah 33:24) states: “U’val yomar shachen chaliti ha’am hayoshev bah n’su avon – A dweller [of Jerusalem] will not say, ‘I am sick’; the people dwelling there shall be forgiven of sin.” Though the verse seems to refer specifically to Jerusalem, R. Elazar says it refers by extension to all of the land of Israel. Indeed, the Rambam, in referencing this idea, says that the verse teaches not only that one who dwells in the land of Israel lives without sin, but that prior sins are forgiven as well. Such is the greatness of the land and those who merit to live there. Surely we can’t say that such people delay Moshiach’s arrival.
In Part I of our discussion, we discussed the chelbona, which was one of the ingredients of the frankincense despite its foul odor. We compared the need to include transgressors in communal prayer to including the chelbona in the frankincense.
The Maharsha (on Kerisot 6b) explains that transgressors are included only so long as they do not separate themselves from the congregation. In addition, they should not be included in the original 10 required for a minyan. Thus, if there are only nine congregants present, a transgressor cannot be counted as the tenth. Yet, today, as we have mentioned in previous discussions, we do include individuals who might desecrate the Sabbath as long as they are not doing so at that very moment when they are with the congregation.