- All the Questions
Bracha upon making aliya
Question
Hi Rav Shvat! How are you? I’m Bezrat Hashem making Aliyah tomorrow:))) is there a bracha I can say or minhag I can do when I make Aliyah?
Answer
That's fantastic- Kol HaKavod!! It's the best and most historic and important decision you'll ever make!! You should definitely make a Shehechiyanu (as you are clearly happy) when you land or when you leave the plane (especially if u kiss the ground, at which time you should recite "כי רצו עבדיך את אבניה ואת עפרה יחננו", "For Your servants desired her stones and (even) love her dust", Tehilim 102, 15). Rav Kook said that there's no other specific bracha on this mitzva, and one explanation is that (Resp. Rashba I, 18 & 254) there is no bracha on mitzvot which are "b'di'eved" (e.g. like returning a lost object, paying back stolen money etc.). Accordingly, having been born outside of Israel was "against our will", and in aliya, we're just "straightening" something unfortunate to become natural: A natural Jew living in our natural Land, speaking our natural Language, observing our natural Torah! Similarly, R. B'chaye explains that there's no bracha on mitzvot which are logical (e.g. giving tzedakah, doing kindness), and here too, just like all of the nations, it's certainly logical for us too, to live in our national Land. All the best!!
With Love of Israel, Rav Ari Shvat (Chwat)

Why God tests us when He knows the future?
Rabbi Ari Shvat | Shevat 23, 5783

Pray without meaning or concentration or not to pray
Rabbi Ari Shvat | Shevat 18, 5783

Who is included in anti-Semitism?
Rabbi Ari Shvat | Adar 16, 5783

Popcorn at the cinema
Rabbi David Sperling | Nisan 8, 5773

Rabbi Ari Shvat
Lectures at various yeshivot, michlalot and midrashot. Has published many books & Torani articles and is in charge of Rav Kook’s archives.

Bircat baalat habayit
Shevat 7, 5771

Gentile Prophets
Adar II 25, 5771

Ayin hara and Rambam
Tevet 28, 5771

Writing a Torah Scroll in English
Adar II 25, 5771

Water - Kosher?
Rabbi Dr. Aharon Adler | 4 Tevet 5763

Greetings with handshake in judaism
Rabbi Ari Shvat | Elul 9, 5779

Shaitels for non-married women
Rabbi David Sperling | Tammuz 29, 5779

Mezzuzah for Non Jew
Rabbi David Sperling | Iyyar 18, 5773
Cooking on Shabbos
Rabbi Daniel Kirsch | Adar 23, 5783

shatnes
Rabbi Yoel Lieberman | Adar 13, 5783

source for אין מוקדם ומאוחר בתורה
Rabbi David Sperling | Nisan 1, 5783
