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The Torah study is dedicatedin the memory of
Tzvi Yoel Ben Moshe HaLevi
For centuries, this may have been a non-issue. But now it is one of the thorniest questions in the Jewish debate: What, exactly, is the responsibility of the Jews here to the Jews there, & vice-versa.
Like every other important subject, this, too, can be found in the Torah. And so we turn to this week's Sedra. There Moshe, on his way toEretz Yisrael, confronts his father-in-law Chovav (Yitro) & implores him: "Come with us, & it will be good for you, for Hashem has spoken well ofBnei Yisrael." (10:28)
Yitro shakes his head. "I will not go; but to my land & my family I will go - Ki im el artzi v'el molad'ti eylech." In 7 choice words, Yitro employs the classic arguments against making Aliyah:
My Land: "All my real estate, all my business interests, all my accumulated wealth is there. How can I leave it all behind for theuncertainty of an unsown land?"
My Land: "The place I come from is 'mine.' I'm comfortable with the language there, the culture, the idioms, the weather, the ins & outs of that place. I feel at home there; I'll never, ever, acclimate to a new life in Israel."
My Family: "You know, family is everything. How am I going to leave my elderly parents, my brothers & sisters, my aunts & uncles? I need them, they need me, we need each other. IF they were all coming, OK. But THEY are staying put, so I have to do what the majority wants."
Moshe tries one more plea with Yitro: "I beg you, do not forsake us," & then he returns to his first point: "If you go with us, then the good which Hashem does for us, he will do for you, too."
Moshe the Wise knows that he cannot counter the emotional arguments of kin & comfort. So he reiterates the same promise Hashem told Avraham when he said "Lech-LECHA," go FOR YOU, namely: "ISRAEL IS GOOD FOR THE JEW!" While Diasporas appear comfy & cushy, they all eventually turn tragically hostile. Centuries of Jewish settlement in the Galut can disappear in short order, taking all the shuls, schools and people with it. History, alas, does not lie.
Does Yitro reconsider & come to Israel? No one knows for sure; the text doesn't say and the evidence is inconclusive. So, too, the ongoing tug-of-war over Aliyah remains - then and now - an open question. It is the answer to that question - in the hands of each and every Jew - which may very well determine the fate of Klal Yisrael.
Rabbi Stewart Weiss
Was ordained at the Hebrew Theological College in Skokie, Illinois, and led congregations in Chicago and Dallas prior to making Aliyah in 1992. He directs the Jewish Outreach Center in Ra'anana, helping to facilitate the spiritual absorption of new olim.
Jewish Laws and Thoughts Shul “etiquette:” can we honor Hashem while respecting our fellow congregants?
Rabbis in Midrash
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Hosha'ana Rabba FLYDUBAI & HOSHANA RABBA- ANI VAHU HOSHIA NA- I & HIM SAVE US
"Ani vaHu Hoshia Na", "I and Him, Save Us". We don't just pray to Him, but we also pray to and for ourselves that we should emulate and educate our children to have that instinctive altruism with which He created the world. President Trump seemed amused about Yaniv Hayon, our PLUMBER who confidently worked with G-d like Superman (he learned from a pilot on a TV show!) to save 174 lives on the Dubai hijacking, but we in Israel are totally accustomed already 78 years to our plumbers, teachers, garbage-men, rabbis, farmers & doctors being Hashem's shlichim! This is what Zionism is about.
Moreshet Shaul Hashem Is your Shadow – part I
Based on Siach Shaul, Pirkei Machshava V’Hadracha p. 420 – an address from 1941
P'ninat Mishpat A Non-Contractor in Changing Times – part I
(based on ruling 85128 of the Eretz Hemdah-Gazit Rabbinical Courts)
