The Land I Will Show You, sec. 2, chapter 5
Conclusion
5: Conclusion
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After the subject of the oaths has been explained in its true sense, we are capable of thinking about their ramifications and how to apply them in practice to the question of aliyah to Eretz Yisrael.
The greatest and highest piety is protecting life. Should we reside in Eretz Yisrael in light of the oaths? Now we know that the question is, essentially, one about the reality: Will residing in Eretz Yisrael bring about more or less spilling of Jewish blood?
It goes without saying that one cannot bring a proof to a question about reality from an Aggadah of Chazal. The Aggadah teaches and guides us how to think about these deep questions, but reality itself must obviously be clarified in the usual method: through studying the reality.
In accordance with the position in which the nation of Israel is currently situated in its relation to the other nations – after thousands of years of conduct of revealing the secret; after the message of the Torah has spread throughout the world; after the events of the Holocaust demonstrated the depth of the hatred and danger that we are liable to face in exile; and after there already exists a strong Jewish state for decades – after all this it is clear that there is no danger to the nation inherent to aliyah to Zion. At this point in time, there is no sense in relying on the oaths in order to decide the question of aliyah to Eretz Yisrael.[1]
These words are said about a private aliyah of individuals or even an aliyah of a large community, but not necessarily regarding a complete evacuation from exile. A public position of disengagement of all the Jews from the lands of the Diaspora – if it would be possible! – is liable to bring to danger, as notions of redemption take on crass, erroneous expression among the masses, who will arouse hatred and enmity from the nations. Everything must be managed with wisdom and care, with caution and quiet and stillness.
The words of the great Rabbi Meir Simchah the Kohen of Dvinsk that were said about 100 years ago are applicable today too: “Once the fear of the oaths has gone, with the permission of the kings, the mitzvah of residing in Eretz Yisrael, which is equivalent to all the mitzvahs in the Torah, has returned to its place.”[2] The oaths express the reality of fear, and thinking about them is really thinking about reality.
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[1] It is self-evident that the subject here is not the act of founding the state in light of the oaths, or the permissibility of aliyah to Eretz Yisrael in the era of the beginning of the Zionist movement, or 100 or 50 years ago; the question that is relevant to practice now is only what is appropriate now, meaning what is safe now.
[2] Printed in the periodical HaTor, 5682, issue 3; see also R’ Zeev Aryeh Rabiner, Our Teacher Rabbi Meir Simchah the Kohen/ Life and Teaching, Tel-Aviv 5727, pages 162-165.