The Land I Will Show You, sec. 4, chapter 1
Those Who Didn’t Return
Section 4: The Jewish People in the Diaspora – Generations that Didn’t Return to Eretz Yisrael
1: Those Who Didn’t Return
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One of the troubling questions in the complex subject of residing in Eretz Yisrael stems from reality: If the mitzvah is so great and noble, why didn’t the Jews ascend to Eretz Yisrael throughout the whole exilic era (when possible)? We will treat of the Babylonian community that didn’t ascend during the Second Temple era further; for now, we will talk about the time period after the decline of Babylon as the center of Judaism until the modern era, from the end of the Geonic era until the end of the era of the Acharonim (from the 11th century to the 19th century). Why didn’t the Children of Israel ascend throughout these centuries?
This question was treated at length in the Responsum Avnei Nezer and the Va’Yoel Moshe.[1] The author of Avnei Nezer split the question in two – on the masses and on the elite. He said:
However, what makes us doubt if it is an obligation even in these days, is that if so, then – Heaven forbid! – all of Israel is transgressing such a great positive commandment that is equivalent to all the mitzvahs… and there is also not dangers of travels in these days. And in the Kuzari, essay 2, section 23, the King of the Khazars asked him why they don’t ascend to Eretz Yisrael, see there, and the Rabbi accepted… despite this, far be it from us to consider the great people among Israel to have erred or have sinned willfully, Heaven forbid![2]
It may be asserted that the fact that the masses didn’t ascend is a sin; according to the Kuzari it is the root sin of the nation of Israel! As Rabbi Yaakov Emden said: “This was the sin of our early forefathers… and it is what stood in our bitter exile… since we have completely forgotten about residing in Eretz Yisrael.”[3] If we won’t be ready to criticize and recognize a sin, we will never improve our actions in a fundamental way, we will not return to Hashem and we will not be redeemed. When dealing with the question of what is appropriate to do, one should not bring a proof from what is done, since we will automatically bring proofs from sinners. However, the question applies to the sages of Israel: Why didn’t they ascend? Were they in error or willful sin, Heaven forbid?!
The question applies to the great people of Israel in general, as per the words of the “Avnei Nezer,” but with unique force on a specific sage: Ramban. In his opinion, residing in Eretz Yisrael is a biblical mitzvah and every individual is obligated in it even in the time of exile, while he himself lived for most of his life in the diaspora, and only went up to the land in his old age. Perhaps he was unable to fulfill this great mitzvah for most of his life, and the Merciful One exonerates a person who is unable to do a mitzvah; but at the end of his life, he had the opportunity to reside in Eretz Yisrael and he himself explained why he ascended – without mentioning anything about the mitzvah. In a sermon that he delivered in the city of Akko on Rosh Hashanah, Ramban spoke at length about the virtues of Eretz Yisrael and ended with the reason for his personal aliyah:
Those who merit to sit before the Holy One, blessed be He, in His land, who are like those who see the face of the king… Eretz Yisrael is not like other lands… one who resides outside of the Land – it is as if he doesn’t have a God… residing in Eretz Yisrael is equivalent to all the mitzvahs… and this is what took me out of my land and moved me from my place, I abandoned my household and left my estate, I became like a raven to my sons, cruel to my daughters, since I wanted my soul to leave me in my mother’s lap.[4]
Ramban himself revealed the reason for his desire to come to Eretz Yisrael, without mentioning that this is an obligatory biblical mitzvah: because he wanted to die there, for his soul to leave in his mother’s lap, which is Eretz Yisrael. This lofty ideal is often mentioned in the Talmud and Midrash, and the expression used by Ramban is found in Talmud Yerushalmi:
Ula the descender was dying there; he began to cry. They said to him, “Why are you crying? We’ll bring you up to Eretz Yisrael?” He said to them, “What would that help me? I am losing my diamond in an impure land! You can’t compare one who gives up his soul into his mother’s lap to one who gives it up in the lap of a stranger.”[5]
The idea is lofty and noble, but if there is an obligatory, biblical mitzvah to reside in Eretz Yisrael, isn’t that the main reason to ascend and settle there as soon as its possible? It seems that Ramban was not obligated to ascend even when it was possible for him to do so. Why?
In the following chapter we will present what has already been said about this matter and then we will explain our own opinion.
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[1] See too R’ Shlomo Kluger, Responsum Ha’Elef L’cha Shlomo, Ehe”Z, sec. 118; R’ Chaim Elazar Shapiro, Responsum Minchas Elazar, vol. 5 sec. 12.
[2] Responsum Avnei Nezer, Yo”D, sec. 454, 8.
[3] Siddur Beis Yaakov, Lemberg 5664, Sulam Beis El, pg. 13.
[4] Sermon of Rambam for Rosh Hashana, Bnei Brak 5740, pg. 54 (the text as written is surmised; see there and footnote #129).
[5] Kelayim 9:3. Eretz Yisrael is compared to a mother, while other lands are compared to a stepmother, also in the question that Rav Kahane asked Rabbi Yochanan whether it is permitted for him to leave Eretz Yisrael, quoted in the Yerushalmi Berachos 2:8. Rav Kahane regretted that he ascended to Eretz Yisrael, since he was bringing punishment upon the residents of Eretz Yisrael who were bothering him. He said to himself, “Did I come up for merit only to bring sin? Did I come up to kill the residents of Eretz Yisrael? Let’s go back down after coming up.” He came to ask Rabbi Yochanan with an allusion: “A person whose mother annoys him and his father’s wife respects him, to where should he go?” Compare to the question that Rav Asi asked Rabbi Yochanan regarding descending from Eretz Yisrael (Kiddushin 31b): “Is it permitted to leave Eretz Yisrael to the diaspora?… What about to greet a mother?” Based on these sources, Charedim wrote (quoted above, section 1, chapter 3): “Every Israelite must cherish EY and come to it from the edges of the earth like a son to his mother’s lap.” Our approach to the sanctity of the land, too, depends on our understanding of the burial of the mother of the nation, the Matriarch Sarah, in Hebron; see below, section 7, chapter 8 and chapter 12.