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Light to the Nations
Light to the Nations When I became a baal t’shuva 37 years ago, I benefited greatly by studying the writings of Rabbi Shimshon Rafael Hirsh, especially his Commentary on the Torah and his Commentary on the Book of Psalms. In the year 1836, he wrote in his book,...
How does a New Oleh make a living in Israel?
A neighbor was giving me a lift and he was asking what I did. I said I strive to be an Oved HaShem, a servant of GD. He said we should all do that but how do you make a living? I said I pray to GD like everyone else. What I do: Fact is that I am in the Chesed...
Returning
It feels like yesterday when the six of us very late at night arrived in Israel, November 18, 1996. Warm autumn winds were blowing, and we felt very grateful to have arrived. From the first moment, we felt at home. Our children had not visited Israel before. We had...
Shavuot and Eretz Yisrael
When I first came to Israel forty years ago, as a non-religious tourist in search of my true inner self, Rabbi Meir Schuster, of blessed memory, approached me at the Kotel and asked if I wanted to attend a few interesting classes on Judaism at a yeshiva. I had...
Jerusalem Day
Jerusalem Day The neighborhood of Kiryat Moshe, where I live in Jerusalem, near the Mercaz Harav Yeshiva, is an interesting blend of Religious Zionists, Haredim, and Hasidim, who live in the adjoining streets of Givat Shaul. Sometimes in the morning, depending on...
Eretz Yisrael and the Secrets of Torah
Eretz Yisrael and the Secrets of Torah If it is so obvious from a simple, straightforward reading the Torah that G-d wants the Jewish People to live in the Land of Israel, why are so many Jews still living in foreign lands? Rabbi Chaim Vital, the foremost student of...
Who Says it is a Mitzvah to Live in Israel?
Having recently celebrated Israel Independence Day, it is an appropriate time to review some basic understandings and laws that are often neglected in the Diaspora. This neglect is due to the fact that for nearly 2000 years, we were scattered over the world, without a...
Aliyah and Making a Living
Aliyah and Making a Living When I am not writing, or translating books, or teaching, I make movies. Recently, I received a letter from a reader who is contemplating Aliyah: “I am a professional film producer based in NY who is exploring the option of aliyah. My only...
Rabbis and Aliyah Part 4 – What about HaRav Feinstein?
Exile or Aliyah? – That is the Question The first Chief Rabbi of Israel, HaRav Avraham Yitzhak HaKohen Kook, received a letter asking if it was a mitzvah to settle in the Land of Israel. Rabbi Kook answered, "I am amazed at the question. How can one possibly have a...
Rabbis and Aliyah Part 3
“The Land that I Will Show You” In the article on the mitzvah of Aliyah, we will explore some halachic questions about the journey itself. Before making Aliyah, Rabbi Mordechai Tzion was Rabbi of Kehilat Ohr Tzion, in Buffalo, NY. In Israel, he has translated several...
Rabbis and Aliyah Part 2
Not Even on the Radar In Part 2 of our series on Aliyah, we will hear from a few more former American Rabbis now living in Israel. But first, it is interesting always edifying to hear what Gedolim have said about the mitzvah of living in Israel. It is told that Rabbi...
Where is the Aliyah from America?
Where is the Aliyah from America? If you ask a Chabadnik in Crown Heights why he doesn’t move to Israel, he is likely to answer that he loves Eretz Yisrael, and that the Rebbe spoke out strongly against proposals to surrender parts of the Land for peace, and that many...
“I Was Wrong!”
“I Was Wrong!” I could cite an impressive list of Torah giants who emphasize that the Torah obligation to live in Eretz Yisrael applies in every generation, but it wouldn’t do any good. Jews in the Diaspora who want to believe otherwise will respond with a list of...
“The Kuzari”
“The Kuzari” Arguably one of the Top Ten books on Judaism ever written, “The Kuzari,” by Rabbi Yehuda HaLevi, is universally accepted as a classic of Torah scholarship. After the Rabbi explains the role of the Jewish People as G-d’s Chosen Nation, who are commanded to...
