Special New Audio Program From David Ben Moshe

[Chaim Ben Pesach]

From our Torah:

I am the L-rd your G-d Who took you out of Egypt to give you the Land of Canaan to be your G-d. (Vayikra 25:38)

And here's how the Talmud teaches us to interpret this pasuk:

The rabbis taught: A Jew should live in Eretz Yisrael, even in a city in which the majority of the inhabitants are idol worshippers, rather than in the galut even in a city in which the majority of the inhabitants are Jewish. For one who lives in Eretz Yisrael is one who has a G-d, and one who lives in the galut is like one who does not have a G-d, as it says, I am the L-rd your G-d Who took you out of Egypt to give you the Land of Canaan to be your G-d. (Vayikra 25:38). (Ketuvot 111a)

And the Talmud continues:

This tells you that one who lives in the galut is like one who worships idols, as David said, ". . . For they have driven me away this day from attaching myself to the inheritance of G-d to say, 'Go worship the gods of others!' " (I Shmuel 26:19). (Ibid)

Now Rabbeinu Chaim wrote:

We are not accustomed at this time [to live in Eretz Yisrael] because of the danger along the way, and Rabbeinu Chaim says that at this time there is no mitzvah to live in Eretz Yisrael because there are many mitzvot and punishments related to the land, and we are not careful enough in performing them. (Tosfot, Ketuvot 110b, "He says, 'Let's go up")

Rabbeinu Chaim spoke about "the danger along the way" of travelling to Eretz Yisrael, which at the time was indeed very dangerous. Clearly, that is NOT the situation today. It is not very dangerous to board an airplane and fly to Israel. And as far as not performing certain mitzvot in Israel, the self-hating Jews of the galut wind up committing much greater sins. This situation of such extreme assimilation, intermarriage and self-hatred did not exist to this degree in Rabbeinu Chaim's time. The ONLY hope for saving Jewish souls from self-destruction is aliyah. Not to mention the physical danger that we witnessed 65 years ago when 6 million Jews were murdered hashem yikom damam.

Chazal clearly teach us that a Jew who lives in Israel has a G-d, while a Jew who lives in the galut is like one who has no G-d. Isn't that what we are seeing with our own eyes in America and Europe? Isn't it obvious that HaShem gave us a Jewish state because He DEMANDS that we live there?

[DownwithIslam]

Chaim your depth of torah knowledge is astounding. I don't believe people give you as much credit as you deserve in this regard. You can easily wipe the floor with all these so called orthodox rabbis. It's really impressive.

[Shlomo]

Chaim ben Pesach is a giant and it is wise to listen to him. How many times has he been wrong?

I agree 100%. I have not found a single Rabbi that doesn't teach that all Jews are supposed to live in Israel. We should all wish to merit such a beautiful thing and if someone is scared away by this, then they would be scared away by Torah Judaism and perhaps they are not meant for JTF.