The warnings against travel to Turkey in light of the flotilla news come at the right time – at least according to a website that usually deals with popular culture and TV, but concentrates on this week's Torah message of “love, don’t leave” the Land of Israel.
Dudu Cohen, in his weekly column for the Keshet TV company’s Mako website, writes, “The events of last night [aboard the flotilla] led many Israelis to cancel the short vacations they had planned in Turkey. But they and others are still planning their next vacation abroad – yet the fact is that for much of the religious public, this question is not relevant. Many don’t know this, but Jewish Law basically forbids leaving the Land of Israel, unless you have a really good reason.”
Cohen spoke with the colorful Rabbi Pinchas Badush of the northern Jordan Valley city of Beit She’an about the topic. The timing had everything to do with the weekly Torah portion, which deals this week with the Sin of the Scouts and the People of Israel who did not consider the Land of Israel important enough to risk their lives or their perceived desert comforts.
“By leaving the Land and going elsewhere to have a vacation,” Rabbi Badush said, “one is essentially saying, as the Scouts did, that the land is not good enough or nice enough for him. One can therefore only leave for things that will not cause others to induce ‘bad’ things about the Land. Rather, the Sages say we can only leave either to make a living, to get married, or to teach or study Torah.” Others permit leaving for situations of honoring one’s parents, maintaining family harmony, and the like.
“Let’s remember that the Land of Israel has everything,” Rabbi Badush said: “Desert horizons, green pastures, brooks, mountains, a lake, canyons, and much more.”
Rabbi Badush arrived in Beit She’an 12 years ago from Jerusalem, and has been credited with effecting a spiritual revolution. He gathered a group of young students who attended his daily Talmud classes. At one point, he noticed that absences were growing, and upon investigation, he found that they were cutting out in order to play pool. He bided his time, and when he heard that the pool hall was up for sale, he bought it! The hall now features not only billiards and snooker, but also daily Torah classes.
One of his students, Shai Rachamim, explained, “The youngsters love him; they understand that he is not forcing anything on them. He connects to the different worlds, and everyone here admires him.” Rabbi Badush has also started a Midrasha in which students study Torah and Talmud, learn how to get along, receive a hot meal, and take part in various social activities.
“True, people who go on vacation want to get away from their obligations and to rest,” Rabbi Badush says. “But people seem to have forgotten what this means. It doesn’t mean travelling thousands of kilometers away. The Golan Heights, the Galilee, the Coastal Strip here – all these places in the Land of Israel can’t provide rest? They certainly can!”