Thanksgiving Day is a good time to take an honest look at American Jewry. The year-long war in Israel and the anti-Semitism which it triggered throughout the world doesn’t seem to have had any significant effect on the future plans of the comfortable Jews of America, nor on their college-age children who have been the hardest hit in the backlash. On this Thanksgiving Day, American Jewry is not going anywhere.
While Aliyah organizations boast a huge increase in Aliyah registration, maybe the events of this year will prompt another one-hundred American Jews, mostly Orthodox, over the dismal yearly average to actually move to Israel. And while one might have expected thousands of young American Jews to race to Israel this year to enlist in its fight for survival, just a few more heroic Lone Soldiers arrived than the average annual total.
On this Thanksgiving Day, 70% of the Jews in America have married out of the faith. Over 60% have zero Jewish Identity. Most Haredi, Hasidic, and Modern Orthodox Jews of America have not taken their daily prayers for the ingathering, the building of Jerusalem, and the Redemption to the next stage. Allow me to give an example:
All over the Jewish Internet and media there are upbeat ads by leading Orthodox organizations in America promoting new synagogues and Jewish neighborhoods in places like South Florida, Las Vegas, Texas, and Arizona. These new dynamic Jewish communities offer a magnificent synagogue building, Jewish health clubs, glatt-kosher steakhouses, plush mikvahs, and the best in Jewish education. Sounds wonderful, right? The only trouble is that the Torah demands something different from Am Yisrael.
In this week’s Torah portion “Toldot” Hashem tells Yitzhak, "Do not go down to Egypt; dwell in the Land which I will tell you. Reside in this Land, and I will be with you and bless you; for to you and your offspring I will give all these lands, fulfilling the oath that I swore to your father Abraham (Bereshit 26:1-3).
The Rambam states:
“It is forbidden to leave the Land of Israel to the Exile at any time except to study Torah, to marry, or to save one's property from gentiles. After accomplishing these goals, one must return to the Land of Israel. Similarly, one may leave the Land of Israel to engage in commerce. However, it is forbidden to dwell permanently in the Exile unless there is a severe famine in the Land of Israel, so severe that a measure of wheat is sold for two measures of silver… Although this is permitted, it is not the quality of piety, for Mahlon and Kilyon were two great men of their generation, and they left only because of great difficulty, yet they were still Divinely punished for this decision” (Rambam, Laws of Kings 5:9).
Perhaps you will say, that this applies to someone who lives in the Land of Israel – not to someone born and raised in America. The Sages of the Talmud clarify matters, underscoring the centrality of Eretz Yisrael to the Torah for every Jew in all generations. They state: “In all times a Jew should live in the Land of Israel, even in a city where the majority of inhabitants are pagans, and not live in the Diaspora, even in a city where the majority of inhabitants are Jews, for everyone who dwells in Eretz Yisrael is like someone who has a G-d, and everyone who dwells outside of the Land resembles someone who has no G-d” (Ketubot 110B).
In his book, “Ma’ase Avot,” Rabbi Chaim Drukman, of blessed memory, highlights the word “sh’con” in Hashem’s command to Yitzhak to dwell in the Land, “sh’con b’aretz,” pointing out that the word “sh’con” is also the root word of “Shechinah” which refers to the “Divine Presence” and also the root of the word “sh’conah” meaning “neighborhood” (“Ma’ase Avot pg.326; See also “Bereshit Rabbah” 64:3).
In His command to Yitzhak to dwell in the Land, Hashem is instructing him to cultivate the Land and build a neighborhood for his family in order to bring the Shechinah (Hashem’s Presence) down to earth. We learn from this that the material development and building in the Land of Israel brings the Shechinah into the world. Orthodox communities in South Florida, Las Vegas, Texas, and Arizona might be pleasant places to live but they don’t induce the Shechinah to grace the neighborhood with its blessing. Hashem wants His children to live in Israel.
The mission of the Jewish People is to bring the Shechinah into the world. This can only come to pass in the Land especially created for holiness (see HaKuzari, Ch.2). The Shechinah will not dwell in an unholy place. To be a “Light to the nations” the Jewish People must all live in Eretz Yisrael. The Torah goes forth from Zion, not from the frum communities in the USA. Yes, there are halakhic ways to justify staying in the Diaspora, but a Jew is called upon to remember Jerusalem, not the Alamo.