I have spoken in 500 Jewish communities across the globe and have heard - countless times - the following line; “I will make Aliyah when Moshiach arrives." Here’s my one question for anyone who thinks that way: Do you really believe that? Let’s take a closer look.
Writing in a recent issue of The Kiddush Times, Rabbi Alex Israel pointed out that the prophet Nechemiah arrived in Jerusalem 70 years after the Second Temple was rebuilt. He had been a senior figure in the Persian government, but when he heard what was happening in Jerusalem, he received permission from King Artaxerxes (good luck pronouncing that…) to move to Israel to become the High Commissioner on behalf of the Persian government. He arrived in Eretz Yisrael some 3,315 years ago.
Imagine what he saw. “Bayit Sheni" had been built and all of Am Yisrael was back home. The exile is over!! Children are playing in the streets of Jerusalem… the Kohen Gadol is serving the Nation in all his glory… Torah institutions are opening daily across the country… right??? Wrong!!!
Nechemiah is shocked by what he sees. The country has not been rebuilt and Jerusalem - the city of gold - is full of rubble and debris. The country was sparsely populated as the majority of world Jewry continued living outside the Land of Israel. (Note: This continued throughout the entire history of the Second Temple - most Jews lived outside Eretz Yisrael!!) Nechemiah records how people were desecrating Shabbat. Read his words in sefer Nechemiah 13:15 (translation by ArtScroll):
“In those days I observed in Judah, people treading on winepresses on Shabbat and people bringing sheaves and loading them on the donkeys, as well as wine, grapes and figs, and every burden, bringing them to Jerusalem on Shabbat!" He further writes how the marketplaces were open on Shabbat… in Yerushalayim… very close to the Bet Ha’Mikdash!
To his credit, Nechemiah rebuilt the walls of the holy city and returned it to greatness. Together with his partner, the great Ezra, he began to educate Am Yisrael, stop intermarriage, observe Shmittah and make the Bet Ha’Mikdash the center of Jewish life. That’s the good news. The bad news is that despite these changes, despite the fact that our prayers had been answered and Jerusalem had been rebuilt… Am Yisrael stayed away.
I realize that most people will not like the next sentence, but here goes: I’m afraid that the same thing will happen when Moshiach arrives. Think about it. The Rambam writes very clearly in Hilkhot Melachim u’Milchamoteihem, chapter 12 (translation by Rabbi Eliyahu Touger, published by Moznaim); “Do not presume that in the Messianic age, the nature of the world will change or there will be innovations in the work of creation. Rather, the world will continue according to its pattern… There will be no difference between the current age and the Messianic era except for our subjugation to the (gentile) kingdoms…"
What all this means is quite simple. According to the Rambam (yes, there are different opinions, but the Rambam has always been the leading source), the world will act exactly as it does now with one change: There will be 100% total peace. No wars, no anti-Semitism, no “Free Palestine" demonstrations and no NY mayors who threaten to arrest the Israeli Prime Minister. When that happens, when nobody will call your daughter a “filthy Zionist" in Columbia University… when security guards are no longer needed outside shuls and Bet Chabads around the world… when Tucker Carlson, Mel Gibson and Kanye West start loving Jews again… why would you leave your big house in Boca Raton or Monsey and move to an apartment in Ramat Bet Shemesh?
Also - how much do you think your house will be worth at that time? Remember the words of the Rambam: “Olam k’minhago holech" (The world will continue according to its pattern). This means that you will have to sell your house, find a job in Israel, register your kids in school and worse of all: Learn Hebrew (oh no!!!) Or… you can choose “Option #2" which is far simpler. Stay in your present home, keep your cushy job, let your kids go to the same summer camps, fly to exotic places during “Yeshiva week" and simply book a suite at the Waldorf for Sukkot and Pesach and hop over to the Bet Ha’Mikdash, after the 10-course breakfast!
Did you really think that Moshiach - the King of Israel - would change all your plans? I am afraid that the opposite might be true!
It will be thanks to Moshiach that your life in the USA, Canada, UK, Australia, France etc… just got better! No more fear of walking around Europe wearing a kippa! No more hiding your Jewish star necklace in universities! Please convince me… NO!! - let me rewrite that: Please convince yourselves that when anti-Semitism is down to ZERO, you will really pack up everything and move to Israel. This is why I never push Aliyah as an answer to anti-Semitism. That is not the reason for coming home. Don’t run away from things… run towards your destiny and your Nation!
I hope that the words of this article will never come true. I pray that every Yid - across the world - will indeed come home now... and if not now, then as soon as possible - even before Moshiach arrives. In the meantime, ask yourself some of the difficult questions I raised, then sit and figure out the answers. If you are totally honest, you will undoubtedly arrive at the one and only conclusion possible: Come greet Moshiach as a local Israeli resident and not as a tourist. Unfortunately, Jews did not do this during “Bayit Sheni" so let’s repair that mistake in time for “Bayit Sh’lishi".
Am Yisrael Chai!