Should Jews Leave America And Move To Israel?

I love Israel. I was born there. I wish I can live there. And I'm only here because my rabbi tells me I have to be here. The second he tells me I don't have to be, I'm out. I'm going to Israel, too. But that doesn't mean I'm going to tell everybody to go, too. Rabbi Nachman gave a lecture and gave several points of why American Jews should leave US and go to Israel if they're able to, of course. Okay? Rabbi Nachman call the kavod to all the good he does and did. He's not a gadol hador. And um you don't uh we don't take a uh commands just because it's a good idea. We everybody has to listen to the words of the sages. The gadol hador have told us time and time again. If somebody wants to make aliyah, Rabbi Sternbuch wrote a letter [snorts] about this less than 5 years ago. Somebody wants to make aliyah, they can make aliyah so long as they can answer in a positive way to the three questions. Question number one. Are they going to be able to become stay as religious or become more religious by going to Israel? Them and their kids. Are they going to be able to? If their rabbi, their yeshiva, their their community is better where they're living right now outside of Israel, and if they move to Israel, they'll only live in a uh place where they're going to become less religious, then they're not allowed to make aliyah. It's a sin for them to make aliyah. That's number one. Number two, do they have a way to make a living in Israel or are they going to be in the poorhouse? Now yeah, you could say, "Oh, have emunah, have emunah." Sure, have emunah, but you also have to understand that you have to have a plan, too. You have to have a plan, also. If you have a specific business here and that business does not travel with you and it's not a sellable business, which means that you live month to month from this business and you are simply relying on the fact that the moment you land in Israel, you're going to find a replacement for all of your income on day one and you don't have any other way to to make uh ends meet, that's not a good idea. It's not a good idea. You have to have some way to make a living. If you don't have a way to make a living living in Israel, but you do have a way to make a living where you are, then certainly uh moving to Israel is not a good idea for you. And the third thing is shalom bayit. If you want to move to Israel, but the rest of your family does not want to move to Israel, especially your spouse does not want to move to Israel to such a point where they say that if you move to Israel, we're getting a divorce, guess what? You're forbidden from moving to Israel. You're not allowed to get a divorce just for the sake of of moving to Israel. So, to say, "Oh, people should go to Israel if they you know, it's great. It's nice." But you have to understand that there are gedolei Yisrael that give us guidance. Guidance that takes da'at Torah into effect. What is da'at Torah? Da'at Torah considers all of the halachic implications that have to do with life beyond getting on an airplane, beyond being idealistic and living next to the uh the the graves of the tzaddikim and going to an ancient synagogue. Gedolei Yisrael teach us how to live as a Jew. You do not have an obligation to live in Israel right now. Israel is not considered right now to be a place we're obligated to live in. Mashiach has not come. In fact, if you look at the Torah sages throughout history, many of them lived outside of Israel, whether it's the Rambam, the Ramban for most of his life, Rashi, the Baalei Tosafot, the Talmud Bavli, all of the sages you know, the Talmud Bavli, many of gedolei Yisrael lived outside of Israel and even the Torah sages of the last 100 years traveled and lived outside of Israel for several years and sometimes on a permanent basis, whether you have a Rabbi Ovadia Yosef leaving Israel for several years to live in Egypt, a Rabbi uh um Aktion that moved to Panama uh and lived there for the rest of his life. The point is is that to just say, "Oh, live in Israel if you can." If that's all anybody said. I'm not saying I don't know what Rabbi Nachman says. I'm just reading what you wrote. Anybody says, "Oh, move to Israel." If that's all they said, that's an irresponsible statement. Why? Because you have to take everything into consideration. And to make people just be idealistic and say, "Oh, if you move to Israel, everything will be great." It's not true. It's simply not true. Anyone that's not aware of what's happening in Israel has to understand that for many people, it's much more difficult to live a religious life in Israel than it is anywhere else in the world. Because right now the government of Israel has declared war against the religion, against Judaism. So, if you are a 40-50-year-old man with no young kids, you want to go move to Israel, go. Go move to Israel. Go tomorrow. Go right now. Stop the shiur. Go fly right now. If you can afford it, you can go there, go. But you're not the average person. The average person is somebody that's married to another somebody that has a few somebody kids, two, three, four, five, six, 10 kids, whatever they have, and some of them are teenagers. WELL, GUESS WHAT? AS SOON AS THEY GO TO ISRAEL, those teenagers are on the army's target. They're a teenager. Going to You're going to go TO THE ARMY. NO, NO, NO, we're religious. We don't want to go to the army. Okay, so you're going to go to jail instead. WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO TELL THAT SOMEBODY? MOVE TO ISRAEL SO YOUR KIDS CAN GO TO THE ARMY and defend all THE ZIONISTS OVER THERE THAT ARE fighting against the Torah? What are YOU GOING TO TELL HIM? MOVE TO ISRAEL BECAUSE WHAT? WHAT WHAT'S GOING TO HAPPEN IF YOU'RE GOING TO MOVE TO ISRAEL? WHAT? YOU'RE GOING TO DEFEND those kids from the terrorists that are trying to kill them every 2 seconds, whether spiritually or physically? You're going TO TAKE THE RESPONSIBILITY ON YOUR shoulders that this little 15-year-old kid that grew up with pretty much the the the scariest thing that he saw in his life is traffic, and now he's going to GO TO ISRAEL. SECOND YEAR he's there, he's going to the army. YOU'RE GOING TO PROTECT HIM? YOU'RE GOING TO FIGHT FOR HIM? YOU'RE GOING TO TELL THE FATHER THAT UH HE has to go to war? Now you're GOING TO SAY, "NO, NO, I WENT TO THE ARMY. I WOULD go to THE ARMY." SO, YOU GO. You can't decide for other people. Not everybody wants to go to the army. Not everybody should go to the army. AND GUESS WHAT? Right now, that's no longer a free choice because I have bachurim in Israel that the the Israeli government treated them like outright criminals, showed up at their house at 2:00, 3:00 in the morning, smashing down the door, taking the kid, the teenager, 18-year-old kid out of the bed and put him in jail. Why? Because he didn't go to the army. And he went to yeshiva instead. So, who who's going to take him out of jail? You or or or or the uh the the other idealistic people? Who's going TO TAKE HIM OUT of jail? I don't like idealistic people because they're stupid. You have to take real life into consideration. Real life into consideration. Living in America is not easy at all and it's not for everyone. Living in Israel is not easy and is not for everyone. Everyone has to evaluate their own circumstances and speak to their rav and decide accordingly. There is no one-size-fits-all. For some people, moving to Morocco is the best thing they can do. The Moroccan Jewish community. For other people, the best thing they can do is move to the community in Lakewood in America. For other people, the best thing to do is to move to Tzfat or to move to Beit Shemesh or to move to uh uh you know, somewhere in Jerusalem. Everyone has to evaluate their circumstances. There is no one-size-fits-all. And this idealistic talks, "Oh, you know, the war is coming and and if you want to be saved, go to Israel." Khabibi, the war is going to be in Israel. The land will not protect anyone. IT DOESN'T MATTER WHERE YOU ARE. THE ONLY thing that will protect anybody is how they served Hashem before the war started. That's the only thing that you will protect you. If you're a wicked person, you can be sitting on top OF THE KOTEL HAMAARAVI and still get destroyed. And if you're righteous, you can be literally right next to the atomic bomb and Hashem will save you. Why? Because Hakadosh Baruch Hu runs the world. Not the land, not the government, not the weapons. So, you have to understand we cannot be idealistic to the point of stupidity. We have to be conscious of reality and apply the Torah to reality and not live in fairy tale dreams. Because to make idealistic statements breaks up marriages. Makes life hell for people. I know because I deal with those people that they listen to all types of idealistic things and they abandon everything. Habibi, last year you were a mechallel Shabbat. This year you're living in Tzfat. This year you're living next to the Kotel. You think that what you're Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai? You left your wife and kids back in the cave and you're here. You think you're doing a mitzvah? You're not doing a mitzvah. You're not doing a mitzvah. I had somebody come to me just a few days ago. Told me, "Listen, Rabbi, I'm thinking about going to learn in kollel full-time." Now, this sounds like every rabbi's dream, right? A person that did teshuvah just a few years ago wants to go learn in kollel full-time. If you are the rabbi you would say, "YEAH, THIS GUY'S A TZADDIK." WELL, GUESS WHAT? YOU WOULD BE WRONG. WHY? Because I told him "Don't go to kollel." Because it will ruin your life. Not because Torah will ruin your life. Your decision will ruin your life. Because you are not alone. You're a married man. And your wife is not on board with you going to kollel. And the fact that she's not on board will become even worse after you go to kollel and you don't make an income anymore and you don't have a way to feed the kids anymore. And on top of it you're moving to a different place. AND GUESS WHAT? YOU'RE GOING TO END UP IN A DIVORCE. Hashem does not give you the Torah so you can get a divorce. You can work and you can study ALL AT THE SAME TIME. YOU DON'T HAVE TO go to a kollel to study. You can study at home after work. You can study at home before work. Being at kollel is not the only way for you to study Torah. And a person has to take every single situation into consideration. There are some students of mine that I tell them "The best thing for you is to go to yeshiva, to go to kollel, park there for the next 5 10 20 50 years." For some people I tell them, "Absolutely not." Why? "It will ruin your life." Why is one this one the other? Because you take into consideration their personal situation. And not act idealistic and give a one-size-fits-all advice. Judaism is not one-size-fits-all. The Torah is not one-size-fits-all. We have to know how to apply the laws. That's why the Torah says Hashem gave us Torah to live by it and not to die by it. So I understand people think that if they move to Israel and they go to Tzfat or they go to Jerusalem or they go to wherever they uh Tveria or wherever they they they their dream is to be, everything is going to be great. Guess what? It may not be. Because the Gemara itself says three things are acquired through suffering. Three things. One Olam Haba. You're not going to get to Olam Haba without suffering. Two, Israel. Living in Israel. Everyone has to understand living in Israel is not simple. Living in Israel is not simple. You may be used to getting Amazon boxes to your house every day, every other day, getting your groceries delivered. You're used to, you know, people saying, "Thank you for coming, sir. The customer's ALWAYS RIGHT." GUESS WHAT? YOU SHOW UP TO ISRAEL, first thing you're going to get, "Customer's always right?" You're going TO GET A CUFF FOOT TO THE FACE. What customer always right? You must have right. I'm not the bell. WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT? NO CUSTOMER. I'M RIGHT. I'M THE BOSS. There's no customer service in Israel. And you a little American, a little with your customer always right mentality, you're going to get A CUFF FOOT TO THE FACE. That's what you're going to get. AND GUESS WHAT? YOUR LITTLE AMERICAN kids are going TO HAVE AN SO, AGAIN I LOVE ISRAEL. I was born there. I wish I can live there. And I'm only here because my rabbi tells me I have to be here. The second he tells me I don't have to be, I'm out. I'm going to Israel, too. But that doesn't mean I'm going to tell everybody to go, too. Why? Every case has to be treated with responsibility. Cannot be idealistic. Why? Because the Torah is Torah Chaim. It's Torah for life. It's Torah for life. I know some people that made idealistic moves. They left everything in a short period of time. "I'm making aliyah." They thought they were like back in, you know, leaving Egypt. And guess what? Some of them ended up getting divorced. Some of them ended up losing all their money and coming back to the country they came from. Some of them live there and they're miserable, but they can't afford to leave. And some are very very happy that they did. And they told me, "Listen, you should come and we love you. We'd love to have you here." It's not a one-size-fits-all. Some people succeed and have a lot of blessing as a result of their move. Some people do not. Cannot give general advice. Everybody has to go. It's not true. Some people, especially those that have young kids that are teenagers the last thing you should do is move to Israel right now. Why? I don't know. Why would you want your kids to go to the army? For what? They don't need more soldiers. And you don't need more dead bodies. What are you going to do? Tell your kids go to the army? So they can go to the army and then beat you up because you're religious? Because that's what a lot of the soldiers are doing now and the police officers. They're commanded to beat up the religious people. To go out take a religious woman and beat her up in the middle of the street and take off her kissui rosh. That's what they did a week ago. A woman that was old enough to be his mother. They beat her up. That's what you want? YOUR KID TO GO to the army so they can beat you up? The government is training these young 18-year-old kids to be criminals. If they didn't already become criminals, they become criminals after they join the army. And don't get me wrong. I love soldiers. I have many soldiers that have listened to my shiurim, that have helped, that have donated, that have helped and I continue to help. But right now what's happening, the government is at war. The government of Israel is at war against the Torah. They are literally influencing and forcing these kids to beat up their brothers and sisters. But when it comes to the enemy the terrorist they're not allowed to kill them. They're not allowed to kill them. If they kill one of the terrorists they go to jail. Soldiers, Israeli soldiers sitting in jail because they killed an Arab terrorist that already killed somebody. No, Netanyahu is not a good Jew. He's a kofer apikoros. What are you talking about good Jew? What's good about him? That he's a mechallel Shabbat? That he allowed dozens of planes full of Christian missionaries to enter Israel during COVID-19 when Jews were not even allowed to leave the house, but he allowed the idolaters, the missionaries to come to Israel. What's good about him? That he sold out the entire country as a as as an experiment for these drugs during COVID-19? What's good about him? And don't get me wrong. The next guy that wants to replace him is worse than him. But to call him a good Jew, what's good about what Jew what what's what's Jewish about him? He's a mechallel Shabbat. He doesn't keep Torah and mitzvot. He's a compulsive liar like all politicians. People have to understand we have only one truth. That's the Torah. Everything else is a lie. But the Torah does not tell us to live with blind faith and be idealistic. Doesn't tell us that. It doesn't tell us that. Torah tells us use the Torah to live by it. Which means if you're going to have a better easier way to serve Hashem to raise your kids to be religious Jews, to learn Torah in the exile then stay in the exile. Whether that's in America or it's in Iran for all I care. Doesn't make a difference. If you're going to be a religious Jew and your kids are going to be religious Jews and you're not worried about your life, you're not worried about you know somebody killing you every day, you're worried simply about serving Hashem and you are doing that perfectly well wherever you are then stay where you are. There's no obligation for you to move. Now once Messiah comes all of the things that are problem are not going to be a problem anymore. He's going to you know fight all the enemies of the Torah. He's going to fight all the wicked things. But until then we're living in the exile. We're living in the exile. Even if you live in Israel, it's still considered the exile. Why? Because Israel is not controlled by the Torah right now. Israel is controlled by people that are against the Torah. The politicians that are running Israel are against the Torah. Many of them are communist heretics, atheists, lefty, liberal. They hate the Torah even if some of them wear a kippah. So we have to stop deluding ourselves to thinking that oh, everybody should move. Who has big enough shoulders to say such a thing? Rav Ovadia Yosef didn't say such things. And you're telling me somebody is giving blanket advice like this though. I highly doubt that Rabbi Nachman said everybody should go. He said you know, probably said something similar to what I'm saying or maybe added more color to a single statement. But again, regardless of who said it, I don't care if I you know I whatever the real Torah tells us what I just said. How do I know? That's what the latest Torah taught us. That's what the latest Torah taught us and that's how that's how we Simple. >> [music] >> Amen. Amen. Amen.