Update: The Spies, Crisis and Aliyah by Ariel Natan Pasko

Update: The Spies, Crisis and Aliyah by Ariel Natan Pasko

It Can’t Happen Here! Oh Yes It Can!

By Ariel Natan Pasko

Spain, Germany, America; where are Jews going to run to next, China?

Better to be a refugee in the Jewish State, than a prince in the Midbar HaAmim (Desert of the Nations).

Every Galut (place of exile), comes to an end. Egypt came to an end. Babylon/Persia came to an end. The Soviet Union came to an end. American will come to an end.

Every Galut comes to an end, and it’s never pretty…

Rabbi Meir Simcha HaKohen of Dvinsk (1843-1926), is known for his renowned works the, “Ohr Somayach,” a commentary on the Rambam’s Mishneh Torah, and the “Meshech Chochma,” a commentary on the Torah.

british-mandate-for-palestine-secular-year-1920
Source: http://www.mythsandfacts.org/Conflict/mandate_for_palestine/MandateN2%20-%2010-29-07-English.pdf

Rabbi Meir Simcha was a strong supporter of the resettlement of Eretz Yisrael, the Land of Israel, and greeted the Balfour Declaration of 1917 and later, the San Remo conference in 1920, with great enthusiasm. He saw them, that the nations recognized the rights of the Jews to Eretz Yisrael, as signs of the beginning of the Geulah, the redemption of the Jewish people.

In a famous, near-prophetic passage in his Meshech Chochma, written before 1926, he predicted the Holocaust. “If a Jew thinks that Berlin is Jerusalem…from there will come the storm winds that will uproot him by his trunk, a tempest will arise and spread its roaring waves, and swallow, and destroy, and flood forth without pity,” (Meshech Chochma, Leviticus 26:44).

Every Galut comes to an end, and it’s never pretty…

In this week’s Torah Reading Devarim (Deuteronomy), Moses reminds the generation of children that grew up in the Sinai Desert (and are about to enter Eretz Yisrael), how their parent’s generation sinned.

“Then all of you [their parents] came to me and said: ‘Let’s send men ahead to spy out the land for us and bring back a report about the route we’re to take, and the towns we will come to.’ The idea seemed good to me; so I selected twelve of you, one man from each tribe. They left and went up into the hill country, and came to the Valley of Eshcol and explored it.”

“Taking with them some of the fruit of the land, they brought it down to us and reported, ‘It’s a good land, that HaShem (the God of Israel), our God, is giving us.’ But you didn’t want ‘LaAlot’ (to make Aliyah, to go up); you rebelled against the word of HaShem, your God. You spoke slander in your tents and said, ‘HaShem hates us. He brought us out of Egypt to deliver us into the hands of the Amorites to destroy us,’” (Deuteronomy 1:22-27).

Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzato in his book, Mesillat Yesharim (The Path of the Just), chapter 11, discussing ‘The Lust for Honor’ states, “According to our sages of blessed memory, what caused the spies to utter evil speech on the Land, leading to their death and the death of an entire generation? They feared that others will take over their position when they enter Israel thereby diminishing their honor, namely that they will no longer be princes over Israel,” (Zohar on Numbers 13:3).

Rabbis, federation heads, presidents of major American Jewish organizations, lawyers, doctors, hedge fund guys and gals, millionaires, billionaires and Indian chiefs…They won’t be big “Machers” (important people) in the community anymore, in Eretz Yisrael.

Better to be a refugee in the Jewish State, than a prince in the Midbar HaAmim (Desert of the Nations).

It Can’t Happen Here! Oh Yes It Can!

The CoronaVirus pandemic, out of control anti-Semitism from the far Left, far Right and Muslim Jihadists, and economic collapse in most of the countries of the Golah (exile) where Jews reside, is speeding up the inevitable, unfolding process of redemption of the Jewish people.

See my articles: “The God of Israel’s Hand in Nature and History,” and “BLM and Black Nazis are Evil Like White Nazis,” where I explain this in more detail.

The God of Israel is carrying out Kibbutz Galuyot (the ingathering of the exiles), just as He promised in the Book of Ezekiel, “…So says the Lord God: Behold I will take the children of Israel from among the nations where they have gone, and I will gather them from every side, and I will bring them to their land,” (Ezekiel 36:21).

I listened to a recent podcast by Josh Wander (BringThemHome.org.il) entitled, “American Hasidim are Secretly Organizing to Make Aliyah!!!” The interviewee Yehuda Singer, spoke about groups of Hasidim (that he’s a part of), on WhatsApp, discussing Hashkafic (philosophical) issues related to Eretz Yisrael, the Redemption, the growing problems in America and practical steps to make Aliyah.

Massive waves of Jews, are planning to come on Aliyah, to Israel, in the next few years.

For example, Nefesh B’Nefesh, which assists in immigration to Israel from North America and the United Kingdom, announced at the end of June, that it had signed a contract with El AL Airlines for 14 “Group Aliyah Flights,” from New York to Tel Aviv, over the course of the next three months. Nefesh B’Nefesh reported that the number of applications in May 2020, was the highest since the organization’s founding in 2002.

In Parshat Haazinu, Moses sings/prophecies, “He found them [Israel] in a desert land, and in a desolate, howling wasteland…As an eagle awakens its nest, hovering over its fledglings, it spreads its wings, taking them and carrying them on its pinions. He made them ride upon the high places of the earth…” (Deuteronomy 32:10-11, 13).

Rashi explains “He made them ride [upon the high places],” [referring to] the Land of Israel, because it is higher [spiritually] than all other countries. — (Targum Onkelos, Sifrei 32:13).

The eagle carrying the Jewish people on his wings, is symbolic of the unfolding messianic process of redemption, the Kibbutz Galuyot promised by the prophets. In the Torah portion of Yitro (Exodus 19:4), HaShem also refers to the redemption from Egypt, as redemption, “on the wings of eagles.” Clearly, the eagle and his wings have messianic implications. The redemption of the Jewish people continues…

Better to be a refugee in the Jewish State, than a prince in the Midbar HaAmim (Desert of the Nations).

By the way, Israel isn’t a third world country anymore, if you haven’t noticed…

“The streets are paved with gold,” for those who can see, “Tovah HaAretz Meod Meod,” The Land is very, very good! (Numbers 14:7).

With the CoronaVirus Pandemic, Growing Anti-Semitism, Economic Collapse; What Will It Take To Become Jew-woke, And Move Back to the Homeland, To Israel?

Ariel Natan Pasko, an independent analyst and consultant, has a Master’s Degree specializing in International Relations, Political Economy & Policy Analysis. His articles appear regularly on numerous news/views and think-tank websites and in newspapers. His latest articles can also be read on his archive: The Think Tank by Ariel Natan Pasko.

(c) 2020/5780 Pasko

comment by Shlomo Moshe Scheinman: What Ariel N. Pasko writes fits in with what Rabbi Teichtal wrote in his book Eim Habanim Semeicha.
One can read Eim Habanim Smeicha translated into English online, at
http://www.israel613.com/books/ERETZ_EM_HA_BANIM-ENG.CV.pdf  
A backup copy from that site is stored here, in case that link stops working.
The book’s ISBN code is 965-7108-17-9
It should be noted that Jewish communities outside of Israel that have been very supportive of the process of ingathering of the exiles, might merit to come back to Israel under more merciful conditions for Jews (that is to say some other group takes the hit).
As it says in Yishayahu / Isaiah chapter 43 as translated by https://www.sefaria.org.il/Isaiah.43.2?lang=en&with=all&lang2=en
But now thus said the LORD— Who created you, O Jacob, Who formed you, O Israel: Fear not, for I will redeem you; I have singled you out by name, You are Mine.
2) When you pass through water, I will be with you; Through streams, They shall not overwhelm you. When you walk through fire, You shall not be scorched; Through flame, It shall not burn you.
3) For I the LORD am your God, The Holy One of Israel, your Savior. I give Egypt as a ransom for you, Ethiopia and Saba in exchange for you.
4) Because you are precious to Me, And honored, and I love you, I give men in exchange for you And peoples in your stead.
5) Fear not, for I am with you: I will bring your folk from the East, Will gather you out of the West;
6) I will say to the North, “Give back!” And to the South, “Do not withhold! Bring My sons from afar, And My daughters from the end of the earth—
In addition, according to Kol Hator’s analysis of Yishayahu / Isaiah chapter 54 the expansion of Israel can lead to the ingathering of the exiles, with great mercy.
Comment #2
Q: Does Jewish law obligate Jews to live in Israel, even before the arrival of the Messiah?
A: Rabbi Yissachar Teichtal in his book Eim Habanim Smeicha [Hebrew edition] pages 200,201 explains: that the Rebbe of Gur, (Rabbi Avraham Mordechay Alter z”l) held that the mitzvah of building and settling the land of Israel is not dependent on a particular time period, but rather only on our pragmatic ability to perform the mitzvah and he meant thus to negate the minority opinion, that this mitzvah is dependent on the arrival of the Messiah.
“And similarly the opinion of the Chareidim chapter 1 of the positive Mitzvot that are dependent on the land of Israel, that he wrote with this wording ‘It is a positive commandment to dwell in the land of Israel’, for it was said, ‘And you shall expel from within it and you shall dwell in it’. And our Sages of Blessed Memory said, ‘that this mitzvah is equivalent in weight to all the other Mitzvot of the Torah combined‘.  And it is one of the 613 Mitzvot according to the Ramban and Rashbatz.”
…….”And earlier on I have already written that also according to the Rambam (Maimonides) it is a mitzvah from the Torah- the dwelling/settling in the land and the reason he did not consider it as part of the 613 commandments is for the reason that it encompasses the entire Torah and therefore it was not counted in the counting of the Mitzvot ( for a technical reason, mentioned in shoresh 4 of the 14 shorashim at the beginning of Sefer Hamitzvot). And at this time, I have found in the commentary of our Rabbi, the Holy Ohr Hachayim at the end of Parshat Netzavim that he wrote the following: ‘For the dwelling/settling of the land – is a mitzvah that encompasses the entire Torah’. (End of Quote)
“And it is an obligation upon every son of Israel (i.e. every Jew) to use all opportunities that come to him (for this mitzvah) at every time and every hour with all force and strength.”