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| ''Holy Land'' by Michoel Muchnik |
Excerpt from a letter written by the Lubavitcher Rebbe in 5731
''As for your mentioning the fact that according to the opinion of several poskim [legal authorities] it is a mitzvah to live in Eretz Yisrael, surely you know that all poskim agree that there are 612 additional mitzvot to be observed by Jews everywhere, and especially by those already living in the Holy Land. Indeed, those who are already there and are fulfilling the mitzvah of living in Eretz Yisrael should surely concentrate on the rest of the 612 mitzvot - those which apply nowadays of course.
Yishuv Eretz Yisrael [settling the Land of Israel] is so closely linked with the observance of the mitzvot, as also so clearly underscored in the prayer [in the additional service for festivals] which we have been saying for thousands of years - ''Because of our sins we have been exiled from our Land''.
This clearly indicates that every Jew who wants to help nullify the result [exile from our Land] must first of all nullify the cause - our sins.''
5 comments:
So the Rebbe also agreed that it is a mitzvah to live in the Land of Israel. Interesting.
Of course, but his mission was to gather in the Jews from all parts of the world and bring them back to yiddishkeit. And that is still the mission of his Chabad Houses and rabbis. Until Moshiach comes....
I'm not sure I understand. It's Hashem's Will that Jews should hold tight in exile until mashiach comes?
The way I understand it, it depends on the person. It is a mitzvah to live in Israel but there are also 612 other mitzvot which you can concentrate on if you are not yet in Israel, and by rectifying all of those, we nullify the reason why we are in Exile in the first place.
To elaborate on the Rebbe's saying above: Now, yishuv Eretz Yisrael is not one of the 613 mitzvos, which means that if a person lives in Israel, he is fulfilling a mitzvah; but if he does not live in Israel, it’s not a transgression [because other mitzvos that are a mitzvah if you do them, but if you don’t, you have not transgressed.]
So, regarding all the people who want to go to Eretz Yisrael because it’s a mitzvah the Rebbe asks, “Have they done all the other 613 mitzvos that are obligatory?” If one has done all the other mitzvos, and now you want to be totally complete, that is your privilege! However, there are people that jump to this mitzvah first, before they’ve done the other mitzvos that are definitely, without an argument, obligatory. The Rebbe is not saying that people should not come to Israel; the Rebbe is simply clarifying certain issues regarding coming to Israel. found here - NOW I UNDERSTAND BETTER, I better be sure I am doing all the other 612 mitzvos that apply to women!
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