In the rebellion against British rule in Eretz Yisrael during the struggle for Israeli Statehood, the revolutionary poetry of Uri Zvi Greenberg was a source of inspiration for the underground freedom-fighters of the “Lehi” and the “Irgun.” In a famous poem called, “One Truth, Not Two,” he rejects the ideology of the prominently socialist Zionist establishment which preached that the Land of Israel would be redeemed through purchasing land and building settlements. The real truth, he maintained, was that Jewish independence would be attained through armed struggle against British rule. There is only one truth, he taught his followers, not two.
The same is true with the Land of Israel itself. There is only one Jewish Homeland, not two. Today, there is a point of view in the Diaspora which maintains that it is perfectly OK to live in foreign, Gentile countries. To Jews in America, for example, Jews can live in Israel if they like, but they can also live in the United States. To them, there is not one homeland, but two. To illustrate this tragedy, one need only glance back to the large pro-Israel demonstration in Washington D.C. not long after the outbreak of the war against Hamas. Toward the end of the gathering, the spirited crowd of largely young Modern Orthodox Jews sang out one of the popular anthems of America: “G-d bless America, the land that we love; G-d bless America, our home sweet home.”
Maintain what they will, the entire focus and goal of the Torah and the Prophets of Israel is the establishment of the Kingdom of Israel in Eretz Yisrael. The Jewish People are to flee from the exile, not to strive to prologue it.
When a Jew lives in an alien land, the powers of the land (its culture, language, traditions, etc.) influence the Jew’s sense of identity until he comes to believe that he is an Egyptian, or Frenchman, or a German Jew, forgetting that he is really an Israelite exiled from his one and only Homeland. Our Sages inform us that our forefather, Yaacov, commanded his children to bury him in Hevron because he wanted his sons to know, beyond all doubt, that the Land of Israel was their Homeland. Understanding the evil inclination that seduces Jews into living in foreign lands, Yaacov did not want to afford them the excuse of saying, “Our father is buried in Egypt – how can we leave him here and make Aliyah to Eretz Yisrael?”
When four-fifths of the Jews refused to follow Moshe to the Promised Land, G-d slayed all of the rebels during the Plague of Darkness in order to hide the disgrace. There is one homeland for the Jewish People, not two.
In the Wilderness, when the leaders of the tribes, who were the Torah Sages of the Nation, discouraged the Children of Israel from journeying onward to the Land of Israel, G-d called them non-believers and rebels, and wiped out the entire generation.
Certainly, if Moshe were alive today he would choose to live in Israel. If King David were alive today he too would choice to live in Israel. Think about it – can you imagine them choosing to live in Boca or LA when they could live in the Holy Land? Similarly, if they were alive today, Yehuda the Maccabee, Rabbi Akiva, the Rambam, and others less religious like Theodore Herzl and Ze’ev Jabotinsky would certainly live in Israel as well. This is what Zionism is all about.
But in recent times, after the Holocaust wiped out a third of the Jewish People, Jews in affluent Western countries soon forgot that the exile is a punishment and curse. They fell in love with their alien domiciles, grasping onto the fallacy that there are two homelands, not one. Yes, they will admit, the Land of Israel is the historic birthplace of the Jewish People, but that’s ancient history with no bearing on actual life. Even Orthodox Jews, who follow the commandments of the Torah, evolved a labyrinth of Talmudic explanations and excuses to justify their not making Aliyah upon the establishment of the Jewish State. Although the Ramban and a long list of early and later Torah Authorities state that dwelling in the Land of Israel is a Torah commandment in all generations (see Shulchan Oruch, Pitchei Tshuva, Even HaEzer, 75:6), these lovers of the Diaspora cite Rabbis who have written otherwise. Some say that Jews are forbidden to return to the Land of Israel en masse until the Mashiach brings us there – ignoring the obvious fact that G-d has gone ahead without waiting for Mashiach and made the State of Israel one of the most powerful nations in the world, as well as the center of world Torah. Other Orthodox Jews will say that the commandment to live in Israel is only a Rabbinic commandment, but these same devout Jews will fulfill the Rabbinic mitzvahs of Hanukah and Purim with all of their tiniest details. In the meantime, they identify wholeheartedly with being French, South African, and American, believing the illusion that it is perfectly OK to live in foreign lands. But there is one truth, not two.
Many people who read Jewish newspapers or websites are deluding into thinking that the Jews in the Diaspora are a vibrant community. After all, look at all of the articles and advertisements about Jewish organizations, Jewish conferences, Jewish bakeries, and glatt-kosher steakhouses. Jewish singles parties and kosher Passovers and cruises all over the world! But in reality, studies show that seventy to eighty percent of Diaspora Jews have absolutely no connection to Jewishness. The exile Jew is a vanishing species. In the meantime, the twenty percent still possessing a Jewish identity are sailing away into the horizon of oblivion, enjoying the cruise as long as they can.
Thus we are faced with the sad situation whereby retiring Rabbis in the Diaspora make Aliyah to Palm Springs and Miami Beach; while others run for the United States Congress; while still others in black hats and long black coats make an annual pilgrimage to Brooklyn, as if Crown Heights was the Jewish Nation’s capital and not Jerusalem. Even Donald Trump knows the difference!
We are not talking about individual cases where someone must be in the Diaspora to take care of sick parents or for other exceptional cases where a person is prevented against his or her. We are taking about the tragic situation of entire Jewish communities ensconced in the darkness of exile, believing that it is perfectly OK to live in Gentile countries. But it is not OK. There is only one Promised Land, not two.
