3 replies to this topic

[matis28]

I know of a certain rosh yeshiva who cut down on the number of talmidim he sends to eretz yisroel because of Iran's plans to build nuclear bombs. This doesn't seem to be the shitoh of the majority of daas torah, but I don't know too many gedolim - I asked my rosh yeshiva, and he said 'I don't have ruach hakodesh, but lechora there's nothing to be concerned about'. I wanted to know what the Rov felt on the subject or if anybody had asked daas torah on the issue, anbd what they had to say.

[shaya]

hoe is it not a makom sakanah? ever since its creation in 1948 and even way before this country has been a makom sakanah for jews.

[matis28]

In general, of course eretz yisroel is more of a dangerous place than say, flatbush, but the risk of being killed by a terrorist is not something that would pose a shayloh of going there metzad going there - usually terrorism happens in certain areas, like busses, etc...which, while in one of those areas, one could kler if it is a sakanah anymore than driving a car or k'domeh. But usually, being in eretz yisroel in and of itself is not a sakanah. I was referring to something else - a threat of a nuclear bomb means that rachmanah litzlan all the yidden there could be wiped out in seconds, this means the etzem being there is the shayloh. The other way of looking at it is, of course, that Hashem has a special hashgacha on eretz yisroel, and that we should look at it as being lemayloh min hatevah, even perhaps, for one who normally is not holding on the highest levels of bitachon. Also, before the churban, we had neviim telling us to prepare for churban - do teshuvah, they said, or be wiped out; simple as that.(not to say that we could understand even a ma-she-hu of their nisyonos or madreigos, of course). In europe too, gedolim warned about the Holocaust years before it happened. Nowadays, that doesn'r seem to be the case.

[Rabbi Shapiro]

I'm not sure what you mean by "the majority of Daas Torah," but as to the question, it is one of Metzius and to echo the Rosh Yeshiva you mentioned, "I do not have Ruach HaKodesh." But I also don't agree that "there is nothing to worry about." The State of Israel, statistically, has shown to be the most dangerous place for a Jew to live since its creation. And this friction with Iran certainly exacerbates things. However, that does not mean it is a Halachic סכנה to live there or to go there to learn. It's simply a less safe place to be. People move to more dangerous neighborhoods for various reasons, including in order to learn.

The idea you mentioned about it somehow being supernaturally safer in EY is a myth. It says such a thing nowhere. On the contrary - Hashem's Hashgacha being stronger in EY and Kedushas EY means that the standards Hashem demands from those who live there are higher. Hashgacha does not mean "protection" and it does not mean safety. It means oversight and direct control. And the fact that EY is Hashem's palace and a holy place means that we must live on a higher level there. Hashem demands from us that we be on a higher level in EY than in Chutz Laaretz. Something that you could get away with in Chutz Laaretz can get you in trouble in EY, because of Kedushas Eretz Yisroel. The Ramban says that the reason Sodom was destroyed, even though there were other, worse places, is because Sodom was in Eretz Yisroel, and sins are judged stricter there. The holier the place, the better we are expected to behave.

Plus, the Satan focuses his energies on ruining people in holier places than he does when they are in less holy places, because getting someone to sin in a holier place is more of an accomplishment for him. Thus, the Rama MiPano explains the Posuk: יגער ה' בך השטן הבוחר בירושלים to mean that the Satan chooses Yerushalayim in particular to try to bring down its inhabitants.

If you want to live in EY you are expected to live a holier life than that which would be acceptable in Chutz LaAretz.

So the idea that a person is safer in EY is not true at all. Due to the increased Hashgacha and holiness, we are held more accountable for our behavior there than we are in Chutz LaAretz.

Besides - our eyes tell us that EY is definitely not safer than anywhere else in the world. Since the establishment of the State of Israel more Jews have been murdered there than everywhere else in the world (close to 25,000). The abundance of wars and terrorism there has unfortunately taken its toll.

May the Av HaRachamim have mercy on the Jews living in Eretz Yisroel as well as everywhere else in the world, and may we not know of any more Tzoros.