A holy conference should be held in a holy land.

Choni Davidowitz, Johannesburg

My first reaction would be that since this slogan would entail the speedy ingathering of our entire people to our Land of Israel after 2 000 years of exile, any conference of this kind by so many holy Jews should be held in our own land and not in a doomed Diaspora. A football field in Tel Aviv is far holier than any venue in the Diaspora.

Rabbi Dovid Hazdan was quite right when he reminded us of the time 26 years ago when the Rebbe “assured” South African Jews that it would be “good” for Jews in South Africa, and even better when Mashiach arrives.

Rabbi Hazdan, however, did not tell us that the same Rebbe also wrote the following profound words: “Any Jew living outside of Israel should always feel deep pain and remorse that he is living in exile away from his Homeland.” (Likutei sichos Vol 30 p234).

In my opinion, if any Jew in the Diaspora felt this emotion at the time before the Second World War, he might have thought of making his way to “Palestine”. Almost all the chassidic and Orthodox rabbis in Europe before the war gave their communities the same advice to remain where they were. We all know the tragic and unspeakable consequences of their judgement.

Today, the raging plague of intermarriage and assimilation in the Diaspora is staggering. No amount of kiruv by Chabad or any other outreach movement is going to stop it. It is a crisis that only aliyah can stop. I believe that Chabad should concentrate much of their holy work in the Diaspora to this end. Isn’t this what we mean by “We want Mashiach now”?

I repeat: The picture in last week’s Jewish Report was indeed awesome.  (But) it would be far more awesome if future conferences were held at the greatest gift of love Hashem gave to His people: The Land of Israel.