Making the move to Israel

The question of why it’s necessary for a Jew to move to Israel is puzzling to me. 

I’m not saying that everyone should drop everything and move to Israel. I believe in smart aliya, which includes plans for how to make a living and making sure that the timing is right for a family. But even if one remains away from Israel for either of those reasons, it doesn’t change the reality that all Jews should be living in Israel. 

I recognise that this may come across as extreme. 

But imagine if G-d came to you right now and told you He has a gift He would like to give you. Is there any chance you would turn your back and say that it’s not for you or it’s not a good time for you to accept His gift? 

The Peel Commission gathered in 1936 to try find a solution to the conflict in then Palestine. David Ben Gurion appeared before the commission and declared, “Our right to the Land of Israel is not given by the British government or the Balfour Declaration. It is much older. The Bible is our mandate to the land.” 

In Genesis 12:7, G-d appeared to Abraham and told him, “To your descendants I will give this land.” G-d made the same promise to Isaac in Genesis 26:3, “to you and your descendants I will give all these lands”, and to Jacob in Genesis 35:12, “The land that I gave to Avraham and Yitzchak I will give to you and to your descendants.” G-d then reaffirms this to the Jewish people hundreds of years later in Exodus 6:8, “I shall bring you to the land about which I raised My hand to give it to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and I shall give it to you as a heritage.” 

“Your heritage!” 

G-d has given every single Jew a heritage – the Land of Israel, the land He says is “more beloved to me than anything” (Midrash Bamidbar Rabbah 23:7). 

The Hebrew word for Jewish immigration to Israel is “aliyah”, which literally means “going up”. This does not refer to the topography of Israel compared with other lands but, rather, to the spiritual elevation one receives through moving to the Holy Land. King David teaches, in reference to being in Israel, that “One day in Your courtyards is better than 1 000 elsewhere” (Psalms 84:11). This is why our tradition teaches that “It is preferable to dwell in the deserts of the Land of Israel than the palaces of the Diaspora” (Bereshit Rabba 39:8), and that “it is better to live in the Land of Israel in a city mostly populated by gentiles (often translated in this context as “idolaters” or “non-Jews”) than to live outside of Israel even in a city populated by Jews” (Tractate Ketubot 110b). 

This is also why Rabbi Yonatan Eybeschutz, a prominent 18th-century rabbi, wrote, “If a person has all that he desires, he should always remember that he is lacking something, because he is not in the Land of Israel … He should be sad about that because the most important thing is missing.” Israel is our inheritance from G-d. He created us and knows what is best for us. 

There is another dimension to the benefit of moving to Israel at this time in history. 

The Bible relates that the people of Israel will sin and will be exiled all around the world. (See Leviticus Chapter 26 and Deuteronomy Chapter 28.) That certainly came true as the Jewish people were exiled to every part of the world. 

But then the Bible says that G-d will remember His covenant with the people of Israel and will bring them back to their land (Leviticus 26:42, Deuteronomy 30:3). Prophets such as Isaiah say outright, “He will raise a banner for the nations and gather the exiles of Israel; He will assemble the scattered people of Judah from the four quarters of the earth” (11:12). 

Take a moment and think about the impossibility of this coming to fruition. A small nation will be scattered around the world with no common language and with no method of staying in close contact with one another. They will be mercilessly persecuted almost every place they go to. And then they will somehow survive as a nation for thousands of years and then return to their ancestral homeland. 

And yet, this is exactly what is happening in Israel today. I am blessed to run an organisation called Yad L’Olim. We are an assisting, supportive hand for all Jews who choose to return home to live in Israel. In just five years we have helped more than 50 000 families from 40 different countries with their move and settling in Israel. Jews are returning home from nearly every continent. 

These olim come from all across the spectrum. They include high school and college graduates who want to build their lives in Israel. They include families whose parents want to raise their children in the Jewish State. They even include seniors who choose Israel as their retirement destination. They all hear a calling that inspires them to yearn to return to their spiritual home, a call which Isaiah (27:13) refers to as “the blowing of the shofar (ram’s horn).” 

By moving to Israel, you can be part of the fulfilment of biblical prophecy. And you can have a front seat to the future of the Jewish people, which is undoubtedly in Israel. 

It is critical for everyone to understand that aliya isn’t easy, and living in Israel isn’t always easy. Being away from family is a challenge. It’s not a simple place to make a living and we, of course, have ongoing security issues. But, if one moves to Israel with the backbone of the ideology that I wrote above, you can weather the challenges, and it will be the best decision you ever made in your life. There is a reason that despite the many challenges of living in Israel, the Jewish State always ranks among the top five in polls assessing where people are the happiest. It’s always Israel alongside a few Scandinavian countries at the top of the list. Happiness comes with living a meaningful life and feeling like you are where you belong. 

So, come and join us in your ancestral and biblical homeland. Take hold of your inheritance from G-d. You won’t regret it. And if you can’t come right now, raise your children to make Israel their home and then join them in your retirement. 

This will cement your family’s future in the land of Jewish destiny. 

• Rabbi Dov Lipman is a former member of the Knesset and founder and chief executive of Yad L’Olim, an organisation that helps new immigrants to Israel.