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May 10, 2002/Iyar 28, 5762, Vol. 54, No. 34
A call to join the front line
Torah study
RABBI SHLOMO RISKIN
Bamidbar/Numbers: 1:1-4:20
Israel is going through one of the most difficult periods in its modern history: suicide bombings, drive-by shootings and the opprobrium of the European and United Nations communities.
Yet, a recent Maariv poll reported that 83 percent of Israelis would rather live in Israel than any other place in the world.
Nevertheless, while we can only applaud and marvel at the resolute courage of our nation, the nature of the situation we are living under compels us to query: Is it permissible for an Israeli to forsake his homeland in time of danger? And what are the obligations of Diaspora Jewry towards our common Jewish homeland?
Part of the answer to our question can be found in the book of Ruth, read on Shavuot. The biblical text opens describing the aristocratic Elimelekh, his wife Naomi, and their two sons Mahlon and Kilion, who because of a famine in Israel leave the poverty stricken Bethlehem for the greener fields of Moab; the boys marry Moabite wives, and tragically Elimelekh, Mahlon and Kilion die. The midrash explains the reason for these untimely deaths: they abandoned Israel.
The biblical words of Ruth echo the tragedy which struck Abraham when he too left Israel in time of famine; his beloved wife Sarah is taken into Pharaoh's harem, and were it not for divine intercession, Jewish history would have ended almost before it began.
Rabbis attribute a "great sin, albeit an unwitting one" to Abraham and Sarah in leaving Israel. It goes without saying that the most negative result of Elimelekh's descent from his national homeland is that his sons marry Moabite women and are thereby "cut off" from Jewish posterity.
Maimonides rules unequivocally: "It is forever forbidden for anyone to leave Israel for the Diaspora unless it be a (temporary trip) for the sake of studying torah, marrying a woman, saving himself from enemy gentiles, or doing business - but he then must return to Israel."
What clearly emerges from Ruth is that when we leave Israel in a time of danger, we not only weaken our homeland but place ourselves at even greater risk of extinction. The family line of Elimelekh was saved only when one daughter-in-law, Ruth, returns with her mother-in-law Naomi to Israel - and there secures the ultimate redemption by becoming the great-grandmother of David the son of Jesse.
The prohibition against leaving Israel takes on special relevance during periods of war. Rav Avraham Yeshaya Korelitz ruled for his community in B'nei Brak in 1948 that it was forbidden to leave, since to do so would be to weaken the morale of the settlement in Israel. Clearly the same principle holds true today, when we are once again waging a continuation of the War of Independence for our very existence.
As far as the Jews of the Diaspora are concerned, I would hope that many Jews would opt to join us on the front lines of battle. After all, as the vulnerability of European Jewry demonstrates, we are fighting this war not only for ourselves and our children but also for world Jewry and even for the entire free world by standing up against terror.
But if permanent aliyah is impossible, at least don't give up on "periodic" aliyah, your regular annual visitations. And if you would ordinarily have sent a son or a daughter to study or to camp in Israel, you must continue to do so even in times of danger.
To do less would be to abandon your responsibility as a Jew by weakening Israel and granting a moral victory to our enemies.
Rabbi Shlomo Riskin is spiritual leader of Efrat, Israel.
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