Should All Jews Make Aliyah to Israel Now?

the yeshiva.net [Music] if I show up at a person's office or in the bank what what are you here for but when I go home nobody says hey why you here home is the organic natural place of a person they say home is also a place where when everybody says no to you they have to let you in what is home yes we have our Homeland Israel and yes we have homes throughout the diaspora but our current reality is complex Israel's at War and anti-Semitism is rising around the world so what does that mean for us what does that mean for this question of Home join me Izzy as I speak with Israeli and diaspora jury to better understand this new complex reality and unpack where we put ourselves in this physical and spiritual war this is the my Israel narrative podcast [Music] everyone so today we are very fortunate to be sitting here with Rabbi y y Jacobson who is uh it says in your bio but I was going to say it before I read your bio one of the most sought out speakers um in the Jewish world and also understand speak to the non-jewish world really all over personally heard you speak in your shim was just telling you a little over a year ago and it was uh one of the most impactful powerful she talks that I heard and and I a lot of people that tell me that they they listen to you they just say it gives them so much comfort so much so much strength so um I feel very fortunate to be sitting here to have this conversation especially in these times and hopefully like I said we can kind of just have an open raw honest conversation um but Al as always I like to just kick it off if you'd like to share a little bit anything that we should we should know about you um about something maybe you're working on right now interesting fact um a thought you had today just feel free kind of kick it off with that well thank you aie for the privilege and the invitation and for your kind and gracious uh introductory remarks um I learned something this morning before my prayers that was uh very very powerful for me and if you want I'll share it was basically we're finishing now in the Torah reading we're completing now the Book of Genesis the book of bit this week the entire Jewish World in Israel and across the diaspora we'll be reading the last biblical portion of Genesis known as which describes the death of Jacob and Joseph and we go into the book of Exodus which Begins the story of the Egyptian bondage the first massive Jewish Collective Exile and uh one of the teachings I was reading was the uniqueness of Joseph versus his brothers why there was such a misunderstanding in the first Jewish Family and the reason is it's very very powerful spiritual idea from one of the greatest cic Masters and he says that all the brothers of Joseph like just like the Patriarchs they were shepherds they all chose the vocation of being Shepherds and the reason is because when you're a Shepherd you're completely segregated from the hustle and bustle and the pressures of The Daily Grind of Life they were not involved in Commerce not even farming because that takes a lot of work rather they would spend the day with their sheep with their flock and as their sheep were pasturing and getting the nurture and the food and the water they need they could sit in intimacy and meditation in complete Oneness with their creator Joseph their brother was completely opposite he already dreamt of success and ultimately he would go down and he would become the prime minister of the superpower of the time in which he would become completely in mesed in worldly Affairs he wasn't an isolated Shepherd living in nature looking at the heavens enjoying the water and the landscape and just connecting with his soul and the cosmos and the energy of the world but he was IM mesed and immersed in all of the pressures of what it is to run the economy of the most powerful country in the ancient world Egypt so for the brothers it was very hard to relate to him from a Jewish perspective how can you be part of the Jewish spiritual tradition when your entire trajectory of Life represents a completely different Vision what they didn't understand was that Joseph's unique power was that even as he was completely immersed in the daily pressures of life he could still retain his absolute intimacy with the Divine without compromising his values and his soul he had that power that fortitude that spiritual Clarity to be fully present in the world and yet completely not defined by the darkness not pulled down by the externalities and by the deceptions and by the fakeness and by anything that really takes you away from the true Clarity of your inner soul so that was extremely moving and emotional to be able to see that because I think in our own lives you know we all have this uh the struggle especially in today's day when we're pulled so many different directions you you just pick up your phone in the morning or at any point there's first of all a 100 Clips waiting for you so at least if it would be my Clips not so bad some clips are not always uh on the same I would say have the same uh spiritual message and it's so easy to be pulled in and then Darkness defines us rather than light instead of being leaders we become victims to whatever the next clip or the next WhatsApp or the next next piece of news or the next message you know lurs us into that ability to be able to be present in the world hear the news be connected to our brothers and sisters in Israel and the world over and yet completely anchored in who we really are I think is something for me that is extremely important and very vital for us to fulfill our mission during these times leaders cannot be defined by others they have to set the agenda if not they just become victims of whatever is happening around them and it's not always to the benefit of our people no you're you're saying is it's making me think uh maybe it's a little excuse I use for myself but I was explaining to you how I was living in Israel the past through years and a lot of times we say when you're in Israel you feel the kadha you feel the Shem you feel even if you're not religious you just feel some this Clarity this light that you're speaking of so much more easily um and since since being back in in New York especially in a time like this I you know I kind of had this rhetoric in my head of well you know because it's just harder here so I just you know I'm GNA feel more darkness and more whatever and at it but I guess my question is you know like how do how do we really hold on how do we bring and it's crazy because people here I guess you're you know right now people are looking at us on they're think well there's so much Darkness there and there is but we also know that what's happening there is so immense is so like the light that's being on Earth is so great that it it really is trumping the darkness in a lot ways and this it's fascinating recently there's a tremendous quest for Aliyah many many Jews question now are are looking to go to Israel it's it's yeah it's beyond it's a it's incredible but I think you're addressing one of the key issues of Jewish history back it's back to Joseph and his brothers Joseph's brothers had the spiritual luxury and the the privilege of living with their father Jacob in the Holy Land Joseph was sent into Exile not by his will it's not what he chose his brothers threw him into a pit and sold him into slavery and he ended up in prison and then he ended up becoming the prime minister of Egypt but the power of Joseph was that he understood at every step of the way that he was on a mission he was not placed there by mistake this was a Divine Mission clearly orchestrated in order for him to ultimately be able to save the world from famine and to save his own family from famine and that is the uniqueness of Joseph in fact there's a very moving moment at the end of Genesis this week's the portion of a Jacob meets Joseph at the end of his life and He blesses his two children who were born in Egypt and he brings out Jacob says these are the two boys who were born in Egypt before I arrived and therefore they have a special place in my heart and he treats them as his own children and basically what he's saying is these are the only two kids to be born in Exile without a Jewish environment without a Jewish Family without a Jewish infrastructure all the other grandchildren were raised at the bosom of their grandfather Jacob who was of course the son of Isaac the grandson of Abraham but these two boys Joseph's boys manasha and Ephraim were born on the soil of Egypt before Jacob arrived before the brothers arrived and Jacob understood the power of that because these two boys demonstrated the ability of the Jewish people to succeed even on fire and soil rather than assimilating they could remain anchored and I think the fact that today there are 6.6 million Jews living in Israel let's understand the power of that because in a few years God willing half of the Jewish people will be living in our homeland in our Eternal Homeland that is something that has not occurred since the days of the first temple since the days of the first temple about thousands of years ago during Solomon's time the entire Jewish world was living in Israel but afterwards shortly afterwards there was an exile the 10 tribes were exiled and then the other tribes were exiled so we're dealing with a history literally in the making that almost half of the Jewish people today are living in the Homeland how did this miracle happen after 2,000 years of being dispersed and persecuted and today millions of Jews are living in Israel surrounded by sworn enemies the medish Compares us to a lamb encircled by 70 wolves one Lamb by 70 wolves but we're there and we're there to stay forever so people often don't understand what contributed to that what contributed to that is the story of Joseph Joseph represented the ability that wherever Jews were they never forgot their Roots they always remained anchored in their faith in their history in their tradition in their God and in their Homeland that was the example that Joseph set for all of Jewish history that's why we are all all of us living in America wherever we're living H are all students and Disciples of Joseph if we want to remain Jewish and who doesn't today so I'm hearing kind of two thing like in speaking to this idea of knowing our mission because right now so you mentioned some people are thinking let me pick up and and make yeah I want to take this jewishness this who I am and go be in in our Eternal Homeland and you many others who for many you know multitude of reasons are not making that choice can't make that choice um so what would you say what's their mission where if if we can't right now be placing ourselves in our Eternal Homeland I'll tell you yeah it's it's a great question and everybody has to ask themselves really where do I belong where does God want me on Sim Torah 5784 October 7th 2023 I believe every single Jew living in the world was drafted to war every one of us was mobilized yes there are those holy brave soldiers who were drafted to the front lines and are sacrificing I'm going to try not to cry too much and not sacrificing their lives every day for the Jewish people and for Israel and for really all innocent people in the whole world because what Kamas did in the southern Israel they would like to be a promo act and ultimately you know bring it to a theater near you Israel is the big enemy but every American is an enemy every Westerner is an enemy every Infidel is an enemy so there are those of us who are mobilized to the front lines but every Jew in Israel of course but also abroad was mobilized into the war because the Jewish people are at War the question we have to ask ourselves is what division I was mobilized to every Army has many divisions some are doctors and nurses and chefs some are the generals and commanders who strategize some are the foot soldiers some are involved in PR and then there are those who give the Army the morale but every single one of us is in a war and we have to ask ourselves ask not what my people can do for me what my PE ask not what ask not what your people can do for you ask what you can do for your people what you can do for your Homeland and I think every single one of us wherever we are we have our sphere of influence and that sphere of influence must be utilized in the max maximum way to be able to stand up and to fight the war we needed to fight the first is the spiritual war the spiritual war that's the greatest Jewish weapon because we're here the fact is 4,000 years later we are still here and the reason we're still is because of our spiritual weapon our spiritual weapon is the study of Torah and the celebration of mitzvot and our amuna our faith and our Unity our is so every single Jew who immerses themselves in strengthening and fortifying their spiritual core through Torah Mitzvah Faith prayer Unity are directly contributing to the war effort of the Jewish people we need strong proud Jews physically but equally emotionally ideologically spiritually when we are at our home front those of us educating our children inspiring our children inspiring our students every one of them is mobilized to the Jewish Triumph to the Jewish Journey towards Victory we don't underestimate these types of activities there was already Jacob talking about Jacob who told his son thousands of years ago he said as long as the voice of Jacob will remain powerful the hands of Esau will not be able to defeat him so we don't underestimate the voice of Jacob that's the voice of prayer the voice of love the voice of moral Clarity the voice of Torah study the voice of Jewish Unity the voice of Faith then there is of course all those of us who can contribute in many other ways whether it is leadership education supporting Israel uh supporting Israel in the United States supporting our brothers and sisters back home financially morally spiritually emotionally every possible way but every single Jew today has to ask themselves what is my mission today to be able to be an indispensable part in making sure that the light prevails over the darkness that the good defeats the evil because this is a global confrontation between good and evil and as always the Jews are the minor canaries of History we are the canaries what's happening in Israel is a little not so little is a reflection of essentially a very very Global struggle and this is the time for good people to rise with resolve and resilience do we really expect that is isn't there also idea in judism I've heard this come a few times especially recently that like the Jewish people like we stand alone like it's not it's not necessarily about trying to get people to see our side it's just about us doing good for the sake of us doing good like at the end of the day and I ask this because I think what I'm seeing is a lot of emphasis on break down the sheers break down the lies tell people they're wrong and feel it feels almost it sometimes like a misplaced energy use of energy I think sometimes debating individuals who are not really looking for truth is a waste of time and a waste of energy right and will simply drive you crazy and make you feel so angry and full of despere it's simply not worth your time and energy somebody who's looking for truth yes by all means if you're looking for truth I will talk to you for hours but if you already have an agenda set in your mind you hate Israel you hate Jews or you've been brainwashed and indoctrinated what am I going to waste my time with you that's very important to understand another important thing to understand though is that there are good people in America there are many good people across the world there are many good people and they all need and want and are craving to hear a clear moral Jewish voice based on our history based on truth based on authenticity and based on moral Clarity the good people in the world are craving for Israel to be stronger than never even when sometimes they give lip service to various countries just to flatter them and appease them and make believe they're pressuring Israel deep down most good people in the world want Israel to go all the way because that makes them safer right remember Islamic fundamentalism is a danger to every human being who wants to live in Freedom around the globe whether you're in Australia or you're in London or you're in Paris or you're living in Los Angeles or Manhattan so any good and normal rational person on understands Israel is fighting a war for the whole world and that comes to the last point and that is one of the greatest mistakes that Israeli leaders have made and Jews have made over the years is we wait for the world to tell us what is moral and what is not moral when it's really the opposite the world is actually waiting for the Jewish people to rise up yeah and demonstrate what morality is nobody has to teach the Jewish people about morality we the ones who brought morality to the world at sin The Ten Commandments come from the Torah the idea of good versus evil comes from the Torah the idea that every human being was created in the image of God and their life is sacred that's a Jewish that comes from the Jewish people we know that life is sacred this is what we've been fighting for for literally 4,000 years this is what we've been fighting for that life is sacred that every person is sacred the world needs Jewish people to be strong and resilient and be obsessed with goodness and allergic to evil this is exactly what the world needs it needs strong powerful Jews who don't allow compassion to become literally a way of helping evil survive it sounds like in in all of your saying it's like like Israel is almost just like the physical manifestation of what we are supposed to be bringing to the world that is like the epicenter of this so Israel is the epicenter of the world the world knows everybody calls it the Holy Land the Holy Land right everybody knows it the only people who sometimes don't know it are the Jews nobody thinks Israel is a regular country only Jews try to say oh we're a regular country nobody thinks the Jewish people are regular people only we do we're trying to convince ourselves for thousands of years that we're regular people now look at October 7th in Syria a half a million people were murdered a half a mill you know how many children tens of thousands of children I didn't see one demonstration and you know what happened in darur do you know what happened in the Congo do you know what happened in Chia I don't hear any demonstrations whatsoever what happened in Jordan people don't even realize how many of their own people Hamas tortures and murders constantly who cares who demonstrates Israelis the Jews care more about the children in Gaza than the kamnik and so many foolish people in the world are busy condemning Israel to protect the people in Gaza who their own people want to murder them want to slaughter them so it's so important for Jews to realize what is happening here the world responds to Jews in a way that it does not respond to any other people and the reason is because we were chosen by the Creator to be a moral light onto the Nations and what we need to do is shine it and shine it with resolve and Clarity and fearlessness you know what happens the world respects you everybody respects you and people who hate you will hate you regardless look now Israel Israelis were butchered and burnt and murdered you would think they would get the sympathy of peaceloving people at least for a few days they're being condemned the atrocities were blamed on them 32 universities in the US places of higher education places of Enlightenment places we spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to send our children apparently to get a rigorous education and to teach them how to think and it's in these places where you have the greatest form of indoctrination maybe in human history compared to the Stalin's communism indoctrination or Hitler's indoctrination were suddenly victims who their entire crime as they're trying to live in peace they became the perpetrators and the perpetrators who would like to murder every single Jew became the victims we have to realize this and stop selling our souls I what's giving me like a lot of uh strength and hearing your words is I think sometimes I've been or recently been hearing a lot of this rhetoric of bring the light and be positive and be strong and wear your Judaism and your sleeve and kind of of sometimes I'm like come on like are we just going to ignore What's happen like I don't understand like we're just going to keep you know just put on a smile and we're going to poo poo it away but it's not it's really this notion of like when we own who we are and I've experienced this in my own life I'm sure everyone's experienced it in their lives when you own a decision when you own something that is so then everyone backs down like oh wow oh yeah that's really you and like everybody backs down and the people and the people who hate you and want to fight you will not back down even if you appease them for a million years Churchill said appeasement is feeding the alligator in the hope that he will eat you last that's what we've been doing that's what we've been doing we've been feeding alligators and crocodiles and keeping them tame hoping they're going to eat us last and now they came to eat us will we allow our will we allow ourselves and our children to be eaten and I'm very fearful for the Jewish people because we have unbelievable resilience and strength and it comes from a supernatural Co core I'm afraid because we have leaders who sometimes don't deserve their citizens it's painful to say this some of the leaders in Israel don't always deserve their citizens the Jewish people are lions nobody has defeated us and the reason is because we are rooted and anchored in a place of Eternity and we rep when we represent that to the world everybody is in awe and in reverence this is exactly what we're supposed to be the voice of moral Clarity the voice for goodness the voice for Truth for authenticity everybody is dying for it craving for it yearning for it instead what we do often is we duck we become lame and we try to convince everybody that we're just regular people and we just want peace and we're just this democracy in in the Middle East it's only democracy in the Middle East not realizing that for our enemies the word democracy in the Middle East is the worst thing yeah the worst thing you could be in the Middle East is a democracy all they want is to destroy you destroy and we're busy screaming no we respect you we respect you we'll give you more we'll give you more we'll give you more which means they could kill us more so we a shift of Consciousness is so important the shift of Consciousness is not radical it's not cruel it's actually about the ultimate compassion it's about truth it's about knowing what is good and what is evil so just I want to take it back for for a moment um you mentioned that right now we have or soon we hope we'll have half the Jewish people living in AR Israel we speak about AR Israel as our homeland as our Eternal Homeland what does that mean on a practical level right now does it mean like I'm here in New York trying to build a life somehow amidst all this what does that mean for me that Israel is my homeland is it somewhere I'm supposed to always dream of getting to again or or just having my heart having my mind is it just to make me feel safe that I have it which that answer never satisfies me in the slightest what like what's the point what is this Homeland that we're not living in excellent excellent question and this question really defines Jewish history because remember for 2,000 years most Jews were not living in their Homeland right throughout the generations after the destruction of the temple and the Dark Ages the Middle Ages there were always Jews in the Holy Land but very few very few manes ramban lived in the 12th century 12th 13th century and he left Spain and he went to Jerusalem and he says he could barely find a minion in Jerusalem barely that Jews there were Jews throughout the land but very few and very scattered and not organized and Powerless physically powerless and yet they called it their Homeland and three times a day when Jews prayed wherever they were they faced the land of Israel they faced Jerusalem and they prayed every single day bring us back home in the sh Sabbath Saturday praise they would say we have been exiled because of our sins we've been exiled from our land they still called it our land our homeland and it's fascinating that in history you know most of the great Empires that took Israel they tried to make it Blossom because when the Jewish people owned it it always Blossom today it's Blossom it never did it never demonstrated kindness to any other people it remained the desert that it is when the Jewish people live in Israel it starts blossoming they turn the desert into bloom so it works both ways there's a relationship ship and I think really what it means is that the Jewish people's spiritual and historical Roots literally exist in the land of Israel it's like a tree and this tree even you know for the tree to live you can't detach it from its roots the miracle of the Jewish people is that our tree wherever it lived around the world from Russia to Poland Galia to uh Western Europe South America North America Australia New Zealand wherever it was where we were in Japan or in Africa or in Europe in Asia Our Roots always remained in the Holy Land of Israel and the Jewish people feel it it's literally like your home the home where you grew up in right even when we get married our father and mother remain our father and mother our brothers and sisters remain our brothers and but you're not living there it's not your home it may not be my physical home but it's where my soul developed and in this case it may not be the home where I was born or I grew up in but the soul of every Jew was molded and crafted on the streets of the Holy Land by the Patriarchs and the matriarchs by our prophets and kings and judges and Poets and sages and Mystics and rabbis and sadim and ordinary women and men who walked on that soil for thousands of years they literally molded the DNA of the Jewish World so wherever we are we are connected vertically and horizontally spiritually speaking with the Jewish people in Israel be Beyond it being a Haven of safety and Beyond the fact that after the Holocaust we realize there's one place in the world that we are entitled to call home and that every Jew can become a citizen there and that's critical and and and and powerful and a great miracle but beyond that there is an essential connection it's called between us and the land it's called erit Israel you know the the the land of the land of Israel we called Ben Israel the children of Israel children and it's very important because was you know I can have a friend and we can be close and then we separate then we move on but if I'm a child I can never separate for my parents so B Isel means we are children of Israel there's something Inseparable between Israel and and the Jewish people and that includes the land of Israel and that's why what happens in that country affects every Jew even thousands of kilometers and miles away it's not only because I have family there or because I know the people I may not know the people it's not just because we happen to both be called Jews and we have ancestral Roots that's not what does it fine you could feel bad that's not what happens why are Jews in America not sleeping since October 7 why are people reciting Psalms Around the Clock why is everybody so addicted to find out the news in Israel I don't have family in the south of Israel I didn't know anybody personally inoi and yet we feel it's our brothers our sisters our children why the answer is if you're going to try to explain it rationally you're not going to have an explanation the answer is because the Jewish people are family our souls are one we're all connected we're all divinely connected for eternity and what happens to you is happening to me what's happening to me is happening to you we may not always be conscious of it but that's the truth well so so I guess to end off on the note of this notion of home a few words good shair just what what home is for you they say that home is the place that uh you don't need a reason why you're going there right if I show up in your house you're going to ask me how can I help you if I show up at a person's office or in the bank what what are you here for but when I go home nobody says hey why you here home is the organic natural place of a person they say home is also a place where when every body says no to you they have to let you in and I think in many ways that defines the home of the Jewish people we don't need a reason to be there this is the organic space where the Jewish Soul individually and collectively blossoms Exile is where we were sent because we had a mission there but it's not the organic home of the Jewish people now the fact is that many Jews still live outside of the land of Israel and I think for everybody just to say goodbye and run to Israel maybe for some people it's the right thing but it's not responsible for many people because you know as my teacher used to teach if you're in a leadership position in America or in other places and there's many Jews who are dependent on you it's very nice that you want to go spiritually perfect yourself but it may be the wrong thing but the fact is wherever we're living this remains our home this is where our souls are connected to this is where we long to come back to this is the space where the Jewish people individually and collectively were designed to Blossom thank you thank you very very much really for all that I appreciate for coming out taking the time thank you and may we all may we all see the ultimate Redemption when every single last Jew will return to his or her organic and eternal home amen and peace will reign in the world Amen I hope it's before I post this recording amen amen thank the made the comments then will be this is outdated fine there you go both we both be very happy thank you this class is brought to you by the yeshiva.net please help us continue the classes make even a small contribution at ww.the usa.net donate