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FROM THE
Editor

Teach Your Parents Well

ot long ago, we hosted an among the tribes, did more than talk about – that the future of these communities
American seminary student redemption; only Binyamin was brave will be more or less like their past. But the
– let’s call her ‘Shira’ – for enough to dive into the sea! “Thereupon ground beneath our feet is never as stable
NShabbat. Inevitably, the con- the princes of Yehudah hurled stones at as we’d like to think.
versation soon turned to her future plans. them” for their brazenness. But the young
“Will you be back in Israel next year? tribe of Binyamin ignored the insults of The return to Zion after 1,897 years of exile
Where are you planning to go to college?” the older, more ‘important’ men of Yehu- should shatter this way of thinking. It is an
Her response – “I hope to stay in Israel, do dah, and dove headlong into the sea. “For unprecedented drama, a radical miracle
Sherut Leumi next year and make Aliyah” that reason the righteous Binyamin was in disguise that has never before occurred
– delighted us. Another Religious Zionist worthy to become the host of the All-Pow- in all of human history. Like the Exodus
success story! erful [i.e., the Beit HaMikdash]” (Sotah 36b). from Egypt, the modern State of Israel is
living proof that Jewish history will not
Still, nothing in life is simple. Shira A short time later, the tragic sin of the remain static, that our future will not be
explained that her plan was causing spies once again revealed the gap between like the present!
a family crisis. Her parents, solid Reli- the generations. It was the fathers, not the
gious Zionists who shlep into New York sons, who wept upon hearing the report Ironically, our children – who lack our
City (almost) every year to the Israel Day of the ten spies. It was the fathers, not life experience and hard earned wisdom –
Parade, strongly objected to her decision. the sons, who valued the “cucumbers, often possess a clearer vision of the future
They had sensible arguments: “You’re only watermelons, leeks, onions and garlic” of than we do. Unfettered by the past and
eighteen; are you sure you really want to Egypt (Bamidbar 11:5) over the blessing of without the fears and burdens of their
do this?” “You’ll be alone in Israel without national freedom. And so the fathers, not parents, they know that the future of our
any immediate family support. It would the sons, were destined to die in the wil- people is not in exile, but in the Land of
make more sense to consider Aliyah after derness. Despite the sins of their fathers, our fathers.
college, together with a husband!” And the young people of Israel remained true
most painfully: “We love Israel too, but to the Torah and their Land. Shira – if you’re reading this, don’t despair!
if you make Aliyah, the family won’t be I don’t believe that the generation who As Graham Nash said, “Teach your par-
together anymore…” ents well… feed them on your dreams…
left Egypt were bad people, G-d forbid. and know they love you.”
Since the birth of modern Zionism over Through years of slavery, they kept the
125 years ago, untold numbers of families faith, and cried out to G-d for salvation.
have struggled, argued and wept over their But after a lifetime of servitude and exile,
children’s decision to make Aliyah. Before they had learned to be sensible, to avoid Elie Mischel
modern air travel, a child’s Aliyah likely taking risks. And they were afraid – afraid
meant a separation of years. Many idealis- of change, afraid of uncertainty, and afraid Rabbi Elie Mischel
tic young olim, like Rabbi Aryeh Levin zt”l, of the unknown. Editor
never saw their parents again.
As we age, our minds begin to think differ-
But hasn’t it always been this way? The ently. We assume that what is before us is
debate over Aliyah between parents and merely a copy, a repetition, of what came
children did not begin with Herzl, or even before, and that the years ahead will look
with Rav Mohilever and the Chovevei the same as the present. The older we get,
Tzion. The tension was there from the the harder it becomes to imagine a future
very beginning of our history: that is different or greater than the life we
have known.
“Rabbi Meir said: When the Israelites stood Rabbi Elie Mischel
by the Red Sea, the tribes strove with one Teaneck, Boca Raton, Los Angeles, London is the Editor of HaMizrachi magazine.
another, each wishing to descend into the – we who spent decades in thriving Dias-
sea first. Then sprang forward the [young- pora communities like these can easily Join me at the
est] tribe of Binyamin and descended first believe that living in these places is safer World Orthodox Israel Congress Est. 1902
orthodoxisraelcongress.org
into the sea.” Only Binyamin, the “child” and more sensible than a life in Israel 120 YEARS OF RELIGIOUS ZIONISM

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