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LETTERS

TO THE

EDITOR

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editor@mizrachi.org

Responses to “Would This Sermon Make to understand this comment lies outside of exasperated, the rabbi asks his president,
You Angry?” the scope of my letter). “What should I speak about?” The president
responds, “That’s simple. Just speak about
IN HIS LETTER from the Editor, Rabbi Elie This does not negate the fact that Diaspora Judaism!”
Mischel (Vol. 5, No. 5) challenges Diaspora Jewry has much to offer the Jewish people.
Jewry to consider if they would be angered We can still be partners with our brethren Aliyah is easier today than it has been for
two thousand years. Yet most of our com-
in Israel. But our history and tradition make
by a pulpit rabbi arguing for Aliyah from the clear that we are the junior partners in this munity is quite comfortable in the Diaspora.
pulpit.
Jewish journey. Current events further I imagine that one can find parallels to the
I belong to a Religious Zionist community, support this idea, as Israel has become the time of Ezra and Nechemiah, when many
daven in a Religious Zionist shul and work in dominant religious, political and intellectual rationalized staying in Bavel lechatchila and
a Religious Zionist school. So would a sermon center of the Jewish people today. made arguments for why most Jews were
about Aliyah coming from any of these Reli- Messaging that promotes Aliyah is no differ- not making Aliyah. Chazal did not view their
gious Zionist institutions make me angry? ent than messaging that exhorts our com- arguments fondly. I suspect that future gen-
Of course not. munity to learn more Torah, do more chessed, erations will also ask why we didn’t make
True, there may be reasons why some of us or attend minyan more often. Some of the Aliyah in larger numbers when it was rela-
tively easy compared to previous generations.
are here and not in Israel, and some of those messages we hear from the pulpit may be
reasons may be totally or somewhat valid hard-hitting, and they may even feel very We should celebrate the fact that many
for now, but it is still better to live in Israel, personal or hit raw nerves. But we need to members of our community make Aliyah,
which is a basic Jewish value. Simply put, the ask ourselves whether we prefer rabbis who and often under difficult conditions. And
mitzvah of Aliyah applies to all of us, whether lead us in a mission-aligned (and of course, yes – our rabbis should continue to preach
appropriately stated) fashion or rabbis who
we are capable of fulfilling this mitzvah today are nervous about upsetting congregants for our values from the pulpit.
or desire to do it at some point. Rabbi Daniel Alter
“saying the wrong thing”.
From the day our students begin studying I am reminded of the famous joke about the Head of School, The Moriah School
Englewood, NJ
Torah with the story of Avraham’s Aliyah, or new rabbi who, on his first week on the job,
studying Navi with the story of Yehoshua gives a sermon about keeping Shabbat. The
leading the Jews into Israel, our educa- president of the shul approaches him follow- I GREATLY APPRECIATE Rabbi Mischel’s
tional system promotes the centrality of ing davening, telling him that he should avoid candor in his latest editorial regarding the
Israel and importance of living there. Most discussing Shabbat, as some of the congre- responsibilities of rabbis in the Diaspora to
of the Torah actually describes the journey gants are not Shabbat observant. Taking the encourage Aliyah. His comment that “there
towards the Land of Israel. Chazal regularly message to heart, the rabbi speaks about are more rabbis in Israel than street cats” spe-
make comments about the importance of kashrut the following week. Once again, the cifically hits home. While in Israel on my final
living in Israel, sometimes going so far as to president approaches the rabbi following dav- pilot trip before making Aliyah, I learned that
state that one who lives outside of Israel is ening, asking him not to speak about kashrut, community rabbis do not generally get paid
merely practicing the mitzvot for when he as some congregants do not keep kosher. This in Israel, and that gap year yeshivot require
can one day do the real thing in Israel (how pattern continues for a few weeks, until, significant funding from the Diaspora in

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