לרפואת חיים יששכר בן חי' מושקיט - נא להתפלל עליו
A well known secular Israeli writer was recently interviewed and he said that Jews living outside of Israel are "partial Jews" while he who lives in the land is a "complete Jew".
I will preface by saying that I [who lives in Israel] am a partial Jew. I am not careful enough about lashon hara, my knowledge of Torah is sorely lacking and my tefillos also leave much to be desired. [That is a very partial list...]
The honorable gentelman who made this statement might or might not be aware of the famous statement of Rav Saadia Gaon "אין אומתנו אומה אלא בתורתיה" - we are only a nation by virtue of our Torah. Hence, ignoring most of the mitzvos of the Torah makes his own Judaism suspect. Of course if his mother is Jewish he is a full fledged Jew but he could definitely become a more complete Jew if, for example, he started keeping Shabbos.
As far as what he said about living in Israel - of course living in Israel is tremendous. That is why I dream of living there. Not only that - usually when I dream I am actually there [except for last night where I didn't have time to dream because I barely slept. How could I sleep? Moshe Gavriel and Rochel Leah are MARRIED! MAZEEEELLL TOOOV!].
However, the Ramban says that Shemos is the Sefer Hageulah. Redemption? We weren't redeemed in Sefer Shemos. We were still in the desert [one more "s" in the word and deeelicious!!]? The answer is that we built the mishkan and Hashem dwelt in our tent. Meaning that having the presence of Hashem IS the geulah, regardless of your geographical location.
So the redemption can really take place at any minute of any day, any time. All one has to do is be focused on Hashem Yisborach and if you are zocheh, Hashem will dwell upon you at that moment.
The Chazon Ish once saw a very holy person whom he didn't recognize at a funeral. He was blown away by his holiness. "The shechina is dwelling upon that man. Who is he??" He was told that his name is Rabbi Dov Berish Veidenfeld, known as the Chebiner Rov, who was indeed a holy man. He asked if he has written any sefarim and was given the Dovev Meisharim, the Teshuva sefer that Rav Veidenfeld had written. He fell in love with the sefer and from that time he often had it on his table.
A similar story is told about the Chofetz Chaim. He once saw the Belzer Rebbe at a rabbinic convention. "Who is that man? The shechina dwells on his head!" He was told that is was the Belzer Rebbe but that he shouldn't be impressed because he is not careful about sof zman krias shema. "But still", said the Chofetz Chaim, "the shechina dwells on him."
We see that a person [even in chutz la'aretz] can have Hashem dwell upon him no matter where he is. So at this moment we can start our redemption process by trying to connect to the Source of All - מלך מלכי המלכים הקדוש ברוך הוא.
Love and blessings!
