לזכות ר' יעקב דב בן דוד הכהן וכל משפחתו
לזכות נועם בן לאה וכל משפחתו
Back when Chacham Ovadiah Yosef was the Chief Rabbi of Medinas Yisroel he came out with a psak that if it will bring peace, then it is permitted to give parts of Eretz Yisrael away to Arabs.
Now, anybody who doesn't have sardines where others have a brain would have to admit that the in the last few decades the Arabs have shown that it doesn't matter what we give them - peace is not on their agenda. They have in their charter [if I am not mistaken - I never read it. A little shvach in the Arabic thing] that we have to be destroyed.
But at the time, when we didn't have the benefit of foresight, Rav Ovadiah said that if it would bring peace we should give away land because saving Jewish lives takes precedence over keeping Holy Land in our possession. But he made it clear that his psak was only theoretical.
Rav Shaul Yisraeli [and many others] were very disturbed by this pask. Let us see what he writes:
The Ramban writes that there is a mitzva EVEN DURING THE GALUS to capture Eretz Yisrael and not to leave it in the hands of the goyim.
The Rashbash adds to his great great grandfather the Ramban's words that there is no doubt that living in Eretz Yisrael is a mitzva for all of the generations. But in our times we can't fulfill it as a community because we are enjoined from converging in on EY as one unit, as part of the famous "ג' שבועות", one of them being שלא יעלו בחומה. But as individuals we should come and do the mitzva of living here.
The Heiliger Avnei Nezer suggests that if we all have an obligation to come and do the mitzva that would consist עלייה בחומה so that means that there is no obligation on every individual.
However, if we don't come by force but are given permission - as is the case today when all Jews have the legal right to settle in EY - there is no problem of עלייה בחומה which is defined by Rashi at the end of Ksubos as ביד חזקה - by force. Today we don't come by force. [See שו"ת אבנ"ז סי' תנ"ד אות נ"ו]
Why did the Rambam not codify the mitzva of living in EY in his count of 613 mitzvos? Many answers are given. One is that it encomapasses the entire Torah and is not just an individual mitzva. Another answer relates to what he counts in the מנין התרי"ג but it is definitely a מצוה דאורייתא. One opinion is that it is no longer a mitzva because of the ג' שבועות that prevent us from coming forcefully to Eretz Yisrael. But now that the problem of coming ביד חזקה no longer exists because even the infamous UN confirmed Israel's right to exist [and Jews to settle here] so even the Rambam would agree that in our times it is a mitzva.
Rav Yisraeli adds paranthetically that he can't understand how some frum people don't appreciate the great miracle of Jewish sovereignty in EY. It isn't the complete geulah but how can we be ungrateful and not appreciate the chesed Hashem performed for us. He said it is a מעשה שטן. So for the Satmar Rebbe the Jewish State is מעשה שטן. For Rav Shaul Yisraeli the fact that we don't appreciate the incredible gift of the Jewish State that we received is מעשה שטן!:-). Will the real Satan please stand up!
He also can't understand how Rav Ovadiah quoted the Rashbash and concludes that even in our days the ג' שבועות still apply when it is clear that there is no longer a problem of coming forcefully [as forbidden in the ג' שבועות] because we now have an international right to settle here.
Hopefully TBC!!! [To Be Continued]
