Wednesday, May 27, 2015

A List Of Ways to Strengthen Our Connection To Israel

Pursuant to this post, I add:

If you already asked your Rov and he paskened that you should stay in chutz la-aretz, then there are ways to compensate to some degree for not making aliyah. Here are a few:

1] Daven for success of Israel.

2] Care about what happens in Israel.

3] Talk to you children about the importance of Israel. Tell them that one day, if they are fortunate, they may have the zchus to live there.

4] Visit as much as possible [Florida doesn't count for Israel despite the similar climates and kosher hotel scenes...].

5] Never say a bad word about Israel. The meraglim got in trouble for that.... [The Holy Kopshinitzer Rebbe ztz"l told the sabba kadisha R' Yochanan of Tolna ztz"l before his aliyah that he should only come if he accepts upon himself never to say a bad word about Eretz Yisrael which he emphatically did].

6] Support Israel. She [meaning the Yidden who live there] needs your money. Think about Mr. Schottenstein and Rav Chaim Kniyevsky Shlita. Rav Chaim learns only a limited pages of gemara every day for he is only one person. Mr. S. learns THOUSANDS of pages gemara daily because he sponsored the elucidation of the Shas. By supporting people in Israel you can enable not just one person to live here but many [proportionate to your amount of funds].

7] Pray to Hashem that your circumstances change and that one day you are able to come. Just because now you can't come doesn't mean that you will NEVER be able to come.

8] Learn sugyos relating to Israel and mitzvos ha-tluyos ba-aretz, both in Halacha and agada.

9] Say Hallel with a bracha on Yom Ha-atzmaut and express shock and dismay when others don't.  [How can tell others to do what I myself don't believe in?! And what the Chazon Ish didn't believe in. And just about every other gadol since the birth of the State...]

10] Add your own ideas to the list.

If you can't live in Israel then it is definitely not ideal but we should try to bring ourselves as close to the ideal as possible.