The Obligation to Make Aliyah, Per the Talmud


In light of the above words of truth, we can understand the following Talmudic passage: 100

Resh Lakish (Rabbi Shimon bar Lakish) was swimming in the Jordan River, and Raba bar Bar Chana approached and offered him a hand.  Resh Lakish said, “G-d! I hate you! For it is written, If it is a wall, we will build upon it a palace of silver, 101 meaning that if you would have made yourselves into a 'wall' and come en-masse to the Land of Israel during the time of Ezra the Scribe, you would have been likened to 'silver,' which cannot rot. (See there at length.)


Not only Resh Lakish, but all the Sages of the Land of Israel hated those of Babylonia, for the same reason: Tthey did not come to the Land of Israel, as is taught in Tractate Menachot, page 100a; see there and in Rashi’s commentary.


Open your eyes and see! The Sages of the Land of Israel allowed themselves to say openly they “hate” the Sages of Babylonia!  This would seem to be a violation of the Biblical command, “Do not hate your brother.” 102 Yet they spoke this way in order to show us the extent of the obligation for a Jew to live in the Land of Israel – in contrast with those who base their objection to Aliyah on another Talmudic passage regarding the Three Oaths. 103



Should Israeli Jews Hate American Jews?


What better authority do we have than the pious Resh Lakish, who said outright that he hates his counterparts in Babylonia because they did not come en-masse, as a "wall," to the Land – and that they had they done so, the Holy Temple would not have been destroyed for the second time. Rav Zera, as well, who authored the above-mentioned passage in Ketubot regarding the Three Oaths, ended up changing his mind in favor of Aliyah, like the Sages of the Land of Israel.  As we learn in the Medrash Rabba: 104

Rav Zera went out to the market to buy something, and he said to the man who was weighing the produce, “Make sure to weigh it carefully.”  To which the man retorted, “You’re not leaving here, you Babylonian, whose ancestors destroyed our Temple.” Rav Zera said, “Are my ancestors not the same as [yours]?” He entered the Study Hall, and he heard Rav Shila interpreting the verse If it is a wall, we will build upon it a palace of silver [in the same way as Resh Lakish], that if Israel had come to Israel as a wall, the Second Temple would not have been destroyed.  Rav Zera said, “That ignoramus taught me a good lesson.”


  1. 100.Yoma 9b

  2. 101.Song of Songs 8,9

  3. 102.Vayikra 19,17

  4. 103.Ketubot 111a

  5. 104.Shir HaShirim 8



FOOTNOTES

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