Learning Torah or Living in the Land?

If you ask your rabbi if you should move to Eretz Yisrael, depending on who you ask, you can get a wide variety of answers. 

The classic American Yeshivish approach has generally been: “Wherever you’ll learn the best”.

Whether it’s picking a Yeshiva for a young man, finding the right Kollel environment, or picking a country to raise your children, the answer tends to be the same. Wherever you and your kids will be comfortable in learning. 

And by and large, this has typically encouraged people to stay in the diaspora. For most Anglo Jews, Eretz Yisrael is out of their comfort zone and they figure they could learn better in the US, UK or wherever they find themselves. 

And the truth is, this approach has its source. In fact, the source for this idea was found recently in the Daf Yomi in Avodah Zara 13a:

“A priest may likewise become ritually impure and leave Eretz Yisrael in order to study Torah or in order to marry a woman. Rabbi Yehuda says: When does this allowance apply? 

It applies when he cannot find a place to study in Eretz Yisrael. But when the priest can find a place to study in Eretz Yisrael, he may not become ritually impure by leaving the country. 

Rabbi Yosei says: Even when he can find a place to study Torah in Eretz Yisrael, he may leave the country and become ritually impure, because a person does not merit to learn from everyone, and it is possible that the more suitable teacher for him lives outside of Eretz Yisrael… 

Rabbi Yoḥanan says about this: The halakha is in accordance with the opinion of Rabbi Yosei.

Seems pretty straight forward. Talmud Torah is the most important Mitzvah. Eretz Yisrael is just a nice idea. Go wherever you’ll learn best, period. 

But, as most topics in Judaism, things are not so simple. In fact, this is just the opening of a pandora’s box of ideas on this concept. 

We see the exact opposite idea in a Gemara in Bava Metzia 85a:

When Rabbi Zeira ascended from Babylonia to Eretz Yisrael, he fasted one hundred fasts so that he would forget the Babylonian method of studying Gemara, so that it would not hinder him from adapting to the unique style of study prevalent in Eretz Yisrael. 

The comment of the Hegyonei Uziel helps us understand what motivated Rav Zeira to do this:

“Eretz Yisrael is a land that imparts wisdom and knowledge to all the Jews who dwell in it. And thus it says: “And the gold of that land is good” (Genesis 2:12) –this teaches that there is no Torah like the Torah of Eretz Yisrael, and no wisdom like the wisdom of Eretz Yisrael (Bereishit Rabbah 16). Even the casual conversation of the inhabitants of Eretz Yisrael is Torah (Vayikra Rabbah 34). Ten portions of Torah descended to the world—nine are in Eretz Yisrael (Esther Rabbah 1). The air of Eretz Yisrael makes one wise (Bava Batra 158b). 

And for this reason, Rabbi Zeira, when he ascended to the Land of Israel, fasted one hundred fasts in order to forget the Babylonian Talmud (Bava Metzia 85a), for the air of Eretz Yisrael makes one wise—namely, that the sages there are gentle with one another in their halachic debates.”

The Ben Yehoyada explains that Rav Zeira was not throwing away his years of study in Bavel. That was his foundation that got him to a certain point of development. But he knew he needed to grow further. His Holy Neshama was finally ready for the higher, more pristine Torah of Eretz Yisrael. He fasted in order to purify himself to receive this deeper Torah which can only be accessed in Eretz Yisrael. 

And if you take a look at the Rambam, this is really the halacha. In Mishneh Torah Kings 5:9:

“It is forbidden to leave Eretz Yisrael for the Diaspora at all times except: to study Torah; to marry; or to save one’s property from the gentiles. After accomplishing these objectives, one must return to Eretz Yisrael.

The halacha is very clear. You can leave Eretz Yisrael to acquire the Torah of Galus. For some people, this is essential for their development. But that’s not the goal! It’s not a blanket permission to raise generations in Lakewood, London or Melbourne. It’s a short term dispensation to grow in learning, only to then return and bring those sparks of holiness back home to Eretz Yisrael. 

This idea is spoken about extensively is Breslov Chassidus. I want to share a few sources with you that highlight this point with depth and beauty:

In Chayei Moharan 140:1, Rav Nosson describes that before one can achieve the expansiveness of Eretz Yisrael, one must live in the limitations of the diaspora first:

“Before one reaches greatness, he must first fall into smallness. And Eretz Yisrael is the ultimate greatness, the “greatness of greatness”, and therefore, one must first fall into the deepest smallness, the “smallness of smallness

In Likutei Halachos, Blessing Over Fruits, 4:4:2 Rav Nosson describes that incredible value of Jews moving to Eretz Yisrael and the inner struggle they must go through to break through from the forces of Galus:

“Therefore, as soon as a person awakens to go to the Land of Israel, then in proportion to his awakening and yearning for the Land of Israel, a radiance is drawn upon him from the aspect of the supreme noam, which are the mochin of the Land of Israel.

And then immediately the ḥovlim arrive and fall into the ne’imim (pleasantness) in order to be rectified, as mentioned. But since the ḥovlim are the mentalities of the Diaspora—an aspect of conflict—they have absorbed the impurity (zuhama) of the Diaspora, which is the land of the nations. Therefore, the evil within them becomes strengthened, and they confuse the person’s mind, creating great obstacles to entering the Land of Israel. And one must exert effort to break them.

How much more so if they truly yearned for the Land of Israel, and contemplated plans and strategies to reach it—surely Hashem would help them without any doubt. Therefore, if a person would believe in the holiness of the Land of Israel even one thousandth of how it truly is, certainly everyone would run and fly to the Land of Israel like someone running toward a place where he knows for sure there are thousands upon thousands of treasures. Surely he would run with all his strength, and no obstacle would prevent him. He would borrow and sell all that he has for the expense, and would fly there with great haste and eagerness.

In Likutei Halachos, Hilchos Maariv 4:32:1, Rav Nosson explains why the paradigm of Avraham Avinu coming to Eretz Yisrael and then being forced to leave was an essentially spiritual journey of self-nullification that Klal Yisrael must go through to fully acquire the Torah of Eretz Yisrael:

“However, it is impossible to come to Eretz Yisrael and merit the level of nullification mentioned above, except by first preparing vessels to receive there the light of the bittul, in the aspect of “ratzo vashov” (yearning and return)—for from there comes the primary grasp of knowledge and Torah, as discussed above. And one cannot form and rectify the vessels except through the holiness of Eretz Yisrael—through the light of the bittul, as explained.

In Likutei Halachos, Hilchos Maariv 4:33:1, Rav Nosson gives a novel insight into the episode the spies, Moshe’s inability to enter the land and why Jews have to enter and exit Eretz Yisrael:

“Hashem decreed that Moshe not enter the Land, only to see it from afar. And through this vision alone, he extended the holiness of Eretz Yisrael into the exile, so that every generation would have the power to elevate sparks and gather the dispersed, and eventually return to the Land. And this is why Hashem arranged that in every generation, Jews go to Eretz Yisrael and return. Because now, before the coming of Mashiach, the only way to elevate certain remaining sparks is by going to Eretz Yisrael and returning — since they can only be clarified through this back-and-forth movement, as mentioned above.

Finally, Rav Kook eloquently echoes this idea in Orot Hatorah 13:2

“And the gold of that land is good—there is no Torah like the Torah of Eretz Yisrael” (Bereishit Rabbah). In every generation, we were meant to deeply cherish the Torah of Eretz Yisrael. And all the more so do we need this in our generation—the generation of decay and revival, a time of darkness and light, of despair and courage. For such a generation, we need a true elixir of life—specifically from the Torah of Eretz Yisrael. We must show it the truth and clarity that exists in our divine treasure—in the ideas and contemplations of the Torah of truth—and the beauty and sublimity, the pleasantness and majesty found in its practical mitzvot, and in its depiction of an entire way of life. We must reveal how much it is truly a Torah of truth and a Torah of life, together. For this, we must taste and help others taste the flavor of Torah in its depth and at its foundation—and this cannot truly be sensed, attained, or felt, except in the Land of Israel.

We should merit that all of the souls of Klal Yisrael merit their return to our Holy Land, speedily in our days!