The Limitations on Leaving Israel
According to the Rambam, Laws of Kings 5:9, it is forbidden to leave the Land of Israel and reside abroad aside from these temporary cases: to learn Torah, to find a spouse, to save yourself from the gentiles or to do business.
These laws are based on the behavior of our forefathers.
In Parshat Chayei Sara, Avraham sends his servant to Aram to find a wife for Yitzchak. Avraham will not send Yitzchak abroad even for the purpose of meeting a spouse. However, Yitzchak was a special case, as he never left Israel at all. However, Yitzchak himself does not have a problem sending his son, Yaakov away when it is time for him to find a wife (Bresisheet 28:2):
“…Set out and go to Padan Aram, to the house of Betuel, your mother’s father, and marry one of the daughters of Lavan, your mother’s brother…”
In addition to going to find a wife (eventually returning with four wives!), Ya’akov has to leave Israel for the sake of Pikuach Nefesh (his life was in danger) as his brother Esav wanted to kill him. Rivka, Yaakov’s mother told him (Breisheet 27:42-25):
“Your brother Esav is consoling himself with the thought of killing you. Now, my son, listen to me. Flee at once to my brother Lavan in Charan. Stay with him a while, until your brother’s rage subsides. When your brother is no longer angry with you and has forgotten what you did to him, I will send word to you to come back. Why should I lose you both in one day?”
A recurring reason why the forefathers felt compelled to go abroad was due to a heavy famine in the Land of Israel.
While Radak understands that Avraham needed to leave the land due to a famine, Ramban feels that it was unnecessary for him to go and that he failed that test.
Yitzchak also had a famine during his lifetime but God stopped him from going down to Egypt and told him to stay in the land and settle in Grar (in the region of the Gaza strip).
When Yaakov found out that Yosef was in Egypt, he went down with God’s approval during the famine.
In Breisheet 46:28 we read:
He (Yaakov) sent Yehuda ahead of him to Yosef, to prepare ahead of him (lehorot lifanav) in Goshen…
Rashi brings the midrash from Breisheet Rabba 95:3:
Yehuda went ahead to prepare a house of study from which would emanate Torah teaching.
Just as the forefathers only left Israel temporarily to save themselves or escape a famine, find a spouse or learn Torah and even then only when it was absolutely necessary, so too should we follow in their footsteps and not leave the holy land unless it is crucial and even then only for a short period of time.
May we all be blessed to be able to spend as much time as possible in Israel.
