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Living in Israel: Difference between revisions

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# Many authorities holds that it is a mitzvah to make Aliyah and live in [[Israel]] nowadays and there's no prohibition involved. <ref> [http://www.dailyhalacha.com/displayRead.asp?readID=897 Rabbi Mansour] explains that we do not hold of Rav Yehuda's opinion (in [[Shabbat]] 41 and Ketubot 112). </ref>
# Many authorities holds that it is a mitzvah to make Aliyah and live in [[Israel]] nowadays and there's no prohibition involved. <ref> [http://www.dailyhalacha.com/displayRead.asp?readID=897 Rabbi Mansour] explains that we do not hold of Rav Yehuda's opinion (in [[Shabbat]] 41 and Ketubot 112). </ref>
# Visiting Israel is a mitzvah according to some poskim. Some say that it is a mitzvah as long long as you walk 4 amot in Israel. Some say it is only a mitzvah if you live there for 30 days and some say it is only if you live there for a year or more.<ref>Rivash writes that making aliyah is a mitzvah and it is codified in Shulchan Aruch O.C. 248:4. Knesset Hagedola 248:16 writes that according to the Shiltei Hagiborim it is a mitzvah to walk 4 amot in Israel and certainly visiting even temporarily. Magen Avraham 248:15 cites it as a dispute whether visiting Israel is a mitzvah or only living there permanently. [https://www.yutorah.org/lectures/lecture.cfm/915001/rabbi-hershel-schachter/traveling-to-eretz-yisrael/ Rav Hershel Schachter ("Traveling to Israel," beginning)] therefore recommends that anyone who is going for a while and either could go for less than a month or more than a month should go for more than a month. Similarly, he he could go for less than a year or a year he should go for a complete year.</ref>
# Visiting Israel is a mitzvah according to some poskim. Some say that it is a mitzvah as long long as you walk 4 amot in Israel. Some say it is only a mitzvah if you live there for 30 days and some say it is only if you live there for a year or more.<ref>Rivash writes that making aliyah is a mitzvah and it is codified in Shulchan Aruch O.C. 248:4. Knesset Hagedola 248:16 writes that according to the Shiltei Hagiborim it is a mitzvah to walk 4 amot in Israel and certainly visiting even temporarily. Magen Avraham 248:15 cites it as a dispute whether visiting Israel is a mitzvah or only living there permanently. [https://www.yutorah.org/lectures/lecture.cfm/915001/rabbi-hershel-schachter/traveling-to-eretz-yisrael/ Rav Hershel Schachter ("Traveling to Israel," beginning)] therefore recommends that anyone who is going for a while and either could go for less than a month or more than a month should go for more than a month. Similarly, he he could go for less than a year or a year he should go for a complete year.</ref>
==Taking Sefarim out of Israel==
</p><p class="indent">There is an interesting and lesser-known Talmudic prohibition against taking sefarim, holy books, out of Eretz Yisrael.<ref>Yerushalmi Sanhedrin 3:9.</ref> There is even a view that sefarim brought from chutz la’aretz to Eretz Yisrael must remain there.<ref>Dovev Meisharim 2:21.</ref> The reason the rabbis instituted this prohibition was in order to ensure that there would always be sefarim in Eretz Yisrael for people to learn from. It is also noted that ensuring that there are sefarim for people to enjoy and learn from contributes to the mitzva of yishuv Eretz Yisrael, settling the Land of Israel.<ref>Aruch Hashulchan, YD 267:128; Chaim Sha’al 2:38:95; B’tzel Hachachma 4:63:2.</ref>
</p><p class="indent">Another reason for this enactment was that it was felt that taking sefarim out of Eretz Yisrael lowers their level of holiness. Indeed, Eretz Yisrael, and anything holy that is in it, such as sefarim, assumes an additional measure of holiness, while in chutz la’aretz there is no such concept.<ref>B’tzel Hachachma 4:63:3; Shu''t Rabbi Shaul Moshe, OC 25, cited in Ma’adanei Asher, Ki Tavo 5766. </ref> In fact, it seems that at one time, even taking sefarim out of Jerusalem to use in other cities in Eretz Yisrael was frowned upon. This is because the holiness of Jerusalem is greater than the holiness of any other place in Eretz Yisrael. Therefore, removing sefarim from Jerusalem was also seen as lowering their level of holiness, even if they would remain in Eretz Yisrael.<ref>Kol Gadol 26.</ref>
</p><p class="indent">Nevertheless, there have always been a number of exceptions to this rule. For example, it is permitted to ship sefarim to chutz la’aretz that were written or printed with the specific intention that they would be sent there.<ref>Yerushalmi Sanhedrin 3:9; B’tzel Hachachma 1:77:2; Kol Gadol 26.</ref> So too, a Torah scholar who moves from Eretz Yisrael to chutz la’aretz is permitted to take his personal sefarim library with him. It is also permitted to take sefarim out of Eretz Yisrael when one’s intention is to bring them back, such as when going on a trip and one wants to take some sefarim for the journey.<ref>B’tzel Hachachma 1:77:6.</ref>
</p><p class="indent">Almost all contemporary halachic authorities rule that in our day, when sefarim are abundant and relatively inexpensive, it is permitted to ship or otherwise take sefarim out of Eretz Yisrael without exception.<ref>Ibid., 4:63:2,4; Chaim Sha’al 2:38:95, Kol Gadol 26; Beit Ridbaz 40; Yabia Omer, CM 8:4.</ref> This is especially true when such sefarim are likely to make their way back to Eretz Yisrael.<ref>B’tzel Hachachma 4:63.</ref> Indeed, the original enactment was made at a time when sefarim were scarce and in short supply in Eretz Yisrael. So too, when the enactment was made, sefarim were handwritten and not mass produced as they are today. It is also noted that the three primary pillars of halacha, the Rif, the Rosh, and the Rambam, make no mention of this prohibition at all.<ref>Ibid., 1:77:5, 4:63:4.</ref>
# Special thanks to Rabbi Ari Enkin author of the Peot HaShulchani and Dalet Amot Shel Halacha for this section. If you would like to purchase his books please [http://www.eichlers.com/Product/Books/Halachah_-_Jewish_Law/General_Issues/Amot-Shel-Halacha---Halachic-Insights---The-Dalet-Amot-Halacha-Series:-1-_H028-3.html click here].
==Sources==
==Sources==
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[[Category:Land of Israel]]
[[Category:Land of Israel]]