Responding To A Cry From The Heart

In my email this morning, I found this cry for spiritual clarity from a wife and mother still living in America:


...sorry to sound like the simple son, what are we supposed to do? Are we to distrust rabbis who do not publically speak out to their flocks that it is time to make aliyah? Are these articles saying that we should hurriedly leave America before a possible US attack on Israel at which time, G-d forbid it could be too late to be able to leave? It's obvious that everything is speeding up in all ways around the globe. I need it spelled out with no hints. What are you or others in the know saying to do, now? Increase mitzvos, tefilla, etc. Are you also saying leave NOW? 

Here is my response:

You have always impressed me as a sensitive,spiritual woman and your message confirms this impression.  Kol HaKavod for asking such an important question.  The irony is that, if it was as clear as you would like me to make it, you wouldn't have to ask.

I am no navi and I have no inside information that is hidden to others.  All I can say is that the calls from rabbinic voices in Israel to make aliyah NOW are stronger and more frequent than ever.  We have, as a people, consistently stayed too long in every exile, assuming the trouble will pass if we just lay low.  But, as you can see with your own eyes, Jewish history is dramatically speeding up.

It seems to me there are three choices here:

1) Sit tight and wait for Moshiach.

2) Come as soon as possible.

3) At least make serious preparations - sell off what you can, get your money out of dollars and into shekelim in an account here, get the paperwork done so you're approved for aliyah, have a concrete Plan B so you can leave right away when you sense yourself that it's time to go.

There are those who will counter that, with the recent uptick in terrorist attacks of various kinds in Israel, it's crazy to come now.  I personally believe that there is no place safer for Jews at this time in history than Eretz Yisrael.  Although people have died here al Kiddush Hashem in recent weeks, it's impossible to me that, this close to the next stage of Jewish history, Am Yisrael as a whole will be safer in someone else's country than we are at Home.

My rabbis are teaching that the Shechina has already departed from everywhere outside of Israel, and the surest sign of this is an increase in open antisemitism.  I think of Helen Thomas, an American icon, and her recent words against the Jewish people, not whispered quietly in someone's living room, but published and broadcast all over the world.  Others will have other examples of open antisemitism.  

If the Shechina no longer rests with the Jewish people outside of Israel, those remaining there are living without spiritual protection and are, therefore, incredibly vulnerable to a rapid shift in fortunes.  Why would anyone want to stay in that circumstance?

It's really a matter of choosing for which team you want to play at this time in history. Where's your loyalty?  With whom do you identify more?  Which circumstance do you trust more to keep you and your loved ones safe during dramatic times - America without the Shechina or Hashem with Am Yisrael in Eretz Yisrael?

At this stage, we still have a choice - to see the direction history is taking us, to feel in our guts that the Redemption is coming and to get on board, or to live as if all this chaos is not game-changing in any way, but just another series of worldwide crises that will pass, allowing us to return to our normal lives soon enough.

It seems to me that Hashem is asking each of us to choose.  

And it seems to me that the correct answer is very clear.