Reply To: Op-Ed: Houston Jews – Rebuild in Israel!

Yichusdik,

1. So think what would have happened if they had moved themselves with their know-how and businesses to Israel.

2. The fact that some people might be exempt from a mitzva (although many elderly people make aliya and the community can take care of them just as well if not better here) does not mean that there is no mitzva. Wold you support a call to keep Shabbat and fast on Yom Kippur? What about emergency personnel who must work on Shabbat and sick people who must eat on Yom Kippur?

3. Once a week is already a religious fanatic. The fact of the matter is that in Galut the Jews worship foreign gods as stated in keriat shema. Xmas parties, bonuses and tips. Loving their Sundays (as one rav derisively called it, “Shabbat shenia shel galuyot”), etc.

4. If you think that he is sharp you should listen to a rav who has a strong mussar derech/ Just to give one example, Rav Yisrael Salanter once walked up to a talmid who was davening next to an open window and told him that he was a robber – he was blocking the air (@Charlie). In fact, mussar is reserved for people of whom one has a high opinion (Chavat Yair 152, generally printed after Hebrew editions of “Sefer Chafetz Chaim”).