Summing up the halakhic argument, another former Chief Rabbi of Israel, HaRav Ovadia Yosef (Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef’s father) , said that while each person could do as they pleased in the matter, certainly everyone should find a way to thank Hashem for the establishment of the State of Israel, if only because it provided a vessel to for the ingathering and refuge of millions of Jews and their settlement in the Land of Israel. In his opinion, the danger of living on the whale’s back is the abandonment of Jewish Tradition, and the lifeboat is the boat of Jewish Heritage.’ The message being given to American Jewry is that if you persist in learning Torah and observing mitzvot here in the American Exile, the dangers of the whale’s back overturning will not affect you and you shall not drown." Therefore, we in Israel, besides saying Hallel in gratitude for the gift of Medinat Yisrael which facilitates the ingathering of the exiles and our pathway to complete Redemption and the subsequent establishment of Hashem’s Kingship over the world, we can all do a bit more, each and every one of us, to attract those who remain behind in the comfortable exiles, in America, France, England, Australia, Canada, Mexico City, and South Africa.
Author: Tzvi Fishman
Published at: 2026-02-10 22:19:00
Still want to read the full version? Full article
