In fact, in answer to the question why he himself didn’t go to Israel the Rebbe replied that he didn’t know of any halakhic permission to leave the Holy Land on a permanent basis and also he felt his mission was strengthening the Jews in America. In one of his letters he answers a young man who is considering Aliyah that he should stay in America to spread Yiddishkeit, saying that it was the mitzvah of the hour and that the questioner should devote himself to the task. After all, a forerunner of Chabad, the Baal Shem Tov, set off to dwell in the Holy Land until impossible conditions compelled him to turn back, and the founder of Chabad, Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi (the Baal HaTanya), sent groups of his followers to settle the Land of Israel long before the secular Zionist pioneers set out for Zion.
Author: Tzvi Fishman
Published at: 2025-06-28 21:29:21
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