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Yefei Kol: Why isn’t taking over the land already forbidden under the oath against rebellion?
The Yefei Kol is a commentary on the Midrash Shir Hashirim, by Rabbi Shmuel Yaffe Ashkenazi of Constantinople (1525-1595). Commenting on the Three Oaths (chapter 2, verse 7), he writes: Rashi explains that “going up as a wall” means “together, with a strong hand.” The problem is that if this means a military invasion, there…
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Your book is outdated; today we have to see Zionism as a Jew’s inner yearning to reconnect with his Jewish self
Dear Rav Yirmiyahu, I saw a copy of your book/ Sefer in shul which grabbed my attention and spent some time reading sections of it. This topic is one that I have given a great deal of thought to out of my own interest and having taught Modern Jewish History for over 20 years. At…
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Were there many authorities who held that the oaths prohibit only a military takeover of the land?
Hello Rabbi, on the question of whether the oath not to “go up as a wall” means only with a fight, or even peaceful immigration, the Avnei Nezer and Rabbi Chaim Palagi (the first responsa to be written on the matter) both hold that it means only with a fight, but peaceful immigration is allowed,…
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Rabbi Yaakov Emden (1697-1776) – We will not seek to get our land
Sefer Hashimush (“The Useful Book”) is a guide to replying to the arguments of the Sabbatean heretics of Rabbi Yaakov Emden’s time. Some of his points apply just as well to Zionism. Whether Hashem redeems us now, or whether He keeps us in exile for thousands of years more, G-d forbid, we will not give…
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Ahavas Yehonasan – Does the oath prohibit a peaceful ingathering?
Rabbi Yonasan Eybeshutz (1690-1764), in his commentary on the Haftaros, wrote several passages that touch on the meaning of the Oaths. On the Haftarah of Parshas Vaeschanan, he says that even if all the nations agree that the Jewish people should return to their land, they will cry out with an oath and refuse to…
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Rabbi Yechezkel Landau, the Noda Biyehuda
Lest a wicked person think that the obligation to honor a king was said only regarding a Jewish king, during the period when we had kings, I will prove from our seforim that this is a mistake. There is no difference in this regard between a Jewish or a non-Jewish king. We are obligated by…
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Rabbi Avraham Weinfeld (1930-1987): The innocent bystander approach
Shailos Utshuvos Lev Avraham, Siman 129: It is now more than eight years since the Zionist leaders declared a Jewish state in a part of Eretz Yisroel. Since that time, opinions in the Jewish world have been divided. Some say it was good; they see it as the beginning of redemption, that Hashem has visited…
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The Megillas Esther: No mitzvah to live in Eretz Yisroel nowadays
Rabbi Yitzchak Leon ben Eliezer ibn Tzur, in his commentary Megillas Esther (published 1592), attempts to explain why the Rambam does not count living in Eretz Yisroel as one of the 613 mitzvos. It seems to me that the reason why the Rambam did not count it is because the commandment to take over the…
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The Maharsha: does he permit an independent state?
Maharsha on Kesubos 111a, commenting on the three oaths: Certainly every Jew is permitted to go up to Eretz Yisroel, but they must not go up with a strong hand and to build for themselves the walls of Jerusalem. When Nechemiah said, “Let us build the walls of the city and no longer be a…
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The Avnei Nezer’s Permission Argument
Rabbi Avraham Bornsztain of Sochatchov (1838-1910) wrote that the oath only prohibits conquest, not mass immigration with permission from the ruling power: According to what we have explained that the verse “I adjure you” applies to all lands and all exiles, we can give a satisfactory reason for why all the great people [throughout our…
I Will Await Him 