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Claim: The Ramban in Sefer Hamitzvos says that we are obligated to conquer Eretz Yisroel in every generation. This clearly shows that he did not pasken like the Three Oaths. Fact: The Ramban quotes Chazal’s statement that Dovid Hamelech was wrong to conquer Syria before completing the conquest of Eretz Yisroel, and then writes, “So…

Claim: The Moetzes Gedolei Hatorah of Agudath Israel in 1937 agreed to a Jewish state. Fact: The resolutions produced by the Moetzes in 1937 were a compromise reached after arguments between those opposed to any state because it would be tantamount to denial of the coming of moshiach (among them Rabbi Elchonon Wasserman, Rabbi Aharon…

Claim: The Zionist movement also had many rabbis to rely on, such as Rabbi Tzvi Hirsch Kalischer, Rabbi Yitzchak Yaakov Reines and Rabbi Yissachar Shlomo Teichtal. Fact: A minority of rabbanim did indeed advocate Jewish settlement in Eretz Yisroel, but all of them explicitly prohibited a war to take over the land such as took…

Rabbi Yoel Kahn (1930-2021), an important rabbi in the Lubavitch community, leader of the team of scholars who memorized and transcribed the Lubavitcher Rebbe’s addresses, once wrote a letter arguing that Jewish independence and self-determination before the coming of moshiach is an impossibility according to Jewish belief; therefore, it follows that the current State of…

Claim: The Three Oaths are aggadah, not halacha. The poskim don’t bring them down as halacha.  Facts: The Gemara begins with the story of Rabbi Zeira and Rav Yehuda. Rabbi Zeira did not want Rav Yehudah to know he was moving to Eretz Yisroel, because Rav Yehuda held, based on the Three Oaths, that it…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…