 |
 |
|
 |
 |
|||
| OHR Online | |||
 |
|||
|
|||
|
|
|
|
|
|||
| OHR Online | |||
|
|||
|
|||
    
|
|
|
|
Q & A - WITH RABBI RISKINQ:We will soon, G-d willing, be celebrating the bar-mitzvah of our eldest son. Many of the guests we have invited from overseas are hesitant to join us because of the security situation. Some of them have asked me what they should do. It is difficult to answer them; what advice can Rav Riskin offer? A: In 1948, when the danger was much greater than it is now, the Chazon Ish (who was not a Zionist) ruled that it was forbidden for anyone to leave Bnei Brak, since such a move would weaken the remaining inhabitants, and it is forbidden to weaken a place of settlement in Eretz Yisrael. Today we find ourselves fighting a war for our existence. It is not realistic to expect hundreds of thousands of Jews to make aliya and to share this fateful challenge with us, but I believe that if a certain person usually visits Israel every year, sends his/her children to study here for a year between high-school and university, or visits Israel in order to participate in family 'simchas', then it is forbidden for this person to change his/her custom at a time of danger. The lack of Diaspora visitors certainly contributes to the weakening of Israel - not only financially, but also in terms of the impression that it makes on our enemies as well as the feeling that it creates among Israeli Jews. In addition, since I believe that it is still less dangerous for Jews in Israel than it is elsewhere (especially after September 11th), there is no need to suffer pangs of conscience when advising, or even requesting, relatives to visit Israel - their homeland too - for a family simcha. If you have a question for Q & A, send it to ots@ohrtorahstone.org.il . We cannot guarantee that all questions received will be answered in this column.
Previous 'Q&As':
|
||
|
||||||
