Rischa Daraiisa-24-Spurning Dveikus -Is Diaspora Jewry making excuses for not fulfilling the Mitzvah of Yishuv Eretz Yisroel?

Rischa Daraiisa-24-Spurning Dveikus -Is Diaspora Jewry making excuses for not fulfilling the Mitzvah of Yishuv Eretz Yisroel?

Season 1, Ep. 24

Rabbis Kivelevitz and Bechhofer -respond to listeners' comments and critique of Rischa Daraiisa 23 where halachic and sociological rationale was offered for not moving to Eretz Yisroel.

The conversation becomes quite heated with the Rabbis arguing over the meaning of the Ramban and Rabbeinu Chaim Kohen's positions.

Whether Rav Moshe Feinstein's defense of the Rambam's reason for not counting Yishiv Eretz Yisroel as a Mitzvah, is considered a sufficient explanation for the entrenchment of Diaspora Jewry is similarly debated.

The Rabbis agree on why Tzitzis,despite being a Mitzvah Kiyimus ,has been virtually accepted as if it is binding on all males.

Kivelevitz elaborates why a similar mindset has not taken root for living in Eretz Yisroel.

Bechhofer's insistence on a person pursuing the status of a Mashpia,and staying in the place where they are being marbitz Torah, is countered by Kivelevitz by the examples of Rav Elyashiv Zt''l and Rav Chaim Kanyevski Shlita who shunned public positions.

The pair discuss the differences and risks between youthful and older immigrants to Eretz Yisroel with scientific data indicating how risky a move at a later age can be if not buoyed by support from an institution or a healthy retirement fund.

Bechhofer puts Kivelevitz on the defensive for being evasive and equivocal in his own explanation of why he hasn't picked up stakes and headed Mizrach,at one point comparing him to former President Bill Clinton.

He further assails him for harboring over romantic delusions of grandeur for thinking that he would have written important scholarly works had he lived in Eretz Yisroel through the years.

Kivelevitz reminds his co-host how the ultimate imperatives of constant Torah study and Dveikus to God are more accessible in that environment.and how he is certain that he would have discovered kindred spirits and mivakshei daas who shared his love of honest textual analysis.

Reading from his letter to another listener,Kivelevitz states, "...despite the ugly polarization that seems to perpetuate exponentially into the social fabric of the Medinah,a strong unifying sense of shared victim hood consistently rises to the top during crisis and reveals greater bonds.....cogent Limud HaTorah will always shatter partitions and make externals irrelevant..."

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