Q:
Is it advisable for an American to marry and settle in Eretz Yisroel?
A:
I spoke about this a number of times.
Is it advisable for an American to marry and settle in Chicago? It’s the same question. Eretz Yisroel, you don’t go there unless it’s good for you; unless you know where you’re going.
Now, if you have two frum places where spiritually it’s the same exactly – of course you have to make a living there too; if you can’t make a living, what’s the use of going? – but if everything is the same, Eretz Yisroel is better.
But suppose you’re able to succeed in Torah here, then here is the place. You go where the Torah is. Where the Torah is, that’s Eretz Yisroel.
When Rabbi Yochanan heard that people were living exceptionally long in Bavel, he said, “How could it be? It says למען ירבו ימיכם על האדמה – they’ll live long only in Eretz Yisroel. How can they live long in Bavel?”
So they told him, “But these old people in Bavel get up early to the beis hamedrash and remain late in beis hamedrash.”
“Oh,” he says, “now I understand.” היינו דאהני להו – that’s what helped them because the atmosphere of the beis hamedrash is equivalent to Eretz Yisroel (Brachos 8a).
And therefore, the people in Bavel in the times of Abaye and Rava, stayed there; they remained there because they had the great rebbes. That’s the place to be if you’re able to succeed.
TAPE # 256 (February 1979)
