I cam to learn in Eretz Yisroel after three years of beis medrash (post-high school). I grew up in Lakewood, New Jersey, and, like most of my friends, when I came to learn in Eretz Yisrael I had no long-term intentions. I came to do the two-year Eretz Yisrael experience. Like most bachurim, this obviously included Shabbos seudos at the homes of many different types of people.

At one of those Shabbos meals, the question was posed: “How can people live in chutz la’aretz if there is a mitzva to live in Eretz Yisrael?”

I was put on the spot because, honestly, I had never thought about it. I was indeed aware there is a mitzva according to the majority of opinions, but somehow all that was theoretical knowledge. I totally ignored the step of applying my knowledge to my actions – I just honestly never thought about it.

After that Shabbos seudah, I decided to research the topic a little bit, until I discovered that Reb Moshe Feinstein, zt”l, wrote a teshuva that there is no obligation to live in Eretz Yisrael; rather, it is a mitzva kiyumis – a mitzva that one gets schar (reward) for doing – but is not an absolute chiyuv (obligation) to do.

I was happy. As far as I was concerned, the “issue” was resolved. There is a legitimate opinion that there is no chiyuv to live in Eretz Yisrael; therefore I could live happily ever after in Lakewood. Case closed.

Some time after that I had a conversation about this with a talmid chacham I knew. He told me something that changed my life. He asked me if, as a Yid, I saw mitzvos as a burden, or if I was happy to be part of the am hanivchar (chosen nation) and excited to do retzon Hashem (the will of G-d) even if it isn’t the easiest thing. Without too much thought, I knew that the answer was the latter. A Jew has to be happy with his mitzvos and not look at them as a burden.

He told me that, even if we accept Reb Moshe’s view (which I understood not to be the pashtus[E1] ), why does that give you the security to live in chutz la’aretz? You have a mitzva to live in Eretz Yisrael that is definitely retzon Hashem, so even if it is not a chiyuv, shouldn’t you want to try to do it? He added, you don’t think it is easy? Many mitzvos aren’t easy and that just increases the schar, as the mishna in Avos says, “Lefum tza’ara agra.”

This talmid chacham continued to note that there are many ma’alos (benefits) of living in Eretz Yisrael mentioned throughout the Torah and Chazal, such as, “Eretz asher einei Hashem…” meaning that Hashem’s special hashgacha pratis holds sway in this Land. He also mentioned the famous gemara (Kesuvos 110b) that states the difference, concerning a person’s relationship with Hashem, between one who is living in Eretz Yisrael and one who is living in chutz la’aretz. I once again was aware of these ma’alos, but somehow, I never thought about trying to apply them to my life. He asked me to forget about if it is a chiyuv or not and just ask myself if I was not interested in all these ma’alos.

I thought about this for a while and took it to heart. The reason a Yid is in this world is to do retzon Hashem, not to look for loopholes. The retzon Hashem in this case is very clear: Hashem wants Yidden to live in Eretz Yisrael.

I was just a bachur at the time, but when I started shidduchim my condition was clear. I went back to the States for shidduchim like the norm, but I knew that for the long term, I needed to live in Eretz Yisrael. My parents thought I wasn’t being rational, but they agreed that I could “try” my condition for a year and rethink it if I still didn’t find my bashert by then. A year passed, and I started to get nervous, but then Hashem sent me my bashert, and, b”H, she agreed with my condition eagerly.

We got married, b”H, and started off in Yerushalayim, which was the normal place chutznikim my age lived. I continued learning in the same yeshiva I did as a bachur. My wife found work for an American company through the computer. Neither my parents nor my in-laws were financially supporting our stay in Eretz Yisrael, but we had siyata diShmaya, and my wife had decent work. After a little less than a year, however, we realized that we could barely afford our budget, and this was without the added expenses that come with children. It was a hard but obvious decision: We knew we had to move out of the mainstream Yerushalayim to somewhere where the cost of living was much cheaper.

After looking at the various options and spending a Shabbos here and there, we moved to the community we thought made the most sense. B”H, we are very happy in Beitar Illit, and I thank Hashem daily for letting me live my dream in Eretz Yisrael, as the gemara says, “Duchta deMoshe v’Aharon lo zachu lah…” a place where even Moshe and Aharon did not merit….

Adjusting

For me, adjusting to our new community outside Yerushalayim wasn’t such a big deal. I continued learning in the same yeshiva in Yerushalayim, taking a bus every day. For my wife it was more challenging. We moved from a mostly English-speaking community, to a building where almost nobody knew English. It took time, but eventually she got connected to the English-speaking community here and also learned to make friends with our Israeli neighbors.

The chutznik community gave us a lot of chizuk. It wasn’t a group of people, most of whom were moving back after two or three years. It was an oylam of people doing the same thing we were doing.

This article is part of the Eretz Chemdah series featuring Anglo-Chareidim living in, settling, and building up Eretz Yisrael. A project of Avira D'Eretz Yisroel, coordinated by Yoel Berman - info@aviraderetzyisroel.org.