Dear Shalom,
I believe Rabbi Goldmintz and Rabbi Lipman's posts about the U.S. election and Aliyah respectively are integrally related.
Rav Kook always emphasized what Herbert Weiner called in his classic work 9 and 1/2 Mystics, "The View From Above". The ultimate view from the spiritual balcony is important to contemplate even if those of us of less stature spiritually may not always get it exactly right.
I say only slightly joking that no matter what the results of this election turn out to be, one thing is likely, it will be great for Aliyah! If The Donald wins, then more liberal minded Jews may feel this is not their place anymore and if The Hillary wins, then many conservative minded Jews may feel this is not their place anymore.
As my then 16 year old son told me on election night eight years ago, "I am making Aliyah". When I asked him why, he responded seriously "If I am going to live in a Socialist country, I might as well live in a Jewish Socialist Country." At that point he felt that his future was in Israel and no longer in the United States. He went ahead with his plan and is now a happy oleh serving in the IDF.
As Meghan Kelly stated, with all the random terror attacks going on here, it feels here in the U.S. much like her friends in Israel must feel. This is correct and therefore many Jews may decide to move and join the Jewish people in our homeland where at least the security forces acknowledge and attempt to deal with the threats they face.
If we look from above at Jewish History for the past 100 plus years, it is clear that every 5 or 10 years, world events develop that cause significant communities in the diaspora to have significant aliyah numbers. Russia, Germany, Poland, Syria, Morocco, Iran, Iraq, Egypt, Ethiopia, Canada, Russia again, South Africa, France, and Belgium, and now we have started to see a continuation of the US migration to Israel which will likely continue unabated.
The study of history is just that, his-story, or as Rav Kook spelled Historiah with a tav not a tet, since he believed it should read "Hester-Yah, the concealed presence of G-d". The study of the merkavah has been translated as the study of the divine chariot. The Ramchal actually translates merkavah not as "chariot" but as "combination" from the word murkav, meaning the study of the continuum of events of history leading to the ultimate redemption.
Shalom,
Elisha Paul
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/02/2016 02:39PM by mlb.
