By Rabbi Josh Wander
There is a painful and uncomfortable reality that we rarely speak about publicly:
Nearly one million Israelis have left Eretz Yisrael to live in the Diaspora.
Not because of pogroms.
Not because of famine.
Not because they were expelled.
They chose to leave.
They walked away from the one thing that generations before us would have given their lives for: the privilege of living in the Land of Israel.
And this can only happen in a vacuum — a vacuum of education, a vacuum of emunah, and a vacuum of understanding the true value of Eretz Yisrael. When someone does not know what something is worth, it becomes very easy to trade away.
Creatures of Comfort, Prisoners of Exile
Many of these Israelis are “successful” abroad. They live in modern suburbs, earn comfortable salaries, eat in kosher restaurants, and send their children to schools with Hebrew signs on the walls.
Some are even “religious.”
But spiritually, they have moved from Geula (redemption) to Galut (exile).
From light to darkness.
From open skies to a tunnel.
Choosing exile over Israel is like voluntarily crawling into the spiritual equivalent of a Hamas tunnel — darkness, disorientation, disconnection.
It is a self-imposed spiritual prison.
They convince themselves that their “spirituality is more uplifting” in New York, Miami, or Los Angeles.
What a perversion.
How twisted our values have become that we equate kosher supermarkets, valet parking, and kiddush clubs with spirituality.
Do We Know Better Than Hashem?
Let’s ask the only question that matters:
If Avraham Avinu and Sara Imeinu were told by Hashem to leave Charan and move to Canaan, would they respond:
“Actually, Hashem, our ruchniyut is better here. The housing market is cheaper and the shuls are more comfortable”?
Absurd.
Yet today, many Jews speak this way.
Not explicitly — but this is the core of their argument:
“I know Hashem said Eretz Yisrael is our home,
but I know better what’s best for me and my family.”
Chutzpah.
Ignorance.
Hashem gave us 613 mitzvot. Nearly one-third can only be performed in the Land. How can a thinking, believing Jew read the Torah and still say:
“It’s better for my neshamah to stay in exile.”
The Intellectual Justifications and the Halachic Acrobatics
Of course, excuses always need footnotes.
So we hear:
* “The Satmar Shitta says the Three Oaths forbid returning before Moshiach.”
* “Rav Moshe Feinstein wrote that aliyah isn’t obligatory today.”
* “Tosafot says due to danger one may stay in exile.”
All true — in context.
Yet deeply misunderstood and conveniently misused.
Even Satmar Chassidim weep over Eretz Yisrael.
Even Rav Moshe Feinstein praised the holiness of the Land.
None of them said:
“Exile is a spiritually superior environment. Stay there for comfort.”
For thousands of years, our rabbis begged, prayed, and sacrificed to reach this Land. They endured malaria-infested swamps, starvation, and Ottoman decrees.
Not for comfort.
For covenant.
They understood what we have forgotten:
Comfort is not the goal of Judaism. Destiny is.
The Real Price: Their Children
Let us speak plainly.
For the “religious diaspora Jew,” the loss is spiritual blindness.
But for the vast majority who leave?
It is nothing less than a demographic suicide mission.
In Israel:
* Intermarriage rate: ~4%
In the United States:
* Intermarriage rate: 70–90%
That means that in America, one generation later,
your grandchildren may not be Jewish.
Nobody “plans” for assimilation, yet it swallows entire family trees.
Leaving Eretz Yisrael puts your children into the currents of history — currents that have erased millions of Jews before them.
No Israeli parent moving abroad ever says:
“I’m choosing to end my family’s Jewish story.”
But statistically, that is exactly what they are doing.
Kosher-Style Judaism Is Not Judaism
Those who leave often say:
“We will stay religious abroad. Judaism is not tied to geography.”
False.
Judaism is born in a place.
Rooted in a place.
Fulfilled in a place.
Eretz Yisrael is not a backdrop.
It is a commandment.
לא בשמיים היא — It is not in the heavens.
It’s right here. In the Torah. In every parsha.
From Lech Lecha to Ki Tavo.
You don’t need a PhD to understand the Torah’s geography.
Only a willingness to listen.
The Darkness of Egypt — Replayed
The Midrash teaches that 80% of Jews never left Egypt.
They chose to stay — and they died during the plague of darkness.
They disappeared from Jewish destiny.
Today, the parallel is clear.
We are living in spiritual darkness.
Exile is the darkness.
Israel is the light.
Every Jew today is being asked:
Will you join the redemption — or remain behind?
Conclusion: The Door Is Still Open
The tragedy of the yordim is not only that they leave.
It’s that they don’t know what they’re leaving.
The greatest generation in Jewish history — ours — is living with the opportunity that our ancestors would have given their lives to taste for one hour.
The door to redemption is open.
The gates of Eretz Yisrael are open.
The only question is:
Will we walk through them?
Or will we choose to remain in the darkness of a self-imposed exile?
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit geulamovement.substack.com/subscribe
