It is fascinating how different people gravitate to different lands. It is understandable about some places because they are just so livable. But some places make you wonder about the people living there, “If you can leave, why haven’t you?”

Sometimes it’s a matter of what people are used to. They find it more appealing to put up with the lackings of a place than settling into a new and foreign place. But a lot of time it’s as if they have some kind of bond to the place that someone who does not live there cannot feel. As the Talmud says, a place has chayn for those who live there (Sotah 47a). 

It’s a real thing. The sefer Tuv HaAretz explains that one of the main reasons for a person to be drawn to live in a particular place is that it was, spirituallyspeaking, the place from which their soul was hewn. Therefore, their soul feels more at home there than anywhere else in the world, and that tends to count for more than beautiful beaches and fancy restaurants for many people.

On that note, the sefer also says that Eretz Yisroel was the spiritual quarry for every Jewish soul. Every SINGLE Jewish soul. If so, it should be that every single Jew should feel more at home in Eretz Yisroel than anywhere else in the world. It should be that a Jew out of Eretz Yisroel feels like a fish out of water. It should be that every Jew in the Diaspora should be pained by the fact that they can’t make aliyah. If only.

The opposite is true for many. They are pained when people try to convince them to even consider making aliyah, and they can be angry, even hostile when people make them feel guilty for not yearning to be there, or for not wanting to leave there for another country. Some even secretly hope that even after Moshiach comes, it will be possible to remain in the Diaspora.

There are really quite a lot of books that extol the virtue of living in Eretz Yisroel, even today. I have personally written a couple of my own, the main one being, Talking About Eretz Yisroel: The Profound & Essential Meaning of Making Aliyah. More recently, I just published another called, Landing Higher: A Higher & More Miraculous Level of Reality in Eretz Yisroel. Both make very good cases for why a Jew should at least yearn to live in Eretz Yisroel today.

In the early 1900s, it was very difficult to live in Eretz Yisroel. The land was harsh and the Arabs were brutal. Later, the British would side with the local Arabs and add to that difficulty. Eretz Yisroel just could not compete with the lifestyle the Diaspora served up, especially in America.

In the latter part of the 20th century, after the State was officially formed and even accepted into the “family of nations,” it became increasingly easier to survive in Eretz Yisroel. Despite several existential wars, the land became prosperous and technologically savvy. By the 1990s, the quality of life in Israel was comparable to many other places in the Diaspora. 

But instead, it became controversial to live in Eretz Yisroel. The Jews in 1948 were content to develop the land they had been allotted by the United Nations vote. They were prepared to work with the situation, as unideal as it was. It was the Arab world that could not accept the new status quote and went all out to snuff out the fledgling state at its re-birth, time-after-time.

Not only did the Jewish people in Israel miraculously survive all of that, they continued to thrive as well. That only made the Arab world more frustrated, and with the help of Russia apparently, they turned to the world to undermine Jewish legitimacy. The plan was to succeed at PR where they failed at war. 

It worked, in large part due to a willingness of media giants such as CNN to champion their cause, false as it was. It was the real beginning of fake news, and the world in its naivety bought the narrative that the real David in the story was the Palestinians, not the Jews. The lie just festered and grew from there until even Jews joined the Arab world against the Israeli people, making the Jewish State and living in it controversial. 

Different groups of Jews have different reasons for staying away. Some have a hard time, or simply don’t want to distinguish between living in the land of God and the fact that a secular government “runs” it. Others can’t bear the idea of living a less material life in Israel. Some can’t deal with the change of location, comfortable with their current pattern of life. And of course, there are those who are afraid of the Arabs, and others who simply don’t identify with anything Jewish, and despise reminders that they should.

You can always find a reason not to live somewhere, and often it doesn’t make a difference if you do. It’s different with Israel and the Jewish people, though. It’s the only land that is said to have been promised to a people, and by none other than God Himself. That may sound far-fetched to some, especially in today’s very agnostic world. But that doesn’t change the fantasticness of the claim, one that no other people has made ever. At least it should be checked, and why so many very intelligent people believe in it still. 

Because if true, it tells us that, rather than look for reasons not to live in Eretz Yisroel, we should look for reasons to live there. The great news is that so many exist, some old, some new, and many sources readily discuss them. There are so many important reasons to make this change of perspective, some that are clear now, some that will become clear in the near future, and most of which will be eminently clear in the World-to-Come (Brochos 5a; Pesachim 113a; Kesuvos 111a-b). 

Here’s the punchline. When God told Avraham Avinu to make aliyah (Bereishis 12:1), he referred to Eretz Yisroel “as the land that I will show you.” Everyone seems to say that Avraham was already aware that his destination was to be Eretz Yisroel, so what was God going to show him that he didn’t already see?

The answer is not something you can tell someone, but something they have to see and experience for themself. Anyone can see Eretz Yisroel the land, but not everyone can see Eretz Yisroel the place, at least not on their own. As the Talmud says, even the air of Eretz Yisroel makes a person wiser (Bava Basra 158b), if you breathe it, and not just through your nose, but through every aspect of your being. 

What you see is what you get when you see only with your physical eyes. It’s your mind’s eye that has the ability to show deeper and more fulfilling layers of reality, and that’s like putting on special glasses to reveal hidden realities, realities that we cherish when we can see them.

What good is a promise for something that no one wants? The power of a promise increases as the value of the thing being promised increases in our eyes. God promised us Eretz Yisroel, and it seemed to be a big deal to Him and our ancestors. If we can’t grasp why, it’s on us, and we’ll have no one to resent but ourselves once we finally can see what God showed Avraham, long, long ago.