Why I Made Aliyah

by Rabbi David Golinkin

In honor of Israel's 60th birthday I would like to explain some of the reasons why I decided to live in Israel. These are not the only reasons a Jew should make aliyah, and they may not be the best, but these are some of the reasons that appeal to me. Allow me to begin with three stories:

My grandfather, Rabbi Mordechai Ya’akov Golinkin, z”l, was born in Cherson, Ukraine, in 1884. When he was a little boy in heder, they reached the weekly Torah portion of Lekh Lekha where God makes a covenant with Abraham: “To your descendants I have given this land” (Genesis 15:18). My grandfather held his tzitzit in his hand and in the style of Eastern Europe made his own covenant with God – that he would never forget God’s promise to Abraham to give us Eretz Yisrael. He did not forget. He joined Mizrahi, the religious Zionist organization, in 1913 and remained an active member until his death in 1974.

When my father – Rabbi Noah Golinkin, z”l – and my mother, Dvorah, became engaged in 1951, my father did not buy my mother an engagement ring. Instead they decided to donate the money to UJA, as if they were engaged to the state of Israel. It wasn’t until 10 years later that my mother got her engagement ring.

On May 1, 1951, when the first Israel Bond went on sale, my father arranged to buy bond number WA000001 as a gift for my cousin Meyer Goldstein in honor of his first birthday.

So it is not surprising that when I came to Israel for the first time with my parents in 1968, at age 13, I announced that I wanted to remain there. My parents said that I first had to finish high school and then I could decide. (Perhaps they thought I would change my mind!) I completed high school and made aliyah in 1972. I have lived in Israel ever since.

Living in the diaspora, many of our prayers and prophecies seemed unreal and remote. But when I live in the reborn state of Israel they are real and miraculous. We recite in the Amidah three times daily t’kah b’shofar gadol l’heruteinu (Sound the great shofar for our freedom). For 1,900 years, Jews have recited this prayer for kibbutz galuyot, the ingathering of the exiles, as a hope and as a dream. If you live in Israel today, it is a dream come true. When I did basic training in the Israel Defense Forces many years ago, the 66 soldiers in my unit had made aliyah from 23 different countries! This past semester, I taught a course on the Passover haggadah at the Schechter Institute in Jerusalem. When I wanted to compare the songs and customs of different Jewish communities, I didn't have to go far. I simply asked my 32 students, who stem from Europe, Russia, Yemen, Iran, Morocco, Tunis, Algeria, and other countries. Kibbutz galuyot is happening right now in Israel, and I am happy to be part of the miracle.

Now let us look at another blessing in the Amidah: V’lirushalayim irkha berachamim tashuv (Return in mercy to Your city, Jerusalem). Since the destruction of the Second Temple in the year 70 CE, this prayer also seemed unreal. But when I walk the streets of Jerusalem, I know that our prayers are being answered. Jerusalem’s population has grown from 185,000 to over 700,000 in the past 40 years, making it the most populous city in the country. Its area has more than doubled and the prophecy of Zechariah has been fulfilled: “Jerusalem shall be peopled as a city without walls, so many shall be the men and cattle it contains” (2:8). Binyan Yerushalayim, the rebuilding of Jerusalem, is happening, and I am proud to be part of this miracle, as well.

Furthermore, limud Torah, the study of the Torah, comes to life in Israel. When I visit Jericho, I take out my trusty pocket Tanakh and read the story of its capture by Joshua 3,200 years ago. When I study the story of David and Goliath, I can drive to Emek Ha’elah and pick up five flat smooth stones from the riverbed, just as David did. I can go to the foothills of Judea and relive the events in the Book of Maccabees and I can travel to Masada and read Josephus’s description of it aloud. I can visit Qumran and read the Dead Sea Scrolls and gaze at the caves of Bar Kokhba as I read the letters that he sent his troops.

I can go into the countryside and relive many famous talmudic stories. For example, we learn in the Jerusalem Talmud (Berakhot 1:1) that Rabbi Hiyya the Great and Rabbi Shimon ben Halafta walk in the valley of Arbel at sunrise and see the dawn begin to break. Rabbi Hiyya remarks: “So is the redemption of Israel – at first bit by bit, as it proceeds, it gets faster and bigger.” I have stood on the cliff of Arbel near Lake Kinneret at sunrise reading this story. Rabbi Hiyya was right – both about the sunrise and about the redemption. In Israel, Jewish history is not merely in the books you study. It surrounds you. Joshua and David, Isaiah and Amos, Judah Maccabee and Josephus, Rabbi Akiva and Bar Kokhba are alive and well in the land of Israel. I am happy to be their neighbor.

Ivrit, Hebrew, has been our national language for 4,000 years. While I can read and write and speak Hebrew anywhere, there is only one country where Hebrew lives and breathes. The bus drivers curse in it, the policemen write tickets in it, soccer and basketball are played in it, theater groups perform in it, the street signs are written in it, and the radio and TV broadcast in it. I am thrilled to be a part of this revival.

Lastly, Israel, for better or for worse, is the only Jewish state we have. It is the only place where we don’t have to explain to our children why we are not observing Christmas. As a matter of fact, not only do I not know how many shopping days are left until Christmas, I am usually not even aware that Christmas has come and gone. In Israel, Shabbat is a weekly day of rest, there is a huge hanukkiyah on the parliament building, people walk through the streets in costumes on Purim handing out plates of mishloach manot, and apartments are constructed so a family can build a sukkah on the balcony.

For the first time in about 1,600 years, Israel is once again the center stage of Jewish history. Until 1972 I was a member of the audience; since then I have been a part of the unfolding drama.

I would like to conclude by referring to the story of the spies, which we read in parashat Shlakh Lekha in June. What was their sin? Everything they said was true. The land of Israel was fertile, flowing with milk and honey, yet well-fortified and inhabited by many powerful nations. Joshua and Calev did not dispute these facts but they arrived at opposite conclusions. Why? The difference was one of attitude and of faith. To put it bluntly, the 10 spies had no guts and no faith in God. They were afraid: “We cannot attack that people, for it is stronger than we” (Numbers 13:31). Calev, on the other hand, was undaunted by what he had seen. His reaction was: “Let us by all means go up, and we shall gain possession of it, for we shall surely overcome it” (13:30).

I have always tried to follow Calev and Joshua’s example. Israel has social, military, religious, and educational problems. No one disputes these facts. Yet if we have faith in God and a moderate dose of chutzpah, we surely shall overcome.