If you want to be in Israel it seems to me that it is best to be in Israel that was settled by the Jews that returned from Babylonian captivity. That is a smaller area than the area that was conquered by the Jews that came out of Egypt.
And I also think that someone ought to make these borders clear.
There are still a lot of issues to figure out here. For example the Talmud in Megilah brings the statement of Rav Isaac that one can sacrifice in Beit Chonio nowadays. And it relates that to the fact that קדושה ראשונה קידשה לשעתה ולא קידשה לעתיד לבא. The first sanctification sanctified it for it time and not for the future. The second sanctification sanctified it for its time and the future.
And then the Gemara relates this to the argument between Rabbi Eliezer and Rabbi Joshua about the curtains. How that is parallel I don't know.
In any case, we have that that areas like Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Safed, Ber Sheva are all Israel proper.
Areas like Netivot were definitely not settled by the Jews coming back from Babylon. But from what I can see in the Rambam they are still Israel, but just are lacking some ingredient. That is because in the seventh year they are not worked but one can eat what grows wild--. The Rash (Rabainu Shimshon) holds those areas are holy only from rabbinical decree.
You can see why people coming back to Israel from Europe would have made a point in settling in areas like Bnei Brak, or Jerusalem in order to avoid this problem.
In any case for people that want to learn Torah --I think only Israelis can really excel in Torah in Israel. They can go to great Litvak Yeshivas like Ponovitch or Beer Yaakov or Tifrach. American places in Israel seem to me to be exceptionally weak in Torah. Americans I think would be best advised to go to NY and learn in the great Litvak yeshivas there until they know how to learn, and then go to Israel.
Americans yeshivas in Israel typically can't learn and that includes the teachers. I don't know why this but it is the case. That means even the Mir where people can't learn and think that they can because of their address. Brisk I am not sure about because they only take in the best of all students in the world but how much they actually learn in Brisk I am not sure. So what you have in Israel is basically Ponovitch and its many branches and offshoots that do learn on a very high level. But those places are not for Americans unless there are people there that I have not heard of.
Why are American teachers in Israel no good? Because their knowledge of Talmud is on the level of Barnes and Nobles. Let's say a person is on the operating table for open heart surgery. Just because they sedate him he asks the surgeon how good are his chances to make it. The surgeon tell him he has nothing to worry about because he was just at Barnes and Nobles yesterday and read a book called Open Heart Surgery for Dummies. That is the level of knowledge of American teachers in Israel.
Attempts to make American yeshivas of the caliber of the NY ones has been an abysmal failure.
And I also think that someone ought to make these borders clear.
There are still a lot of issues to figure out here. For example the Talmud in Megilah brings the statement of Rav Isaac that one can sacrifice in Beit Chonio nowadays. And it relates that to the fact that קדושה ראשונה קידשה לשעתה ולא קידשה לעתיד לבא. The first sanctification sanctified it for it time and not for the future. The second sanctification sanctified it for its time and the future.
And then the Gemara relates this to the argument between Rabbi Eliezer and Rabbi Joshua about the curtains. How that is parallel I don't know.
In any case, we have that that areas like Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Safed, Ber Sheva are all Israel proper.
Areas like Netivot were definitely not settled by the Jews coming back from Babylon. But from what I can see in the Rambam they are still Israel, but just are lacking some ingredient. That is because in the seventh year they are not worked but one can eat what grows wild--. The Rash (Rabainu Shimshon) holds those areas are holy only from rabbinical decree.
You can see why people coming back to Israel from Europe would have made a point in settling in areas like Bnei Brak, or Jerusalem in order to avoid this problem.
In any case for people that want to learn Torah --I think only Israelis can really excel in Torah in Israel. They can go to great Litvak Yeshivas like Ponovitch or Beer Yaakov or Tifrach. American places in Israel seem to me to be exceptionally weak in Torah. Americans I think would be best advised to go to NY and learn in the great Litvak yeshivas there until they know how to learn, and then go to Israel.
Americans yeshivas in Israel typically can't learn and that includes the teachers. I don't know why this but it is the case. That means even the Mir where people can't learn and think that they can because of their address. Brisk I am not sure about because they only take in the best of all students in the world but how much they actually learn in Brisk I am not sure. So what you have in Israel is basically Ponovitch and its many branches and offshoots that do learn on a very high level. But those places are not for Americans unless there are people there that I have not heard of.
Why are American teachers in Israel no good? Because their knowledge of Talmud is on the level of Barnes and Nobles. Let's say a person is on the operating table for open heart surgery. Just because they sedate him he asks the surgeon how good are his chances to make it. The surgeon tell him he has nothing to worry about because he was just at Barnes and Nobles yesterday and read a book called Open Heart Surgery for Dummies. That is the level of knowledge of American teachers in Israel.
Attempts to make American yeshivas of the caliber of the NY ones has been an abysmal failure.
