TLV – EL AL Boeing 787-9 4X-EDK seen landing at Tel Aviv Ben Gurion Airport. Photographed on the 15.7.2024. (Source: Shutterstock)

 

 

 

“He will set up a banner for the nations, And will assemble the outcasts of Israel, And gather together the dispersed of Judah From the four corners of the earth.”

Isaiah 11:12

One Kingdom, One King

Again the word of the Lord came to me, saying, “As for you, son of man, take a stick for yourself and write on it: ‘For Judah and for the children of Israel, his companions.’ Then take another stick and write on it, ‘For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel, his companions.’ Then join them one to another for yourself into one stick, and they will become one in your hand.

“And when the children of your people speak to you, saying, ‘Will you not show us what you mean by these?’— say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “Surely I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel, his companions; and I will join them with it, with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they will be one in My hand.” ’ And the sticks on which you write will be in your hand before their eyes.

“Then say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “Surely I will take the children of Israel from among the nations, wherever they have gone, and will gather them from every side and bring them into their own land; and I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king over them all; they shall no longer be two nations, nor shall they ever be divided into two kingdoms again. They shall not defile themselves anymore with their idols, nor with their detestable things, nor with any of their transgressions; but I will deliver them from all their dwelling places in which they have sinned, and will cleanse them. Then they shall be My people, and I will be their God.

“David My servant shall be king over them, and they shall all have one shepherd; they shall also walk in My judgments and observe My statutes, and do them. Then they shall dwell in the land that I have given to Jacob My servant, where your fathers dwelt; and they shall dwell there, they, their children, and their children’s children, forever; and My servant David shall be their prince forever. Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with them, and it shall be an everlasting covenant with them; I will establish them and multiply them, and I will set My sanctuary in their midst forevermore. My tabernacle also shall be with them; indeed I will be their God, and they shall be My people. The nations also will know that I, the Lord, sanctify Israel, when My sanctuary is in their midst forevermore.” ’ ”

Ezekiel 37:15-28

Aliyah: The Hebrew word aliyah translates as “elevation” or “going up.”

In the context of the synagogue, the word aliyah refers to being called up to the Torah reading during services. In the modern era, “making aliyah” means moving to Israel.

 

Sanhedrin Announces Ruling: All Jews Worldwide Must Come Home to Israel Immediately

 

November 27, 2024

By Adam Eliyahu Berkowitz

Reprinted from Israel 365 News

VIDEOS

 

“For days are coming,” declares Hashem, “when I will return the fortunes of  My people Yisrael and Yehuda from exile,” said Hashem. “And I will bring them back to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall possess it.”

The nascent Sanhedrin in Jerusalem has made an official ruling, calling on Jews outside of Israel to come home.

“We are the beis din (rabbinic court) of Yerushalayim (Jerusalem), and we have poskened (officially ruled) that all Jews around the world have an obligation and chiyuv (religious requirement) right now to do whatever is in your power, to come to Eretz Yisrael (the land of Israel), and that is the mitzvah of Torah (Biblical requirement). And that is the mitzvah of today, especially because of what’s happening around the world and the dangers that all the Jews are in around the world. It’s necessary now more than ever to come to Eretz Yisrael, and we as a beis din have poskened that all the Jews have to come as soon as they can back to eretz Yisrael.”

The Sanhedrin’s ruling was intended for Jews worldwide, so it was recorded in English, Hebrew, Yiddish, French, and Spanish.

Link to the video for anyone unable to open it by clicking on the image.

 

The Sanhedrin’s pronouncement was succinct, so Israel365 News interviewed Josh Wander, who has received smicha (ordination) from the Sanhedrin, to hear the details and implications of the rabbinic ruling.

As a precursor, Wander explained that since the Torah was given at Mount Sinai, the Sanhedrin, composed of 71 elders, has been the ultimate judicial authority of the Jewish people. Comparable to the Supreme Court in secular matters, the Sanhedrin also had the ultimate authority on religious issues and met in the Temple while it stood in Jerusalem.

While many Jews do not recognize the authority of this current Sanhedrin, it is, in fact, expressly forbidden by Torah law for Jews to accept the authority of a system of law or a legal body that is not based in the Torah.

There have been previous attempts to reestablish the Sanhedrin. The current nasi, or head of the Sanhedrin, is Rabbi Eliyahu Abergel, who served as the head of the Rabbinical Court in Beersheba and later as the head of the Rabbinical Court in Jerusalem.

Wander explained that the halachic ruling by the Sanhedrin was not, in its essence, controversial.

“The mitzvah that commands Jews to live in Israel is explicitly written throughout the Torah,” Wander said. “That is the source. Anyone who disputes that is disputing against the Torah. And there are no recognized halachic authorities who say otherwise. There is a consensus.”

“That being said, individual Jews may choose not to adhere to this rabbinic ruling,” Wander said.

Wander explained that the Sanhedrin makes this announcement every year, but this year, it is of special significance and is garnering more attention than in the past.

“It has to do with what’s happening worldwide,” Wander explained. “Jews worldwide are feeling pressure and are more open to the message. Antisemitism is taking on dimensions and forms that have not been seen since before the Holocaust.”

“My concern is that with the Trump victory, many Jews that are in North America, the majority of Jews, perhaps in the world, are feeling safer,” Wander said. “They are a lot more comfortable with not coming to Israel. I always said that Kamala Harris was the Aliyah candidate. Antisemitism has exploded in recent years, and the Biden administration has done nothing to stop this rising tide. Open antisemitism is accepted in the Democratic party.”

“But even with all this antisemitism, Jews stay there,” Wander said. “The worst exile is the one you don’t realize you’re in.”

Link to the video for anyone unable to open it by clicking on the image.

 

Jewish tradition teaches that when the Jews were exiled from Israel, the shechina (divine presence) also went into exile.

“But it is also taught that when the exile is over, the shechina will abandon the exile and return to Israel,” Wander said.

Wander cited a Jewish source titled the Meshech Chochma written by Rabbi Meir Simcha Ha-Kohen in Latvia in the early 20th century.

“It was about a decade before Hitler took power,” Wander said. “The rabbi wrote that because the Jews are making their Berlin into their Jerusalem, God will have to bring a huge storm, which will wipe out Europe. The rabbi stated that God does not allow the Jews to feel too comfortable in the exile. We’ve seen in history over and over again that when the Jews get too comfortable in exile, God needs to shake things up in order to make them a little less comfortable.”

“This is what we are seeing worldwide right now,” Wander said. “God is making it uncomfortable for Jews so that they will come home to Israel.”