ALIYAH: CONFLICT AND AMBIVALENCE

You have asked if a father may prevent his son from going on aliyah to Israel . Since it has been established that aliyah to the Land of Israel is a mitzvah; and each such mitzvah is followed by“I am the Lord,” which means that you should not obey your parent when he commands you to violate a mitzvah, because the honor due to God takes precedence.’

The Maharam contrasts this ruling with the behavior of great sages who opposed the aliyah of their children:

You have queried if I have heard why the great sages [gedolim] commanded their sons to return[home to Europe]. It would appear to me that there are no merciful people there[in Eretz Yisrael]. The young men were unable to study Torah in the Land because they had to struggle to eke out a living. Furthermore, there was no proper guidance in Torah in the Land of Israel, nor were they proficient in the exact observance of mitzvot.

These sages apparently believed there was physical danger it the Land due to the cruelty of its inhabitants as well as their sons’ poverty. No less threatening were the dangers of spiritual paucity in studying Torah and keeping its precepts. They were convinced tha! their offspring would fare much better both spiritually and physically in the Diaspora.

This conflict between parents and children about aliyah cov tinued throughout the centuries. One of the great scholars who dealt with this issue was Rabbi Moses ben Joseph Trani, who was born© Saloniki , Greece , in 1490. He went on aliyah and became the Rabb!

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