1.
I want to be honest: Until this week, I had not heard of Rabbi Zechariah Wallerstein from the United States. He is not the head of the Council of Torah Sages of America, and he is not even that old. But from inquiries with Americans and Google, I understand that he is a well-known rabbi in certain circles, a veteran and popular lecturer at Torah conferences, who founded several educational institutions and seminars in Brooklyn (Or Yitzhak, Ateret Nava, Or Nava).
His lessons appear on all the right American websites, and this week, on the famous website 'Torah Anytime,' a lesson appeared titled: It's time to go. It's time to go. Where to go? To the Land of Israel.
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Listen:
""What does God want from us? We were finally able to leave the house after Corona, and now this thing has come? You can't leave the house after 8 pm because of the protests, and that put us under an even bigger curfew. Thank God, we have some people in politics who have arranged that even after 8 pm you can go to the mikveh. But people can't go out after 8 pm even to buy food and medicine, like they did during Corona. So what the hell is going on in America?".
2.
The rabbi smooths his beard and suit, and continues: "Seven years ago I gave a talk and said that America is falling apart, and we need to trust only in God. As long as God is with us, we will be fine. Do you know that in America the name of God is on the money? It's a big thing, that on every bill in America God is written. I believe that this is why we have financial success and that America is the richest country in the world because of it. Today all these organizations are trying to remove the word God from the money. When that happens, we won't survive here for five minutes...".
And after this gloomy forecast, he comes to the conclusion that there is no better example than Parashat Shelah, the Parshat of the Spies: "Those who thought until now that it was not the time to immigrate to the Land of Israel - then now is exactly the time. They say that in the time of the Messiah there will be many signs that will make us understand that we need to immigrate - so here they are.
""People say to themselves: I'm not making Aliyah because my family is here, my grandchildren don't know Hebrew, my business is here, my organization is here, should I just take my whole life and leave? Well, the simple answer is: yes.
""This is exactly what happened during the Holocaust, on Kristallnacht. Synagogues were smashed and Torah scrolls were burned. I spoke to Holocaust survivors and asked them: Why didn't you flee? They smashed your synagogues. And they told me: We thought the country would calm down, that they would kick this madman out of the government, and we said to ourselves: Our family is here, our factory is here, our livelihood is here. They didn't leave. Basically, they said the same things then that we say today.".
3.
Wait, if we need to immigrate, then why is he, Rabbi Zechariah Wallerstein, still in the US?
He answers this honestly: "People tell me: Rabbi, why don't you leave? When you leave - we leave after you. I'm not there yet, I don't have the courage for it, but I'm 100 percent sure that we need to leave, because right now America is in the worst situation ever. The virus is the worst here, the vandalism is the worst here, the anti-Semitism is the worst here. It's not for us. Not mentally, not physically, and not emotionally. God took a lot of the money that kept us here until today, took a lot of the education that kept us here until today, and therefore we don't have much left to be here for. Today, you can do everything on Zoom, you can study on Zoom, for the children to continue English on Zoom. But it is clearly written that the best place is the Land of Israel.".
And here he returns to talk about the violent protests in America, under the title "Black Lives Matter," and mentions a forgotten point.
Remember the names Jersey City and Monsey? "I think everyone forgot because of Corona and what's going on now, that just a few months ago there was a terrible wave of anti-Semitism. They went into synagogues and shot Jews. They shot Jews in the street. And then - there was no protest! We were the Wild West of America, and no one - neither whites, nor Jews, nor Gentiles - protested like that about the matter. No one! What, Jewish lives don't count?".
4.
But aliyah is not enough, spiritual aliyah is also needed. Here is the current political analysis that was delivered this week in the same class in Brooklyn, after a year of anti-Semitism, of Corona, of riots: "America is collapsing, and many of us support Donald Trump. We still want him to be re-elected, but don't get into that now. It's like the story of the Book of Esther on Purim, they literally went through what we are going through now.
""There was crazy anti-Semitism in the Scroll of Esther, and the evil Haman issued a proclamation that anyone who was not a Jew could kill Jews on this day. He wouldn't get dirty himself, he asked the people to do the dirty work.
""Notice, Haman did not go to war against the Jews himself. It's like it was with Hitler, may his name be erased: He saw that the Gentiles hated the Jews so much, and they knew that if the Jews died they could take their money and houses, and therefore Hitler knew that in every country he entered - they would immediately hand over the Jews to him and do the work for him. They were very happy to do the work for him.
""Haman didn't need an army at all. He simply said: We gave the Gentiles the right to kill and loot the homes of the Jews, and the Jews didn't have the right to resist. What happened there wasn't done by the army, but by your neighbors and people in the grocery store, and at first the Jews weren't scared. Why weren't they scared? They thought they had Esther, the representative in the White House. Just as we know that we have nothing to fear because Trump is a Republican president and he is good for the Jews and his son-in-law is Jewish and loves Israel, so at this point we don't really need God, we have Donald Trump.
""But the Gemara says that in the last days you will have no one to rely on except God Himself. God says: You can only go to me. Nothing will help you. Not your money, not your jobs, in the end you will have to come directly to me. And what is happening with us? 'Esther' is unstable now in the White House. I don't know what the plans are, it seems as if God is saying: She won't help you, only I will help you.
""In the Book of Esther, the Jews heard that Esther invited Haman to a feast, and they said to themselves: Oh my, Esther has changed from a Republican to a Democrat, that's it, we have no connections in the White House, there will no longer be a sovereignty plan, Esther has betrayed us. What do we do? Look, I don't know what will happen with Trump, America is collapsing, livelihoods are collapsing, we are under curfew, we are literally in Gaza, you live in New York and you are at war, under curfew, locking your houses, can't go out, how did you even get out of curfew for this lesson tonight? It's dangerous. Don't you understand that we are not free people? This is a war zone here, this is Gaza! So what do we do?
""And the answer is, we do exactly what they did - they went to pray and said: God, maybe you're giving up on us, but we're not giving up on you. Even if Esther betrayed (and in the end she didn't, of course), they said: We love you, God. It was huge. We don't give up on the connection. We see all the troubles and we don't become Gentiles, we don't throw away Judaism. We fast for three days, the children fast, everyone studies, everyone is strengthened, and we've never had such a connection with God. We woke up and received His kingdom. And that's what needs to be done now.".
5.
Late at night in Brooklyn. The rabbi looks at the clock, at the book open in front of him, at the camera, and concludes: "So let's do what they did on Purim. And don't worry, because in the end, all of this was supposed to happen exactly as it is happening now. And the way out of this is to be more connected to the Holy One, blessed be He, and to thank Him that we woke up this morning, and to pray that we will wake up tomorrow too. May you be blessed, successful, and may I have the courage to make aliyah to Israel and bring you all with me. Good night.".
• The column is published in the newspaper 'Bisheva''
