QUESTION
The Rav explained in a derasha that when part of the Jewish people returned to Eretz Yisrael, it became turned into the “depth of Galus”, because it was a “spark of the Geulah” (as the Chofetz Chaim had said at that time) and in the end we weren’t worthy of the Geulah, so the “spark of the Geulah” fell into the kelipah and became turned into a new depth of Galus.
Who among our Gedolim had the view that the return of Jews to Eretz Yisrael was an added depth to our Galus?
From what I understand, the Gedolim only said this regarding the fact that we have to live under a heretical government in Eretz Yisrael that goes against the Torah, but as the events played out it doesn’t necessarily seem that making aliyah to Eretz Yisrael depended on the government’s rule in Eretz Yisrael. Jews could have made aliyah to Eretz Yisrael even through the help of the goyim [and not necessarily through the founding of a state of Israel]. Why can’t we say that the mass aliyah of Jews to Eretz Yisrael was all part of the process of Geulah, that it was all a preparation for the Geulah and for the ingathering of exiles where everyone will come to Eretz Yisrael to serve Hashem, and yes, perhaps this was all made possible through reshaim, but maybe issue that was irrelevant.
To say my question differently: Does a “spark of the Geulah” always become turned into the “depth of Galus” whenever the Geulah was supposed to happen and it didn’t end up happening? Had the mass aliyah to Eretz Yisrael been done under the jurisdiction of tzaddikim and daas Torah, would this not have become a situation of preparing for the Geulah?
ANSWER
That was the view of the Satmar Rebbe – if the Jewish people would have been at a level worthy of the Geulah, yes. But to our great pain, most of European Jewry weren’t careful with keeping Torah and mitzvos. So the entire aliyah to Eretz Yisrael was made possible through them [the reshaim of the Erev Rav], so the issue isn’t only that Jews in Eretz Yisrael now have to live under their jurisdiction.
