R' Yehonasan Eibshitz writes: “What a great mitzva it is to desire Eretz Yisrael! The Shelah and Sefer Yeraim teach that a person should constantly have in his heart a desire and love for Eretz Yisrael as it says v’hayu einei v’libi sham kol ha’yamim, and your eyes and heart shall be there all the days.
If a man has all that he desires, he should remember that he is lacking because he is not in Eretz Yisrael... He should be sad about that because the main thing is missing.”
The Chazon Ish, who was in contact with the Chofetz Chaim (1838–1933) mentions that the Chofetz Chaim deeply yearned to move to Eretz Yisrael.
In 1880, the local rabbi in Radin moved to Eretz Yisrael and soon after, he sent a letter to the Chofetz Chaim with whom he was close, describing his lofty spiritual discoveries there. This increased the Chofetz Chaim’s yearning to travel there. In 1881, the Chofetz Chaim’s daughter got engaged to R' Aharon Hakohen. In the tenaim (pre-marital contract), the Chofetz Chaim stipulated that he would provide the customary kest support for the married couple which one committed to for a certain number of years. He stated clearly that should he (the Chofetz Chaim) move to Eretz Yisrael, he is absolved of his commitment. When his next daughter got engaged in 1884 to R' Hersh Leib Levinson, he made the same stipulation. When the Chofetz Chaim married his second wife in 1904, he did so on the condition that she move to Eretz Yisrael when the time comes. In 1923, when his youngest daughter married R' Mendel Zaks, the Chofetz Chaim included his now familiar clause in the tenaim.
The Chofetz Chaim planned to settle in Eretz Yisrael, deciding to move to Petach Tikva. Indeed, to prepare for his arrival, the municipality built a spacious home for the Chofetz Chaim along with public bathrooms, in the expectation that his presence would attract a large number of people to visit.
But it was not to be, as events prevented him from coming to Israel.
In 1920, the Piasezcna Rebbe’s brother R' Yeshaya Shapira moved to Eretz Yisrael. There he purchased land on behalf of the Rebbe who sold his property for that purpose. When the Rebbe’s brother suggested selling some of it in 1923 for fear of a decline in land values, he received a letter from the Rebbe brimming with love for the country and its soil: “Know...that you are piling coals on my head. It is as if someone were standing with one foot in paradise and a malach came...took him by his hand and feet, threw him out of paradise into gehinom, and consoled him by saying he would have a warm home in gehinom. That is truly what this is like. My eyes shed tears when this idea of distancing myself, G-d forbid, was raised, now that I have had a slight connection with Eretz Yisrael.”
