ISRAEL - Return to the Land of Your Fathers

Whether by coincidence or not, on the morning after the American B2 bomber strike in Iran, I completed the purchase of another tract of agricultural land in the Land of Israel, the culmination of almost a year’s work and negotiation. This is land that young men and women will till; land that will yield blue and white crops; land whose value and importance will rise as the population of Israel grows. I am optimistic.

There is a baby boom in Israel, particularly among reservists and other groups, and I believe this trend will continue to strengthen. The same people who have gone back again and again over the past two years to fight for our security are bringing more children into the world.

Despite the hardship, despite the challenges of recent years, despite hundreds of days in Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, and along the borders with Egypt and Jordan, and, most recently, in Iran, they are optimistic. Their spouses are optimistic. And we stand alongside them, shoulder to shoulder.

To our brethren, the Jews of the diaspora, in the United States, France, and England, I call on all of you: make Aliyah. The future of the Jewish people is here, in the Land of Israel. Bring your talent, your faith, and your energy to the land of our fathers.

Do not stand and watch from the side while the winds of history summon you. Join the Israeli optimism and resilience. “The land is an exceedingly good land” (Numbers 14:7). Our people are good, strong, and creative. Please come.

-www.jpost.com, 24 June 2025

Commentary: This editorial in the Jerusalem Post was originally headlined, “A call for Jews of Diaspora to make Aliyah.”

If any group of people should be discouraged, it is the Jews. Not so, however. The early Zionists followed Theodor Herzl’s advice: “if you will it, it is no dream.” It was in Switzerland in the city of Basel, where Herzl proclaimed in 1897, “Were I to sum up the Basel Congress in a word—which I shall guard against pronouncing publicly—it would be this: At Basel, I founded the Jewish State. If I said this out loud today, I would be answered by universal laughter. Perhaps in five years, certainly in fifty, everyone will know it.”

Sadly, Herzl never saw the fulfillment. (He died 3 July 1904.)

From Biblical perspectives, it was not Theodor Herzl but fulfillment of Bible prophecy, such as Deuteronomy 30:3: “That then the LORD thy God will turn thy captivity, and have compassion upon thee, and will return and gather thee from all the nations, whither the LORD thy God hath scattered thee.”