Wednesday, May 24, 2006

Motive For Aliya

The motive for making the journey to the Land of Israel should be purely spiritual: to draw closer to G-d. A person who goes there with this as his aim will certainly benefit. Merely by stepping foot on the Land he will become merged with it and transformed by its sacred character. That is why even "one who walks four cubits in the Land of Israel will assuredly inherit the World to Come". On the other hand, if a person's motive has nothing to do with devotion to G-d and cleansing himself of his evil, then what help will the Land be to him? The Land will vomit him out "as it vomited out the nation that was before you" (Vayikra 18:28)

(Rebbe Nachman of Breslov)