Chassidim Living Outside Of Eretz Yisroel

I am absolutely astonished at those who fear G-d and yet spend all their lives outside Eretz Yisroel, to eventually be buried in those impure lands. I am not surprised at those who place their material wants over their spiritual needs, for to them one country is like any other, and every other country is to them Eretz Yisroel. But I cannot understand Chassidim, who consider their spiritual needs as supreme and their bodily wants as secondary, and yet live elsewhere. Even if these people spend all of their lives performing all the mitzvos, and davening properly, they will not accomplish as much as they will within a single year of living in Eretz Yisroel. One cannot compare a servant who works within the king's palace to one who works in an isolated island far away from him, even though Hashem rules supreme everywhere in the world.

(Nesi'a Shel Simcha)