"The same test which was endured
by the first generation of the Jewish people
is once again happening in the final generation."
(It's very unfortunate how these secular Marxists used the beautiful frum Torah word and concept of Tzion as the label for their rabidly anti-Torah movement. The name alone makes it psychologically harder for shomer Torah Jews to separate themselves from it.)
The Rambam discusses the natural process of Geula Chapter 12 of Sefer Melachim u'Milchamot and Rav Avigdor Miller stated outright that the nations were supposed to invite and facilitate the ingathering of the exiles — only that the corrupted elements among Am Yisrael messed everything up.
(This idea is discussed more here: whats-the-problem-with-hasbara-the-balfour-declaration.html)
Yet the way things developed, mostly under the influence of the Erev Rav, means that even very frum people tend to think we needed these anti-Torah Tziyonim (the worst of whom lack a Yisrael soul, so how can we follow people with lower souls than ours?) to strengthen the Jewish presence in Eretz Yisrael, protect Jews in Eretz Yisrael, and bring more Jews to Eretz Yisrael.
(The movement of religious Zionism came later. Many people don't realize the original Tziyonim were not "merely" secular, but rabidly anti-religious — specifically, anti-Torah.)
Since its inception, this assumption of reliance on — and even gratitude toward — these Jews-in-name-only has caused a lot of problems (including the deaths of tens of thousands of precious Jews via wars and terror attacks) and cracks in emunah.
But today, a beautiful booklet from Rav Itamar Schwartz's talmidim arrived in my Inbox, and clarified so much of what has been and is still going on:
Remaining Loyal to Hashem in Eretz Yisrael
A sentence from page 6 immediately caught my eye:
"...had they [and we] been zocheh [merited], the entire Klal Yisrael would have returned to Eretz Yisrael in a holy manner, through 'clouds of Heaven'."
There it is.
But it's much more than that.
We are now reliving the test of the ancient Spies/Meraglim.
Here are Rav Itamar Schwartz's words from Remaining Loyal to Hashem in Eretz Yisrael, pages 6-7 (and the quote toward the end of the post above the graphic is from page 5):
THE EREV RAV’S MOVEMENT OF MASS ALIYAH TO ERETZ YISRAEL
In the end of days as well, had they [and we] been zocheh, the entire Klal Yisrael would have returned to Eretz Yisrael in a holy manner, through “clouds of Heaven."
But they [and we] weren’t zocheh to this, and Raboseinu wrote [prophetically] that when we are not zocheh to be returned to Eretz Yisrael correctly, then part of Klal Yisrael will return there by being thrown out of the non-Jewish countries they live in.
This is an entry into Eretz Yisrael that is not through the daas of Moshe, but through the opposite of this holy daas.
The Gra* wrote, and Rav Elchonon Wasserman zt”l* elaborated this, that at the end of exile, the “heads of the Erev Rav” will be the ones who are seemingly returning Klal Yisrael to Eretz Yisrael.
Their leadership and their way of thinking is from the same source as the daas of the Serpent, which is crooked and which doesn’t follow the Torah.
Entering into Eretz Yisrael in the final days is due to the Erev Rav’s power which they are given in the final days.
Certainly at the inner core of this it is all Divine Providence of Hashem, Who is watching over everything and Whose eyes are on Eretz Yisrael, and He is the One behind this entire movement.
But Hashem is covered over!
The Erev Rav acts like a garment that conceals Him.
The Erev Rav are those who present themselves as the leaders of Klal Yisrael who are leading and running everything along, and they do everything through their impaired daas which is the opposite of the holy daas of Moshe.
When living in Eretz Yisrael, there is a big test.
Firstly, one has to live with a level of holiness, because Eretz Yisrael is the place of holy spiritual consciousness.
But there is also another test of living in Eretz Yisrael.
Anyone who can see just a little bit is able to see that those who returned the Jewish people to Eretz Yisrael, are trying to re-educate the Jewish people by introducing all the foreign thinking and lifestyles of all the "enlightened, educated nations," which is all the daas of the Erev Rav.
They want to do this until they will ‘sink the whole ship’.
If a person only has a superficial perspective, he just sees one part and another part, but he doesn’t connect it with the bigger picture.
For example, he will think that this entire movement of mass aliyah to Eretz Yisrael is needed so that everyone will have a livelihood.
But if someone has true vision, he sees and understands clearly that this is entirely the daas of the Serpent.
It was the same test given to the Spies when entering Eretz Yisrael.
The same test which was endured by the first generation of the Jewish people is once again happening in the final generation.
Of course, the variables have changed.
We are not in a physical desert now, we don’t have the Spies, and we don’t have Moshe sending them for us.
But the inner variables of that very same test are once again here.
***
If one is identifying himself with the thinking of the Erev Rav, all under the pretext of the need for parnassah (livelihood), then the thinking of the Erev Rav will penetrate into his mind more and more, and then those Jews will feel small and swallowed up by the nations.
The nations of the world are large in their numbers, and they are like the fearsome giants that the Spies saw in Eretz Yisrael.
When these words ring true, we can understand the depth of the test which we have now in the end of days.
We are being tested if we will live a life of holiness and to become totally separated from the ruined daas which surrounds us and which is amidst us.
*Gra: Tikunei HaZohar 41, Sefer Even Shelaimah 11
*Sefer Kovetz He’aros
It's a modernized version of the original test, specially formatted for the parameters of our generation.
Of course, many of you are not surprised to hear this. You've known it for ages.
A lot of frum people who came or plan to come to Eretz Yisrael picked up on this instinctively, as throughout the decades, we've read and heard from a lot of people (whether regular people or rabbis/rebbetzins) about the similarities between our relationship to aliyah and that of the Spies.
So I think all of us have heard or thought of this comparison before.
However, Rav Schwartz spells it out clearly, getting to the spiritual root of the matter.
(His explanations also explain why the generals and politicians make such awful "mistakes." They seem to have no future sense. At the best, they manage to foresee short-term consequence — and even that occurs infrequently. At worst — and this occurs regularly — they lack any foresight regarding the long-term consequences. Why is this? As Rav Schwartz explains: Their very daas is impaired. They innately lack the ability to make the best decisions.)
The main test of living in Eretz Yisrael lies in using its powerful kedushah for how it's meant to be used: making ourselves holier.
It's well-worth reading the entire booklet; it's only 7 pages of text:
https://bilvavi.net/files/Bilvavi.Remaining.Loyal.To.Hashem.In.Eretz.Yisrael.pdf
Here's another booklet bursting with helpful Q&A:
bilvavi.net/files/Bilvavi.Moving.To.Eretz.Yisrael.pdf