Teshuvot Maharam · Berlin Edition, Part I, Chapter 15
1
וששאלתם אם אדם פטור מחיבוט הקבר שם לא ידעתי וששאלתם למה לא הלכו אמוראי' שם אשיבך דלא הוי מוותר להו והיו צריכים להתבטל מלמודם ולשוט אחר מזונות דאמר בפ' מי שהוציאהו (מ"ז ע"א) דמותר לצאת לחו"ל לרבו ללמוד תורה כ"ש שאין לילך מרבו מחו"ל לא"י וכ"ש להתבטל מלמודו ולשוט אחר מזונות. וששאלתם לפרש הדר בחו"ל דומה כמי שאין לו אלוה (כתו' ק"י ע"ב) היינו משום דעיקר שכינת כבודו בא"י כסא מול כסא וכתי' והתפללו דרך ארצם תלפיות תל שכל פיות פונות שם ושלום מאיר בר' ברוך ז"ל.
Q. What constitutes the merit of emigrating to the Holy Land? A. My knowledge on this subject does not go beyond the talmudic statement (Ket. 111a) that a person who emigrates to the Holy Land is absolved from sin. This applies to a person who commits no sins in the Holy Land proper, and who fulfils all the commandments appertaining to the Holy Land. However, the punishment for a sin committed there is more severe than that for a sin committed elsewhere; for the Lord watches over the Holy Land more diligently, and the land itself can bear no sinners. For this reason the Holy Land is now desolate and contains no walled cities. Therefore, it is to those who go to the Holy Land and intend to be reckless in their behavior and particularly to quarrel there that the verse applies: "But when ye entered ye defiled My land (Jer. 2, 7)." When, however, a person emigrates to the Holy Land with sincere intentions and conducts himself there in piety and saintliness, his reward is unlimited; provided, of course, that he possess sufficient means of support there. Q. Does a person buried in Palestine escape the hibbut hakkever (agonies of the grave)? A. I do not know. Q. Why did the Amoraim fail to move to the Holy Land? A. Such an act would have seriously interferred with their studies, since in the Holy Land they would have to spend much time in finding means of support. A person is permitted even to leave the Holy Land in order to study with his teacher (Erub. 47a); therefore, one is surely not enjoined to break off his uninterrupted studies in the Diaspora and emigrate to the Holy Land where he would find his means of support with great difficulty. Q. What is the meaning of the talmudic statement (Ket. 110b): A person who dwells in the Diaspora is as one who has no God? A. God's presence is primarily concentrated in the Holy Land. Therefore, a person's prayers there ascend directly to His throne. SOURCES: P. 14–5; Tashbetz, 561–5; Kol Bo, 127; Mordecai Hagadol p. 183d; Orhot Hayyim II, pp. 611–12. Cf. Moses Minz, Responsa 79.
וששאלתם אם אדם פטור מחיבוט הקבר שם לא ידעתי וששאלתם למה לא הלכו אמוראי' שם אשיבך דלא הוי מוותר להו והיו צריכים להתבטל מלמודם ולשוט אחר מזונות דאמר בפ' מי שהוציאהו (מ"ז ע"א) דמותר לצאת לחו"ל לרבו ללמוד תורה כ"ש שאין לילך מרבו מחו"ל לא"י וכ"ש להתבטל מלמודו ולשוט אחר מזונות. וששאלתם לפרש הדר בחו"ל דומה כמי שאין לו אלוה (כתו' ק"י ע"ב) היינו משום דעיקר שכינת כבודו בא"י כסא מול כסא וכתי' והתפללו דרך ארצם תלפיות תל שכל פיות פונות שם ושלום מאיר בר' ברוך ז"ל.
Q. What constitutes the merit of emigrating to the Holy Land?
A. My knowledge on this subject does not go beyond the talmudic statement (Ket. 111a) that a person who emigrates to the Holy Land is absolved from sin. This applies to a person who commits no sins in the Holy Land proper, and who fulfils all the commandments appertaining to the Holy Land. However, the punishment for a sin committed there is more severe than that for a sin committed elsewhere; for the Lord watches over the Holy Land more diligently, and the land itself can bear no sinners. For this reason the Holy Land is now desolate and contains no walled cities. Therefore, it is to those who go to the Holy Land and intend to be reckless in their behavior and particularly to quarrel there that the verse applies: "But when ye entered ye defiled My land (Jer. 2, 7)." When, however, a person emigrates to the Holy Land with sincere intentions and conducts himself there in piety and saintliness, his reward is unlimited; provided, of course, that he possess sufficient means of support there.
Q. Does a person buried in Palestine escape the hibbut hakkever (agonies of the grave)?
A. I do not know.
Q. Why did the Amoraim fail to move to the Holy Land?
A. Such an act would have seriously interferred with their studies, since in the Holy Land they would have to spend much time in finding means of support. A person is permitted even to leave the Holy Land in order to study with his teacher (Erub. 47a); therefore, one is surely not enjoined to break off his uninterrupted studies in the Diaspora and emigrate to the Holy Land where he would find his means of support with great difficulty.
Q. What is the meaning of the talmudic statement (Ket. 110b): A person who dwells in the Diaspora is as one who has no God?
A. God's presence is primarily concentrated in the Holy Land. Therefore, a person's prayers there ascend directly to His throne.
SOURCES: P. 14–5; Tashbetz, 561–5; Kol Bo, 127; Mordecai Hagadol p. 183d; Orhot Hayyim II, pp. 611–12. Cf. Moses Minz, Responsa 79.