Living Torah Archives

Ronnie Romberg and her husband, Dr. Henry Romberg, met at Case Western University in Cleveland, Ohio and were married in 1968. Having long dreamed of making Aliyah and moving to Israel, they had all their plans set. All until a Chabad friend of theirs convinced them to ask the Rebbe’s advice first. To make a long story short, they didn’t get the answer they were expecting.

Michael Allouche is an aerospace engineer from France. He asked the Rebbe numerous times about the prospect of making Aliya with his family and moving to Israel, yet he was always somewhat disappointed when the Rebbe discouraged them from doing so. When the Israeli Air Force embarked on a project to build their own fighter jet, it seemed like a most opportune time for him to relocate with his family. Yet for some reason, the Rebbe wouldn’t give them his blessing for the move. (1982)

“One reason I do not visit Israel is that I have not found sufficient Halachic grounds to allow me to leave Israel and return to America. I cannot abandon American Jewry. Even if I could return, my return itself could be interpreted as a ‘preference’ for America over the Holy Land.”

“Aliyah is a two-fold ascent, both physical and spiritual. In that case, the Jews in Israel can also make ‘Aliyah.’ Maimonides concludes his code of Jewish law describing the era of Moshiach with the verse: ‘For the knowledge of G-d will cover the land.’ In Torah, ‘the Land’ refers first and foremost to the Land of Israel, and afterwards to all other lands.”

Moshe Ishon served as a representative for Israel’s Jewish Agency in New York from 1977 to 1980. In 1981, he became the chief editor of the Israeli newspaper HaTzofe, a position which he held until 1997.