To return or not to return? That is the question.

When we started learning Megillat Esther, we discussed the difference between exile and diaspora. We said that an exile is a forced expulsion that is against the people's will. On the flip side, a diaspora is where people who were expelled from their homeland choose to stay in exile. The key here is that the "exile" is by choice. We talked about the implications of this in the context of Megillat Esther, where the Jewish people chose to remain outside of Israel and even went so far as to replace Jerusalem in their minds with Shushan, the capital city of the Persian empire. Although prophets were encouraging the people to head back to Israel, they made the conscious decision to stay in exile instead of returning, even after the Beit Hamikdash was rebuilt.

It goes without saying that this situation of choosing to remain in exile is quite comparable to the situation of the Jewish people today. In our 2,000 year exile, we only re-established Jewish sovereignty in Israel in 1948 and still, many Jews, including us, have chosen to remain in exile. We seem pretty fine with our decision. None of this is new to me or to you, I'm assuming. At this point, the question is whether there's a purpose for some people to remain in the diaspora. Some commentaries and modern poskim have said that there is a need for teachers of Torah in exile, so those teachers can stay in the diaspora. I'm wondering if there's more than that.

A few weeks ago, while I was at AIPAC, I really got to think about the role of Jews who live outside of Israel, especially in the modern world. The things that I saw at Policy Conference really solidified my opinion of what I have to do since I've chosen to live in exile. In essence, a Jew's role in exile is to stand up for Israel and for the Jewish people. In the modern world, with the BDS movement, rampant anti-Semitism, and lots of anti-Israel sentiments, the most necessary thing is for us to work to protect our homeland, even if we choose not to live there. As diaspora Jews, we have a distinct advantage over Israeli Jews in politics because people do not close themselves off to us on account of anti-Israel sentiments. Basically, stand up for your homeland and your people. Now that we've just had a holiday where one of the main mitzvot encourages unity and camaraderie, I think that working to keep Israel safe and secure is the right thing to do.

Happy (late) Purim and Merry Shushan Purim!