How Do Charedim Explain the Many Challenges of Life in Eretz Yisrael?
Let’s be real: life in Eretz Yisrael is not easy.
Yes, it's the land flowing with kedushah. Yes, it's the most spiritually elevated place on earth. But no — it’s not a luxury resort. From rising prices to complicated government policies, military tensions to cultural divides — it can feel like walking uphill both ways.
So how does the Charedi world make sense of this paradox — that the holiest land is also the most difficult?
The answer is as old as the Torah itself: this Land was never meant to be easy — it was meant to be earned.
A Land That Tests You to Lift You
In Devarim 8:2, the Torah says:
“Hashem led you these forty years in the desert to test you, to know what was in your heart…”¹
Eretz Yisrael is no less a test than the midbar. It reveals what’s inside a person. It asks: Will you trust Me even when it’s hard? Will you stay the course when there’s pressure from all sides?
The Sfas Emes (Parshas Shelach, 5641) explains that the greatness of the Land lies not in ease, but in challenge — because that’s how true closeness to Hashem is forged.²
What About Parnassah?
Charedim know that the same Hashem who provides for a Jew in Lakewood or London provides in Yerushalayim too.
Yes, salaries might be lower. Yes, apartments might feel unaffordable. But emunah in parnassah isn’t tied to geography.
The Gemara in Kesubos (110b) teaches:
“Whoever lives in Eretz Yisrael, all his sins are forgiven.”³
Rashi explains: this is because the person accepts the yissurim (hardships) of the Land.⁴
That means the financial tightness is not punishment. It’s avodah. Every shekel stretched is a brick in the Beis HaMikdash.
And as Chazal famously say:
“Eretz Yisrael is acquired through suffering.” (Brachos 5a)⁵
We don’t seek suffering. But we understand that the kedushah comes with a price tag — and it’s worth every agora.
What About Politics and Government Pressure?
Let’s not pretend it’s simple. The secular government sometimes makes decisions that deeply affect the frum community — and not always for the better.
Charedi families worry about:
- Education laws
- Army conscription
- Public funding
- Religious standards
It can feel like we’re constantly fighting to live as we believe.
But here’s the Charedi perspective:
We’ve faced pressure before — from Pharaoh, from Rome, from the Inquisitions, and the Soviets.
But never before did we face it while living in the Land of our Avos, building Torah cities, and raising generations of Torah-true Jews.
There’s a bittersweetness: The outer world may challenge us, but the inner world — the world of Torah, tefillah, and mesirus nefesh — is thriving like never before. And we see Hashem’s hand through it all.⁶
The Tensions and Threats
Yes, there are rockets. Yes, there are sirens. Yes, we live in a volatile region.
But we also live with Hashem’s closest protection.
The Chazon Ish zt”l once said that Eretz Yisrael is like a child in his mother’s lap — surrounded by danger, but held tight.⁷
In the darkest moments, miracles happen daily. Not just open ones — even the hidden ones: The rocket that misses. The knife that doesn’t strike. The attack that’s foiled.
We live with the pasuk from Tehillim 121:4:
“Behold, the Guardian of Israel neither sleeps nor slumbers.”⁸
In Short
Yes, it’s hard. That’s part of the holiness.
In Charedi thought, the difficulties of Eretz Yisrael are not contradictions — they’re confirmations.
The Land refines, challenges, humbles, and uplifts. And through all that, it bonds us to Hashem in ways no other land can.
You don’t live here because it’s easy. You live here because it’s true. Because it’s His Land. And because everything that matters — Torah, mitzvos, emunah, and the future of Klal Yisrael — is pulsing from this holy place.
Sources
- Devarim 8:2
- Sfas Emes, Parshas Shelach 5641
- Talmud Bavli, Kesubos 110b
- Rashi on Kesubos 110b
- Talmud Bavli, Brachos 5a – “שלוש מתנות טובות נתן הקב"ה לישראל וכולן לא נתנן אלא על ידי יסורין — אחת מהן ארץ ישראל”
- See Rav Elchonon Wasserman, Ikvesa D'Meshicha
- Oral tradition quoted by talmidim of the Chazon Ish; also referenced in Pe’er Hador
- Tehillim 121:4 – “הִנֵּה לֹא יָנוּם וְלֹא יִישָׁן שׁוֹמֵר יִשְׂרָאֵל”