Building Mansions in Exile While Praying for Redemption

By Rabbi Josh Wander

In a recent comment, influencer Raizy Fried — known on Instagram as @raizyscookin — addressed a question about whether it makes sense to continue building a beautiful new home in America at a time when many Jews in Israel feel that history is accelerating toward redemption. Her response, which can be seen here:

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DVzXO4rjdg-/?igsh=MW9kaGRxcXhld3R3Mg==

argues that there is no contradiction between yearning for Mashiach and continuing to build permanent lives in the Diaspora. Since there are multiple opinions about what the world will look like in the Messianic era—whether all Jews will move to Israel, whether the entire world will become like Eretz Yisrael, or whether Jews will remain dispersed but come to Jerusalem for pilgrimage—she concludes that there is no reason to view building homes in America as problematic.

But this argument quietly moves the discussion away from the real issue. The question is not what theoretical models exist about the Messianic era. The question is what Jews are supposed to do right now, in a generation where the Land of Israel is accessible, Jewish sovereignty has been restored, and the national return to Zion is unfolding before our eyes. Speculating about the possible structure of the future does not change the reality of the present. For two thousand years Jews prayed three times a day for the opportunity to return to Zion, and now that the door has finally opened, encouraging Jews to deepen their roots in exile rather than participate in the rebuilding of their homeland reflects a profound misunderstanding of the moment.

Appealing to the fact that Jews once lived in Babylonia during the time of the Temple does not strengthen the case for building up the Diaspora. If anything, Jewish sources often present that very reality as a tragic failure. When Ezra called the Jews of Babylonia to return to Eretz Yisrael, the vast majority refused. Jewish history does not celebrate that decision; it laments it. The existence of Jewish life outside the Land was tolerated because of historical circumstances, but it was never presented as an ideal vision for the Jewish future. Exile was a condition to endure, not a civilization to perfect.

What makes this discussion so striking is that the excuses that once defined Jewish exile have largely disappeared. For centuries Jews could say that returning to the Land was impossible. Today it is not only possible, it is happening. Israel is thriving, Jewish life is flourishing, Torah scholarship is stronger than it has been in generations, and Jerusalem stands again as the political and spiritual center of the Jewish people. In such a moment, the appropriate response to redemption unfolding is not to invest further in permanent homes in foreign lands while speaking abstractly about Mashiach.

Longing for redemption is meaningful only if it shapes how we live. A Jew who truly believes that Geulah is approaching should naturally want to be part of the rebuilding of the Jewish people in their land, not more deeply anchored in exile. The conversation should not be about how to make the Diaspora more comfortable while we wait for Mashiach. The truth is far simpler and far more urgent: Jews do not need to keep building the exile. They need to start leaving it.