Eight years ago today I arrived in the Holy Land as new immigrant. In honor of the day, here are a few excerpts from a letter by the great sage, Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Vitebsk.

“In response to my heart and in answer to all who ask or seek to make a dwelling place for their soul in the Holy Land, here is information to know and to be made known concerning the Land of Israel… what, exactly, is this Land?

…our Rabbis explain… G-d examines the Land closely again and again, searching it out and watching until the inhabitants’ deeds are desirable. Be aware that many transformations and developments will unfold within and around every person who is brought to the Land until they are established there and come to desire her stones and find her dust pleasing, to cherish even her ruins…

…our Sages learn that whoever approaches the holiness of the Land has to start life all over again, new: returning to the experiences of birth, progressing through nursing infancy, maturing through childhood and so on, until, face to face, they come to see the face of the Land and the person’s soul becomes attached to the soul of the Land…

…those character traits which may have been habitual to a person are not necessarily established upon arrival here. One’s mind will actually be torn, shattered, with no way to turn for rest. It becomes as if the person is ascending to the heavens and then plunging to the depths below like a boat that is tossed and torn in the sea….It lasts a different amount of time for every individual, according to each one’s needs, development and according to the root of each soul.

…whoever desires to approach this inner holiness should not only prepare themselves for everything that is mentioned here, but should also understand to the very depths of their being that they have the strength to withstand all these things…and they will eventually gain mastery over themselves…”