The Call That Must Be Answered: Rabbi Teichtal and the End of Comfortable Exile

by Ram ben Ze'ev

Rabbi Yissachar Shlomo Teichtal זצ״ל

There are moments in Jewish history when a voice emerges that cannot be ignored. Not because it is new, but because it reveals what was always present in the Torah yet left unheeded. Rabbi Yissachar Shlomo Teichtal זצ״ל was such a voice—a Rav who did not merely teach, but who transformed his own understanding in the face of reality, and in doing so, called כלל ישראל (Klal Yisrael – the collective of Israel) to account.

Rabbi Teichtal was born in Hungary and was initially aligned with a position that opposed active return to ארץ ישראל (Eretz Yisrael – the Land of Israel). Yet during the horrors of the Shoah, as the world of European Jewry was being destroyed, he came to a profound and painful realisation: that remaining in גלות (galut – exile) when return was possible was not righteousness, but error. From this awakening emerged his sefer אם הבנים שמחה (Eim HaBanim Semeicha – “A Mother of Children Rejoices”), written under the most difficult conditions, a work of both repentance and clarity.

His message is simple, yet uncompromising.

The Torah never intended exile to become a permanent home. In דברים (Devarim), the promise is clear: that we will be scattered, but that we will return. The exile is a condition, not a destination. Rabbi Teichtal understood that when doors begin to open—when the האפשרות (efsharut – possibility) of return becomes real—then the responsibility shifts. It is no longer enough to wait.

“When G-D opens the door to return, remaining in exile is not neutrality—it is a rejection of that opportunity.”—רם בן זאב

This idea finds its echo in שיר השירים (Shir HaShirim), where it says: “קול התור נשמע בארצנו”—the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land. The Holy Zohar teaches that this “voice” is the awakening of redemption, not with thunder, but with subtle signs, with openings, with opportunities. Redemption does not begin fully formed; it begins quietly, and it requires recognition.

Rabbi Teichtal’s entire argument rests on this point: that גאולה (geulah – redemption) unfolds through stages, and that human beings are required to participate. Waiting passively for a complete and miraculous redemption, while ignoring the beginnings already present, is to misunderstand the way in which G-D brings His promises into the world.

This is not a departure from Torah, but its fulfilment.

The Tanya explains that the purpose of creation is to make a דירה בתחתונים (dirah b’tachtonim – a dwelling place in the lowest realms). This is not achieved by retreat, but by action—by taking the physical world and aligning it with the Divine will. What greater expression of this than returning to the Land promised to our fathers and building it in accordance with Torah?

Rabbi Teichtal saw clearly that remaining in exile, when return is possible, contradicts this mission. It leaves the Land desolate when it should be inhabited, and it leaves the Jew distant when he is called to be present. In his words and in his tone, there is urgency, even rebuke—not out of anger, but out of truth.

He does not argue that every individual circumstance is identical. Rather, he argues that as a people, we have too often mistaken caution for faith, and passivity for piety.

The Holy Zohar teaches that redemption comes “מעט מעט” (me’at me’at – little by little). It begins before it is recognised. The danger, therefore, is not that redemption will fail, but that it will be ignored. That the קול (kol – voice) will be heard, but not answered.

And this brings us to our time.

We live in a generation where access to ארץ ישראל is no longer a dream but a reality. The barriers that once existed—political, physical, financial—have, for many, been removed or reduced. Yet the mindset of exile often remains. Communities flourish in גלות, institutions expand, and life becomes comfortable. And comfort is precisely what Rabbi Teichtal warns against, because it dulls the urgency of return.

To adopt his philosophy is not merely to agree with it intellectually. It is to ask a difficult question:

If the door is open, why am I not walking through it?

Advancing his teaching in our lives requires honesty and action. It means recognising that Jewish destiny is not fulfilled in dispersion, but in gathering. It means aligning our decisions—not only our words—with the direction of redemption. It means seeing opportunity not as coincidence, but as calling.

This does not demand recklessness. It demands clarity.

Rabbi Teichtal זצ״ל paid for his clarity with his life, murdered on a train during the Shoah. Yet his words remain, not as history, but as instruction. He stands as a reminder that even in the darkest moments, truth can be found—and once found, it cannot be set aside.

The voice of the turtledove is heard.

The only question that remains is whether we are listening—and whether we are prepared to answer.

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Bill White (Ram ben Ze'ev) is CEO of WireNews Limited, Mayside Partners Limited, MEADHANAN Agency, Kestrel Assets Limited, SpudsToGo Limited and Executive Director of Hebrew Synagogue