1.
The Chafetz
Chaim said: Fufilling a Mitzvah in the Land of Israel is twenty times greater
than fulfilling it outside of the Land (Sichot Ha-Rav Tzvi Yehudah – Vayikra p.
265 and Le-Netivot Yisrael vol. 1 p. 160, 202).
2.
Ha-Gaon
Reb Leib, the son of the Chafetz Chaim, told our Rabbi that when they began to
build "Rishon Le-Tzion" his father said to him: "Reb Leib, it
has begun," i.e. the beginning of the Redemption (Sichot Ha-Rav Tzvi
Yehudah – Bereshit pp. 457-458 and Devarim pp. 485-486, Be-Derech Ha-Torah
Ha-Goelet p. 98).
3.
"A
few years ago, a Torah scholar told me that a few young men wanted to avoid
military service in a non-Jewish army and wasting time from learning
Torah. They wanted to physically injure
themselves in order to be disqualified from the Polish military. But the Chafetz Chaim opposed this: 'A person
is not permitted to injure himself. The
body is not his. And why avoid? Practice in the Army. The Messiah will arrive soon. There will be a State. And when there is a State, there will be a
need for an army. Prepare here. You have the opportunity to prepare for the
army of the State of Israel'" (Sichot Ha-Rav Tzvi Yehudah – Devarim p.
263).
