Rabbi Yishaya ben Eliyahu di Trani codifies the halachos of living in Eretz Yisroel as follows: “A man should rather live in Eretz Yisroel, even in a city of mostly gentiles, than outside the Land, even in a city of mostly Jews, for whoever lives in Eretz Yisroel is similar to one who has a G-d, and whoever lives outside the Land is similar to one who has no G-d, as Scripture says, ‘For they expelled me today from basking in the property of Hashem, saying, go worship other gods’ (Shmuel 26:19). Nevertheless, Israel must not all go up together with a strong hand, in an act similar to the ingathering of the exiles, for they are not permitted to hasten the end, until the Creator hastens our redemption, as Scripture says (Shir Hashirim 2:7), ‘Do not arouse or awake the love before it is desired.’” (Piskei Riaz, Kesubos 13:8)
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