"Derech yasharah" -- the road that leads to Israel

 In the mishnah that opens the second chapter of Avot, Rabbi Yehudah HaNasi asks:

Which is the derech yasharah (the "right path") for a person to choose? 

He answers his own question thus:

Whatever is a tiferet for the one who does it, and a tiferet for one's fellow humans.

The word "tiferet" cannot be easily translated into English. Suggestions in published translations include that which is glorious, harmonious, creditable and so forth. However, this is only a description of the path a person should choose, not an indication of what that path actually is.

Since today is Yom Ha'Atzma'ut, Israel's Independence Day, it seems appropriate to cite the opinion of Rabbi Ben-Tzion Meir Chai Uziel (Israel's first Sefardi Chief Rabbi) in the ninth and final essay on Avot in his work Derashot Uziel.  There he recommends that the derech yasharah is for people to make aliyah, to come to Israel -- the world's only independent Jewish state. By living there a life based on respect for God and kindness towards others, they will gain self-respect as well as the respect of others.