Adapted from Sefer Pri Tzadik
Parshas Ve’eschanan is always read on Shabbos Nachamu. Besides for the obvious words of comfort that we read in the Haftarah, “Nachamu, nachamu, Ami,” there is a message of comfort in parshas Ve’eschanan as well. We read about Moshe Rabbeinu’s 515 tefillos (the gematria of Va’eschanan), and just as Moshe never gave up on his yearning and davening to enter Eretz Yisroel, we strengthen ourselves to never give up on our yearning and tefillos for the rebuilding of the Beis Hamikdash. As the Medrash says, “A person should not say that since he has already written his final will and is on his deathbed, there is no purpose in davening, because Moshe Rabbeinu, in his final moments, continued to daven to Hashem.”
Rav Tzadok (Pri Tzadik, Ve’eschanan 13) asks the obvious question: Why are Moshe Rabbeinu’s tefillos a source of comfort and encouragement for us if they seemingly did not accomplish anything? After all, Moshe Rabbeinu was denied entry into Eretz Yisroel!
Rav Tzadok explains some of the reasons why Moshe Rabbeinu was not meant to enter Eretz Yisroel. But then he says something incredible:
“In order to fulfill the mitzvos that depend on Eretz Yisroel, Moshe accomplished this on an even higher level through all of his tefillos and yearning for Eretz Yisroel. Through his longing, he reached the true purpose of entering the land even more than he would have had he physically entered it. As we have explained before, through a person’s yearning he reaches the intended goal far more than through the action itself, because every action is limited, while yearning has no limit.
With this perspective, Moshe Rabbeinu’s tefillos and yearnings accomplished tremendously. They brought him to an inner spiritual level that even entering Eretz Yisroel would not have brought him!
This Shabbos, we might wonder, “Where is the comfort? So many years have passed. Year after year we hear these Haftaros, but where is the fulfillment of these promises?”
So we read Ve’eschanan and strengthen our hearts with the knowledge that no tefillah ever returns empty. Every yearning, every וירושלים עירך ברחמים תשוב — “To Yerushalayim, Your city, return with compassion” — is so valuable, even though we have not yet merited to see the physical rebuilding of Yerushalayim. We should never allow our hearts to become discouraged because the truth is that every tefillah a Yid says accomplishes something spiritually according to the depth of his yearning. Through that longing alone, a Yid already merits the nechamah of Yerushalayim, even before the Beis HaMikdash has been physically rebuilt.
This is also what the Gemara teaches: “Whoever mourns over Yerushalayim merits and sees its joy.” It does not say that he “will see” its joy in the future. It says that he “merits and sees” it, right now in the present tense. According to the depth of a person’s longing for Yerushalayim, he immediately merits to experience the joy and comfort of the rebuilding of the Beis HaMikdash.
This is also why all of the tefillos that connect to Yerushalayim are written in the present tense, such as Boneh Yerushalayim — Who rebuilds Yerushalayim, Matzmiach Keren Yeshuah — Who causes the horn of salvation to flourish, Hamachazir Shechinaso L’Tzion — Who returns His Presence to Tzion, and so on. Because the truth is that the inner fulfillment of returning to Yerushalayim with joy is accomplished immediately, based on the extent of our yearning.”
May we see the rebuilding of the physical Beis Hamikdash with our own eyes, quickly in our days. And until then, dear Yidden, keep on yearning.
This article was found in Nekuda Tova Issue 91.