In Parshas Va’Eschanan, the Torah delineates for us many foundations of our nation, including (but not limited to): Tefila, Eretz Yisrael, Achdus Hashem, chinuch ha’bonim, leadership and Matan Torah.

The parsha opens with Moshe’s prayers to be allowed entry into the Holy Land, and the commentators explained that he asked 515 times to be allowed in, which is the gematria (numeric value) of the opening word of the parsha: ואתחנן. 

Moshe beseeched Hashem and said: אֶעְבְּרָה־נָּ֗א וְאֶרְאֶה֙ אֶת־הָאָ֣רֶץ הַטּוֹבָ֔ה אֲשֶׁ֖ר בְּעֵ֣בֶר הַיַּרְדֵּ֑ן הָהָ֥ר הַטּ֛וֹב הַזֶּ֖ה וְהַלְּבָנֹֽן - please let me cross over and see the good land that is on the other side of the Yarden; this good mountain (Yerushalayim) and the Levanon (the Beis HaMikdash) (Devarim 3:25 with Rashi). 

Here, in the last days of his life, Moshe requests but only one thing of Hashem: to enter into His holy abode, the place where His Shechina dwells in His holy city.

Hashem’s reply to Moshe was: רַב־לָ֔ךְ אַל־תּ֗וֹסֶף דַּבֵּ֥ר אֵלַ֛י ע֖וֹד בַּדָּבָ֥ר הַזֶּֽה - it is enough for you! Do not continue to speak with Me further about this matter, עֲלֵ֣ה רֹ֣אשׁ הַפִּסְגָּ֗ה וְשָׂ֥א עֵינֶ֛יךָ יָ֧מָּה וְצָפֹ֛נָה וְתֵימָ֥נָה וּמִזְרָ֖חָה וּרְאֵ֣ה בְעֵינֶ֑יךָ כִּי־לֹ֥א תַעֲבֹ֖ר אֶת־הַיַּרְדֵּ֥ן הַזֶּֽה, ascend to the peak and lift your eyes to the west, the north, the south and the east, and see with your eyes, for you shall not cross over this Yarden (Devarim 3:25-27).

Moshe - the greatest prophet to ever live (Devarim 34:10), the most humble man to ever live (Bamidbar 12:3), the greatest leader we have ever had and the most masterful teacher - was denied access to E”Y, both in life, and in death. 

And yet, in our days and in our time, what was withheld from Moshe has been granted to us. What generations of our forefathers could only dream of - through the long, dark night of exile - in our times became a reality. 

I have quoted from my grandfather’s memoirs, “In Seven Camps in Three Years,” many times. Originally written in Yiddish, and published in the Krasnik yizkor book, my grandfather wrote: “After that they drove us to Budzin, where there were already hundreds of Jews from Krashnik and the area. And here the true hell began. As soon as we were delivered to the murderous commandant we had at once a free morning before we went out to work, they told everyone to march single file. He removed from the line whoever did not please him. As we exited the camp, those who had been removed (from the line) were taken to a grave and shot. That day, one hundred and five Jews were killed… Reb Peretz Feder and I slept on one pallet and talked continually about the murderers that they were sent by G-d and their end is near. We suffer now so that Moshiach will come. Whoever will survive this hell will see a Jewish state…”

Regarding our millennia-long, never-ending, passionate love and yearning for the land, Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik, the Rav zt’l, teaches, that at the time of the Covenant Between the Pieces (Bereishis 15), it is as if Hashem said to Avraham:

“And before [your children receive the land], יָדֹעַ תֵּדַע כִּי-גֵר יִהְיֶה זַרְעֲךָ, [know you shall surely know] you wouldn’t live in luxury. You wouldn’t wait as a free people until the grant will be finalized, formalized. יָדֹעַ תֵּדַע כִּי-גֵר יִהְיֶה זַרְעֲךָ בְּאֶרֶץ לֹא לָהֶם, [know you shall surely know that your children will be strangers in a land that is not theirs] it means they’ll be strangers, וַעֲבָדוּם, slaves, וְעִנּוּ אֹתָם, tortured, ill-treated. אַרְבַּע מֵאוֹת, שָׁנָה [four hundred years]. And throughout that period, that dark night of galus, you’ll have only one dream, and one vision, and one aspiration, and one hope. What will be the hope? To get back to the land. לשנה הבאה בירושלים [next year in Jerusalem].  And after you’ll come to Eretz Yisrael, I assure you, that you’ll be deeply in love with the land, it will be an eternal love, not just a friendship affair” (See The Rav Thinking Aloud on the Parsha, Bamidbar, p.118-122).

And yet, the tremendous gift of our nation in our homeland - the matana tova of Eretz Yisrael that Hashem bestowed upon Avraham and his children for all time - comes to us at a great cost. Chazal already taught us this truism when they said:

תַּנְיָא, רַבִּי שִׁמְעוֹן בֶּן יוֹחַאי אוֹמֵר: שָׁלֹשׁ מַתָּנוֹת טוֹבוֹת נָתַן הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא לְיִשְׂרָאֵל, וְכוּלָּן לֹא נְתָנָן אֶלָּא עַל יְדֵי יִסּוּרִין, אֵלּוּ הֵן: תּוֹרָה וְאֶרֶץ יִשְׂרָאֵל וְהָעוֹלָם הַבָּא

It was taught in a Braisa: Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai says: The Holy One, Blessed be He, gave Israel three precious gifts, all of which were given only by means of suffering. And they are: Torah, Eretz Yisrael, and the World-to-Come (Brachos 5a).

I heard a beautiful idea from Rabbi Zev Leff shlita on Tehillim 27:4. The psalmist tells us (we begin reciting this chapter twice daily with the start of Elul): 

אַחַ֚ת שָׁאַ֣לְתִּי מֵֽאֵת־ ה֘’ אוֹתָ֪הּ אֲבַ֫קֵּ֥שׁ שִׁבְתִּ֣י בְּבֵֽית־ ה֘’ כָּל־יְמֵ֣י חַיַּ֑י לַֽחֲז֥וֹת בְּנֹֽעַם־ ה֘’ וּלְבַקֵּ֥ר בְּהֵיכָלֽוֹ

One [thing] I ask of Hashem, this I ask: that I may dwell in the house of Hashem all the days of my life, to see the pleasantness of Hashem and to visit His Temple (Tehillim 27:4). 

The one thing that King David asks is really the three things that every Jew yearns for, and the very three things that are acquired through suffering: אחת = ארץ ישראל, חיי עולם הבא, תורה. While, b’chasdei Hashem, the matana tova of E”Y has become a miraculous reality for us, after almost 2,000 years of wandering, the yesurin that come along with it are its companion. From the dire, horrific plight of our hostages, Hashem yerachem v’yaazor, to the fallen soldiers, to the thousands wounded and injured (both physically and emotionally), to our unceasing fight on the world-stage to maintain our G-d-given hold on this land, to the economic ramifications of this drawn-out war… Eretz Yisrael is our land and will always be our land. This Divine Promise is the absolute truth, and a non-negotiable fact. 

Yet we long and hope, pray and dream, for the day when the yesurin will no longer be part and parcel of our land, and peace will be restored to the city of peace, for the time when “old men and old women will sit in the streets of the city… and young boys and girls will play in her streets” (Zecharia 8:4-5) in everlasting tranquility, unbounded joy, and revealed and open love between Hashem and Am Yisrael.

LZ”N IDF fallen ha’kadosh v’ha’tahor Noam Shemesh z’l HY”D. Noam, age 21, fell on 18 Sivan 5785 (June 14, 2025) in battle in Gaza. About Noam, his mother Efrat shetichyeh - with whom I met yesterday in her home in Yerushalayim (Tuesday August 5) for close to two hours, learning about her wonderful, committed, dedicated, courageous and heroic son - said he had an ayin tova, a lev tov and did everything in a modest, quiet fashion for his soldiers (he was a mefaked), his country and his nation. Noam served on many borders (he fought in the Jordan Valley, the Lebanese border, Tulkarem, and other places), but when he was not sent into Gaza on milu’im after Oct.7, he requested to be sent into Gaza to fight the wicked enemy there and do his part for our land.

Any time Efrat asked Noam what he needed, or what she could get for him, he replied, “B”H, yesh li kol - I do not need anything, B”H I have everything I need.” 

When serving in the north a couple of months after Oct. 7, in the very cold winter, he gave away his coat to a fellow soldier who was cold, claiming the sleeves “were a bit too short” for him anyway, and his friend needed it more than he did. During the shiva, his commander told Efrat he was not surprised to hear Noam gave away his coat, for he reported that Noam was always looking to see what other soldiers needed, and giving to them was his greatest joy. 

He fell on Shabbat afternoon at 5pm, a time which Efrat noted is one of great Divine chessed and rachamim (kindness and mercy). She said it was a chessed of Hashem that he fell right away and did not suffer, and went to his eternal rest during such a holy time of the week. 

אַחַ֚ת שָׁאַ֣לְתִּי מֵֽאֵת־ ה֘’ אוֹתָ֪הּ אֲבַ֫קֵּ֥שׁ שִׁבְתִּ֣י בְּבֵֽית־ ה֘’ כָּל־יְמֵ֣י חַיַּ֑י לַֽחֲז֥וֹת בְּנֹֽעַם ה֘’ וּלְבַקֵּ֥ר בְּהֵיכָלֽוֹ

One thing (that is really three things) I ask of Hashem, this I ask: to dwell in the house of Hashem all the days of my eternal life, to gaze upon the pleasantness of Hashem - the pleasantness of Noam who is now very close to Hashem - and to visit His holy abode. 

May we merit everlasting peace, comfort, geula, and simcha for our entire nation and our Land. 

שנזכה לבשורות טובות, שבת שלום, וחדש מנחם אב