Parashat Vaet’hanan begins with Moshe’s plea to Hashem, begging to be given the privilege of entering the Land of Israel. Hashem had decreed that Moshe would die across the river, and not proceed into the land, and Moshe pleaded with Hashem to change the decree. Hashem denied His request.
The Gemara raises the question of why Moshe so desperately wanted to enter Eretz Yisrael. “Did he need to eat its fruits?!” the Gemara asks. It was clear and obvious that a righteous man like Moshe did not beg to go into the Land of Israel so he could enjoy Israel’s luscious produce.
Rather, the Gemara explains, Moshe wanted to enter the Land of Israel so he could perform all the mitzvot.
Some mitzvot apply only in the Land of Israel. There are numerous obligations relevant to produce grown in Israel, which are not relevant to produce grown elsewhere. Moshe wanted to enter the land so he could fulfill all the mitzvot – even those which can be performed only in the Land of Israel.
Moshe was already a great man, quite obviously. He was very accomplished. He had many, many mitzvot to his credit. But he wanted more. He wanted to be better. He wanted to be even closer to Hashem.
When it comes to money and property, we never have enough. No matter how wealthy a person is, he is always eager to receive more. We all wish we had more, that we had nicer homes, nicer cars and nicer clothes, and we could go on nicer vacations.
Moshe had that same feeling about kedushah (holiness). He was already spiritually “wealthy.” But he wanted more. It wasn’t enough.
We just completed the period of mourning for the Bet Ha’mikdash. The Gemara teaches that one of the questions each of us will be asked after we leave this world is, ציפית לישועה – “Did you long for salvation?” We have a religious obligation – and a vitally important religious obligation – to long for Mashiah. Why?
Because we are to long for kedushah, for greater closeness to Hashem.
Yes, we are already fine, upstanding, observant Jews. We do many mitzvot that we should be proud of. But we are to relate to holiness and spirituality the way people relate to money. We should always want more. We should never be satisfied. We need to long for Mashiah because we need to long for a greater connection to Hashem.
The question of ציפית לישועה is the question of, “What was your priority in life? What did you set out to accomplish each morning when you started your day? What did you strive for – more money, or more kedushah?”
This is, of course, a very high level. We all get caught up in our day-to-day struggles, and it is very difficult to long for spirituality the way we long for material success.
But we need to try. We need to try to refocus, to try to have our priorities straight, to try to make it our most important goal in life to be better people and better Jews, and to build a deeper connection with Hashem.
And if this is our goal, then we will really, really want Mashiah – because we will really, really want to make ourselves better.