“I pleaded with the LORD at that time, saying…” (Devarim 3:23)

With Tisha B’Av behind us, we have a bittersweet feeling. One the one hand, we feel a closeness to Hashem and a true desire to reunite with Him. At the same time, we feel the pain of separation of so many years. As a young boy, the challenges of davening on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur were very great to me. It seemed to me that these services would just never end. As I got older, the amount of time spent on davening seemed shorter and all year round I would yearn for those Days of Awe. At a later stage in my life, even Tisha B’Av became a day of closeness to Hashem, with its special bittersweet feeling of “we will return” – and hopefully soon!

It seems to me quite appropriate that Parshas V’Eschanan falls out on the Shabbos after Tisha B’Av. The opening of the parsha deals with Moshe’s relentless prayers because of his burning desire to enter the Land of Israel. Many of us (at least) after Tisha B’av, feel exactly that way. We spent a great amount of time and effort praying on Tisha B’Av, and we really have a desire to come back to the true Eretz Yisrael. However, I believe that we need to do a little self-examination regarding how we expressed those prayers.

The story is told of a man who came to the Chofetz Chaim and asked him to pray that he should have a particular salvation. The Chofetz Chaim asked the man, “Before coming to me to daven for you, did you daven for yourself?” The man responded, “Of course I did!” The Chofetz Chayim said: “Please do me a favor and run back to your home and bring me your tehillim.” The man came back a few minutes later with his tehillim in hand and the Chofetz Chaim leafed through the pages and sighed. He then proceeded to go to the top of a bookcase and brought down a heavily worn and yellowed tehillim, whose pages were spotted from tears. “This was my mother’s tehillim. A tehillim that was used for earnest prayers should look like this – and not pristine like yours.” (There is a saying in Yiddish: Every machzor needs tears and every Haggadah needs wine spills. Otherwise, it is just not real.)

Though we prayed and may have even had the correct thoughts and intentions on Tisha B’Av, the feelings of urgency which could bring us to tears must be a part of our prayers.

The gemora in Sukkah (14A) tells us that prayer has the ability to move the way Hashem treats us, from strict judgement to mercy. This idea is illustrated by the following story:

A student of the Vilna Gaon embarked with his small son and daughter on a dangerous trip to move to the Holy Land. While out at sea, a storm raged and the boat broke in half. He grabbed his two children on his shoulders and tried to swim as far as he could towards land. Eventually his strength waned, and he realized that he would have to let go of one of his children – otherwise all three of them would be doomed. He recalled the Gemora in Horiyos which says that if there is a choice between saving a man or a woman, the man should be saved first. With no alternative, the father explained the situation to his daughter, and she agreed – letting go of her father with one hand. But as her second hand was slipping away, she cried out, “Aba, save me!” Her piercing plea gave the father an adrenalin rush, and he mustered up super-human powers, bringing both of his children to the shores of the Holy Land.

This story illustrates how true urgency can change and move someone to respond differently. Here, the father was inspired by the urgency of his daughter’s cries, and in our tefillos, we are looking for Hashem to hopefully do the same.

We are now in the weeks of Nechama – when we are being consoled by knowing that Hashem understands our affliction. But if we cry out with true urgency, our prayers will be answered. The Mabit tells us, “Every prayer that is said earnestly will be fulfilled at least partially.” Moshe Rabbeinu prayed from the bottom of his heart to enter the land, and he merited at least to immediately see the Holy Land.

May we merit that our prayers be genuine and that we also see a consolation in the rebuilding of Jerusalem in these special weeks.