"And Hashem said to me, 'See, I have begun to place Sihon and his land before you, begin to conquer his land'." (Deuteronomy/Devarim 2:31)
The holy Rebbe Nochum of Chernobyl zt"l was once travelling along the road. He reached a far-off village, where only one Jew, a simpleton and an ignoramus, resided alone. He held the lease on the inn, and the Rebbe came to his inn to stay there.
In the middle of the night, the innkeeper's wife woke up her husband, and told him: "It seems that our guest is not feeling well, because I hear strong groans coming from his room". The innkeeper went to check on his guest and found the guest sitting on the floor, holding a lit candle in his hand. He was rocking back and forth while murmuring words with his lips, every now and then letting a deep moan leave his mouth. The innkeeper said to the Rebbe, that it appears that the Rebbe is in pain, so he came to ask if he needed to call a doctor.
The Rebbe explained that he is feeling well, Baruch Hashem, but he is conducting the Tikkun Chatzos service. The innkeeper asked: "what is Tikkun Chatzos, and why is it conducted?" The Rebbe explained: "it is to mourn the destruction of the Beis HaMikdash". But the innkeeper went on to ask: "what is the Beis HaMikdash?"
The Rebbe explained to the innkeeper: "in the past, the Jews lived in Eretz Yisrael. They had a Temple where they worshipped the Creator. Due to our sins, the heathens destroyed the Temple, and we were exiled from our Holy Land. When Moshiach comes, he will bring us all to Eretz Yisrael and rebuild the Beis HaMikdash". The Rebbe asked the man: "of course, you also want Moshiach to take us to Eretz Yisrael?" The innkeeper said: "I don't know, I will have to ask my wife."
He asked her, and his wife said: "go tell him we would not even think of such a thing. We are already advanced in age, and we succeeded in saving up a bit of money. We own our own small house, a few cows and wagons, and a chicken coop. It is not worthwhile for us to abandon all of this to go up to Eretz Yisrael."
When the innkeeper returned and told this to the Chenobyler Rebbe, the Rebbe explained, that despite all of this, it is indeed worthy to go up to Eretz Yisrael, because despite all of the wealth he has attained here, there remains the problem of anti-Semitism. When Moshiach comes, then there in Eretz Yisrael there will be no troubles at all. The innkeeper said he will have to ask his wife again.
When he mentioned this to his wife, she thought a bit, and in the end she said: "go tell our guest that it is good for us here, as we have everything we need. If there is a problem with anti-Semites, let Moshiach lead the anti-Semites to Eretz Yisrael and let us remain here!"
When the Chernobyler Rebbe heard this response, he said: "this is the intent of the passuk in Parshas Vaera (Exodus/Shmos 6:6) "and I took you from under the 'sivlos' (suffering) of Egypt", which is a language of 'savlones' (patience), meaning to say that sometimes we need to be rescued from enduring the exile with patience, because we became so mired in the exile until we wanted the exile and thought it was better than redemption."
Along these lines, every Jew must contemplate for himself if he is not acting like that Jew in the story who did not await nor pray for the Geulah at all. Such conduct is a source of tremendous pain to our Father in Heaven.
The Chasam Sofer zt"l described a parable to which this can be compared: A king was angry at his son who rebelled against him. He therefore banished him to a faraway land among uncivilized people. The people removed the royal clothing from the prince, put coarse clothing on him, and forced him to work the soil. The king was sitting in his palace, and he was waiting for his son to send him a letter to apologize for his rebellion, requesting him to be allowed to return home to the palace. However, he waited in vain. Many days passed, and the king sent one of his men to see how his son was doing. The prince told him that when he went back to the king, he should ask him to send him a sack of straw for his bed. When the agent told this to the king, the king broke out in tears over his son's situation, because this was proof that he had already forgotten about the palace, and he had no request at all to return home. A sack of straw was enough to make him happy.
When we cry out to our Father in Heaven that our desire is to end the exile and return to Him, He has much satisfaction from this, and through this the Geulah is brought closer, as it is written, "the morning will come if you pray earnestly for it" (Isaiah/Yeshayah 21:12), meaning the light of the Geulah will come only if Klal Yisrael davens for it properly.
Sometimes, this is one of the reasons Heaven sends trouble to Bnei Yisrael who are sitting peacefully in Galus, in order to inspire them to daven for the Geulah. However, the Satan tries to cause Jews to forget to daven for this.
Therefore, we must be strong to concentrate on the meaning of the words of davening which express our longing and wishes for the Geulah, and to sing holy tunes which were established for this. This is what my holy ancestor Rebbe Yitzchok Isaac of Kalov zy"a understood when he composed his famous song "Sol a Kakas" and other similar songs in the Hungarian language, in order to express clearly a desire for Geulah from the depths of the heart.
It is possible to say that this is hinted here in the words Hashem said to Am Yisrael: "See, I began to give before you Sihon" - I give you the power of prayer hinted to by the word "Sihon", which means "siach" the words of prayer; "and his land" - Eretz Yisrael which you can gain by prayer; "Alei Rei-Sh" - The letters "Reish" and "Shin" stand for "R'innah S'hirah" song and singing, that they should begin to sing songs of desire and requests for the Geulah, in order to be worthy to conquer Eretz Yisrael in a way in which it will be a Holy Land with all kinds of blessings spiritually and materially, with the coming of our true Moshiach soon and in our days, Amen, so may it be His Will.
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