“Let me go over and see the good land…”

Moshe Rabbeinu, the greatest leader in our history, pleads with Hashem to enter Eretz Yisrael.
He doesn’t ask for comfort, reward, or recognition.
All he wants is to step foot in the land Hashem promised.

Chazal ask: Why did Moshe want to enter Eretz Yisrael so badly? Was it to enjoy the fruits?
They answer: No.
Moshe wanted to enter solely to fulfill the mitzvot that can only be performed in the Land.

Do we value Eretz Yisrael for what it is… or just for what it offers?

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We just came through Tisha B’Av.
We sat on the floor. We cried.
But now comes the next avodah: to yearn.
To truly want Geula.
To want it the way Moshe wanted to enter Eretz Yisrael.

Moshe’s yearning was so intense, so pure, that even knowing he wouldn’t enter, he still begged.
He longed for closeness. For kedusha. For connection.

Because Eretz Yisrael isn’t just another place on the map.
It’s the land Hashem personally watches over from the beginning of the year until the end of the year (Devarim 11:12).
It’s where mitzvot reach their full spiritual potential.
It’s the land where the air makes a person wiser (Bava Batra 158b).
It’s the land of deeper vision and higher purpose.

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The first conversation Hashem had with Avraham, Yitzchak, Yaakov, and Moshe included it.
Rav Kook was once asked why he loves Erertz Yisrael so much.  He answered that he loves the Torah and every single parsha from Lech Lecha until the end, speaks of it.

Rabbi Zeira went through tremendous hardships to leave Bavel and move to Eretz Yisrael.
The Vilna Gaon and the Chafetz Chaim longed for it.
Because they knew: The connection to Hashem in Eretz Yisrael is different.

It’s deeper. It’s clearer. It’s alive.

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The Midrash tells us the whole world is blind until Hashem opens our eyes.
Most people don’t see what Eretz Yisrael is—or what it could and will be.

We need to daven for Hashem to open our eyes.
To show us the greatness of the land.
To help us see Eretz Yisrael the way Moshe saw it…
The way Rabbi Zeira, the Vilna Gaon, the Chafetz Chaim, and Rav Kook saw it.

Because when we see it that way…

We will ache for it.
We will live differently in it.
We will yearn for its full redemption.

To truly see Eretz Yisrael is to long for the Geula.
To see the hills as holy. The streets as sacred.
The people as part of the promise.
And to realize—we’re not just living in a land.
We’re walking toward our destiny.

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But the story isn’t over.
Even for those already living here.
Because we’re still waiting.
Still yearning.
Still incomplete.

Still longing for the full Geula—with Mashiach, the Beit Hamikdash, and the complete return of the Shechina.

And we must ask ourselves:

Do we long for Geula… or have we gotten too comfortable in galut?
When we daven for Mashiach… Do we really mean it?

Because when the Shechina returns… when Mashiach comes…

Our eyes will finally be opened.

The clarity we’ve begged for in “ותחזנה עינינו בשובך לציון ברחמים”—will be real.
We’ll see the world as it truly is.
We’ll see Hashem’s presence, feel His closeness, and finally understand:
This is what our souls have been yearning for.
And we’ll wonder how we ever lived without it.

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Let us not just pray for Geula.
Let us feel it.
Want it.
Yearn for it.
And prepare for it.
The way Moshe did.