This Shabbat, Shabbat Nachamu, the Shabbat of Consolation, takes its name from the first word of its haftarah, in which Hashem tells Yeshaya HaNavi to console Bnei Yisrael after the loss of Yerushalayim and their exile to Babylon, because they will soon return to Eretz Yisrael.
Consolation was appropriate at that time, as they were indeed soon to be redeemed. We, however, borrow the words of Yeshaya as if to say that we too will be consoled. But how are these words comforting for us; after all, our exile is still ongoing? Nevertheless, the Mahril, the leader of Ashkenazic Jewry in his day (circa 1360), says that Shabbat Nachamu is a time for us to rejoice in the redemption that we are promised will happen.
I believe the answer to this problem can be found in the commentary of the Kli Yakar (3:25) in this week’s parsha where he points out that Moshe Rabbeinu made two separate requests of Hashem before he died. One request was denied, the other was granted. Moshe asked that he be allowed to enter the land, this request was denied, as Moshe says, “Hashem was angry with me because of you” (Devarim 3:26). Moshe’s second request was that he be allowed to see the Land; this request was granted (ibid 3:27).
It seems that there is a profound significance in just “seeing” the Land. Earlier in the Torah we find that Hashem tells Avraham that he should first “see” the Land (Bereshis 13:14-15) and only then does He tell him to traverse it (13:17). The Kli Yakar explains that to make a physical acquisition one must perform a kinyan, a tangible act, but to acquire something spiritually, one needs to perceive the subject intellectually. For this reason, Hashem told Avraham to first look out at the Land and then, having perceived the spiritual nature of Eretz Yisrael, he was to walk its length and breadth in order to make a kinyan. In the same vein, Moshe Rabbeinu asked Hashem that he be granted both a spiritual and a physical acquisition of Eretz Yisrael.
This concept is not foreign to us; on Pesach we discuss Yetzias Mitzrayim “as if we ourselves were redeemed,” even though we were not physically in Egypt at the time. By internalizing the Exodus, it is as if we ourselves were redeemed from Egypt. Likewise, each morning we recite the seder korbanos even though we don’t bring them, because internalizing the details of the korbanos makes it as if we had been makriv them.
Furthermore, the seeing of an object gives us a connection to understanding it. For this reason, Hashem told Avraham to go out and count the stars, because seeing them would give him a deeper understanding of Hashem’s promise that his children would themselves be like the stars. It is also for this reason that we have the beautiful mitzvah of tzitzit. Seeing them all the time, we are reminded of the Heavenly throne and the mitzvot that Hashem has directly commanded us to keep.
Chazal tell us that anyone who mourns Yerushalayim will see it rebuilt. Rabbi Zev Leff explains that mourning is also a process of understanding. On Tisha B’Av we try to understand and internalize the depth of what we have lost by not having the Beit HaMikdash. Chazal are telling us that those who are able to understand what they lack will be able to understand what it is that they will gain when the Beit HaMikdash will be rebuilt.