Tisha B’av is a day associated with the destruction of the Beit Hamikdash (Holy Temple) in Yirushalaim. Both Temples were destroyed on that day and other dark events, like the Spanish Inquisition, began on Tisha B’Av. However, Tisha B’av is closely connected with the coming of Mashiach. According to one tradition, Mashiach will be born on Tisha B’av. The Lubavitcher Rebbe explains that birthday is the day in which the mazal and the essence of a person is given extra strength. So even though Tisha B’Av is a day often characterized by preoccupation with the exile and mourning, it is also the birthday of Mashiach, and is a day in which the essence of Redemption shines forth powerfully, especially around the mincha prayer, close to the end of the day.
In the week following Tisha B’Av, we read parshat Va’etchanan, in which Moshe Rabbeinu pleads with G-d to soften his decree and allow him to bring the Jewish People into the Holy Land. It is written that a tzaddik (perfectly holy person) decrees and Hashem fulfills the decree.” If this is so, how is it that Hashem did not fulfill the prayer of Moshe Rabbeinu at that time but instead chose Yehoshua to bring Bnei Israel into the Holy Land?
The question is even stronger considering that Moshe Rabbeinu had a precedent for believing that he could persuade G-d to revoke his ruling. When bnei Israel sinned by worshipping the Golden Calf, G-d threatened to destroy them and make Moshe Rabbeinu’s descendants the Chosen People instead. Moshe begged Hashem, even after he warned Moshe not to plead with Him, to spare Bnei Israel and they were spared. So why, after 515 pleas given by Moshe, did Hashem decide not to allow Moshe Rabbeinu to enter to land and affect an immediate and complete Redemption?
Moshe’s prayers were not wasted chas v’shalom nor were they unanswered. Every prayer is like another stepping stone that reaches a higher level of holiness. Moshe Rebbeinu is eternal in the sense that there is a gilgul (reincarnation) of Moshe Rabbeinu in every generation, and this gilgul is the leader of the generation (who the Rebbe identified as father-in-law, the Previous Rebbe, Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn. Since the present Rebbe is successor, this could also apply to the Rebbe himself.) The prayers of Moshe Rabbeinu will be fulfilled by Hashem through Mashiach, who is the Moshe Rabbeinu of the generation of the Final Redemption, this generation. We see that Hashem is indeed fulfilling the prayers for Redemption which have been said continuously by the Moshe Rabbeinu of every generation, including ours.
We can hasten the Redemption by doing additional mitzvos (commandments) with the explicit intention to bring Mashiach; the mitzvah of tzedekah (giving charity) has a special connection with bringing the Redemption.
I wrote a poem on this subject..
“He Is Coming, Where Is He?”
We interrogate the familiar
with exile assumptions of distance.
Like a wife in an empty house
feels the tug of a chained existence
cannot recall her husband’s image
but is awakened by the echo of his voice.
Our eyes in exile fail us.
We are crippled by the illusion of time.
Look for him also in your sorrow.
Mashiach’s essence burns brightest
where his existence is as vague as a child’s dream.
Mashiach is born in the ashes of a burnt house
he is destined to rebuild.
His mazal is a star that breaks the darkness
of the darkest day in Av, the day of truth,
the 9th of Av to which we add the name Menachem,
a salve for our wounds.
One falling tear is a miniature window
in the house of Mashiach.
Tears are not evidence of his absence.
Our fasts become feasts of revealed good.
Our tears are mingled with the eternal cries of Moshe
and create a wave to break the gates of exile.
Look at the face, the eyes focused on Heaven,
the face of Moshe whose heart’s walls are cracked
like a parched desert floor engraved
with the footsteps of a homeless generation.
When Moshe pleads, G-d must listen.
The delay of generations is onlya preparation
for a richer fulfillment of a holy wish.
Where is he? He is here
a part of our hearts.
His image smiles before our eyes
which were closed as we flinched
at the blows of golus.
Just open your eyes and you will see his house.
Just open your soul, his house is our home.