7th of Adar: The Hillula of Moshe

Tonight, the eve of the 7th of Adar I, is the Hillula (anniversary of passing) of Moshe Rabbeinu (Moses our Teacher), a"h (peace be upon him). Our teacher, Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a (may he live long and good days), requested tonight during the daily lesson that everyone travel to Kever Rachel (Rachel's Tomb) and Chevron (Hebron) to pray for the success of the People of Israel, for the end of the war, and for the release of the hostages.

Before you are his full words from the daily lesson:

"And now, everyone is traveling to Kever Rachel. Today is the yahrtzeit (anniversary of passing) of Moshe Rabbeinu. All the women and girls are traveling to Kever Rachel—immediately, right now. We finished early; it is possible to arrive by nine—until ten, and return by eleven. And wake up at six in the morning."

"All the women and girls, without exception, are traveling to pray for the end of the war at Kever Rachel, on the yahrtzeit of Moshe Rabbeinu. The prayers will be accepted, and may there be the complete Geulah (Redemption) speedily in our days, Amen!"

Before entering his home, the Rav added: "Everyone travel to Kever Rachel, and after that to Chevron."

Prayers from the Gaon and Tzaddik Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a for Kever Rachel:

Master of the World, full of mercy, as we travel to Beis Lechem Ephrata, to the holy and awesome Tziyun (holy grave site) which is the tomb of Rachel our Mother, of whom it is said, "Rachel weeps for her children, she refuses to be comforted," and Rachel our Mother does not stop praying for even a moment or a second for us and for all our troubles. Currently, we are all in terrible distress and under terrible decrees; every day, moment, and second, we are visited by various and strange illnesses, and dangerous diseases for which there is almost no hope.

And now we have come to you, Rachel our Mother, to pray before you for all our troubles and for all the troubles of the House of Israel, [during the Three Weeks one adds: especially during the time of Bein HaMetzarim (the period of mourning for the Temple)] for our Holy Temple was burned, our city was destroyed, and gentiles—"servants have ruled over us, there is no one to deliver us from their hand." Therefore, we have come to you, Rachel our Mother, to pray before Hashem, and may you raise our prayer before Hashem with mercy and favor, until we merit in your merit to be saved with an eternal salvation, and may the Beis HaMikdash (Holy Temple) be rebuilt in the blink of an eye, even in our own days, Amen.

Master of the World, as I travel now to the tomb of Rachel our Mother to prostrate myself upon her holy and awesome Tziyun, please merit me to cling to her holy attributes. Grant me the merit to weep day and night over the destruction of the Beis HaMikdash and over the destruction of the People of Israel like her, as it is written, "Rachel weeps for her children." Merit me to be included in her holy tears, to feel the pain of every single Jew, and to weep day and night over the bloodshed of Your holy and pure children.

Please, Merciful and Gracious One, Almighty from whom no purpose can be withheld, please merit me to be like Rachel our Mother, who gave all she had to her sister, and made herself entirely ownerless for the sake of her dear sister, giving her all her worlds in this life and the next. Through this, she merited to bring the Geulah (Redemption), and Mashiach will first come to her holy Tziyun. Please merit me to consistently travel to her day and night without ceasing, and always to prostrate myself on her holy Tziyun, pouring out my heart like water upon her holy Tziyun, until I merit in perfection to be included in her holy soul.

Master of the World, merit me to be like Rachel our Mother, who weeps day and night over the destruction of the Beis HaMikdash and the blood of Israel which is poured out like water.

Master of the World, merit me to be holy and pure, I and my wife, like Rachel our Mother, who out of her great holiness and purity, gave all her secret signs to Leah her sister, and gave up her portion in the World to Come and all the life of this world for her sister. She merited to give her soul for her sister with a whole heart; so too, merit me to give my soul for every single Jew with supreme mesirus nefesh (self-sacrifice). Through this, may I merit to connect all the letters of Your Holy Name, Yud-Kei-Vav-Kei in their fullness, and to fulfill "Only in You will we mention Your Name." May I only merit that Your holy and awesome Name, Yud-Kei-Vav-Kei, be before my eyes at all times, without ceasing, day and night, without an interruption of even a single second.

Please, Merciful and Gracious One, just as Yaakov (Jacob) our Father merited to work for Rachel for seven years, so too merit me to honor and cherish my wife day and night. Give me the consciousness to cherish and honor her without a second's pause, and always to run toward her and provide her with all the best in the world. May it be that in the merit of the seven years Yaakov worked for Rachel, there shall be revealed to me: "The Yesod Tzaddik (foundation of the Tzaddik) is hidden in seven, it is a sign of the covenant forever, from the source of blessing, the Tzaddik is the foundation of the world (Tzaddik Yesod Olam), You are righteous, O Hashem."

And may I merit to roar with awesome roars over the destruction of the Beis HaMikdash and the blood of Israel that is poured in the city streets day and night without ceasing, as it is written, "Hashem shall roar from on high and from His holy habitation He shall give forth His voice; He shall surely roar over His dwelling place." May I raise a voice of wailing and weeping day and night over the breaking of the daughter of my people, like Rachel our Mother who does not stop for a second from weeping over the killing of the members of our people—brothers, parents, grandparents, and the young schoolchildren—as it is written, "Thus says Hashem: A voice is heard in Ramah, lamentation and bitter weeping, Rachel weeping for her children; she refuses to be comforted for her children, for they are gone." May I and my wife merit in ultimate perfection to be included in the soul of Rachel our Mother, and through this to draw down the soul of Mashiach, who will merit to guard the holy covenant (purity) in the peak of perfection, just as Rachel our Mother merited to draw down the soul of Yosef (Joseph), who merited to stand in all the trials of the world, until he merited to sanctify the entire space of the world.

Master of the World, in the merit of Rachel our Mother who took up the craft of silence, and saw her own wedding gifts in the hands of her sister and remained silent, so too merit me to the attribute of silence in perfection. May I merit to fulfill perfectly, "But Hashem is in His holy Temple; let all the earth keep silence before Him." May I merit to give all that I have to everyone in the world, and let me be like Rachel who dwells here, who gave all she had to her sister, both this world and the World to Come. In this merit, may I merit to be a throne for the Shechinah (Divine Presence), and to enter the King's Palace, and to merit being among the children of Rachel's palace, which shines with a precious light from one end of the world to the other. May I merit the "awesome ice" which is above the holy creatures (Chayos), and may I merit to be entirely like that awesome ice, like Rachel who merited Yaakov who said, "By day the heat consumed me, and the ice by night." May I merit through this to blaze with the sparks of the flame of G-d, and for twenty-four hours I shall blaze with the sparks of the flame of G-d toward You, Blessed One, until I merit in this merit to be included in the Supernal Father and Mother (Abba and Imma), and merit like Rachel our Mother to draw the soul of Mashiach ben Yosef into the world, who will redeem the People of Israel.

Master of the World, Almighty from whom no purpose can be withheld, in these holy and awesome moments as I prostrate myself on the holy and awesome Tziyun of Rachel our Mother, merit me in Your abundant mercy and Your abundant, infinite kindness, that I may merit like her to shed tears day and night over the bloodshed of Israel, the holy people, whose blood is poured like water day and night in the streets of the city and the outskirts of the town, and no one opens their mouth or chirps.

Please, Merciful and Gracious One, I know that all the terrible suffering passing over the People of Israel is only because of my terrible sins and the endless pegamei habris (blemishes of the covenant/purity) in which I have stumbled from my youth until this day. Please, Merciful and Gracious One, merit me like Rachel our Mother to the fulfillment of: "Thus says Hashem: A voice is heard in Ramah, lamentation and bitter weeping, Rachel weeping for her children; she refuses to be comforted for her children, for they are gone."

Please, Merciful and Gracious One, merit me to raise a voice of wailing and a voice of weeping day and night, especially at Chatzos (midnight) until the morning, over the breaking of the daughter of my people, and over all the fallen of my people, old and young, whose blood is shed every day—and all of it is only because of my terrible blemishes of the covenant.

Prayer at Kever Rachel - For Women

Master of the World, Almighty from whom no purpose can be withheld, with dread and trembling, fear, quaking, awe, and reverence, we stand here before the holy and awesome Tziyun of Rachel our Mother, peace be upon her, who was glowing and burning with the fire of a holy flame day and night toward You, Hashem; therefore, her lamp never went out. May it be Your will, Hashem our G-d and G-d of our fathers, that this fire of a holy flame which burned in Rachel our Mother day and night, shall burn in our hearts in the aspect of "A constant fire shall burn on the Altar; it shall not go out." May it be engraved in our hearts until we merit to be a flaming fire in the chain of generations of holy and pure mothers, who danced upon the focal point of the Altar. May we merit like Rachel our Mother to draw into the world the soul of Mashiach ben Yosef, and like her to have a son like Binyamin, in whose portion the Beis HaMikdash was and will be built speedily in our days. May we merit to pray for Mashiach ben Yosef, that he shall not fall into the hands of the wicked. By the power and merit of Rachel our Mother, who stands day and night in weeping and roaring for the rescue of her children, as it is written, "A voice is heard in Ramah, lamentation and bitter weeping, Rachel weeping for her children..." (Jeremiah 31:14), "He shall surely roar over His dwelling place" (ibid 25:30). Therefore, Rachel chose to be buried "on the way to Ephrat, which is Bethlehem" on the roadside, so that we could always approach her in prayer, request, and outcry, and pour out the whispered prayer of our hearts upon her holy and awesome Tziyun.

Please, Merciful and Gracious One, in the merit of Rachel our Mother, peace be upon her, have mercy on Your sons and daughters who are slaughtered every single day in the city streets. Death has come up into our windows physically and spiritually; "we were almost like Sodom, we resembled Gomorrah." All the walls of morality, holiness, and modesty have been breached, and we remain like orphans without father or mother, "like a pole on a mountaintop and like a banner on a hill." For all the Tzaddikim and righteous women who have existed since the beginning of time have left us; "they have traveled to their rest and left us to our sighs." And now, the duty of the day has fallen upon us to be the connecting link between Rachel our Mother and the holy matriarchs and the coming generations, and to pass on the torch of fire of Torah, Emunah (faith), holiness, purity, and modesty that burns in our hearts day and night. In the merit that we shall merit to pass the torch of fire to all our generations coming after us, may the fire be kindled in our hearts twofold, thousands and tens of thousands of times more and more, until we merit to be like the holy matriarchs and the holy prophetesses—Miriam the Prophetess, and Devorah the Prophetess, who at the time of her prophecy torches of fire were seen over her tent—until we merit that some spark from Rachel our Mother, the holy and pure, shall be impregnated within us, and we shall also merit the spirit of prophecy, as it is written: "And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out My spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions. And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out My spirit. And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke" (Joel 3:1-3). May the verses be fulfilled in our days: "Pour out Your wrath upon the nations that do not know You, and upon the kingdoms that do not call upon Your name. For they have devoured Jacob and laid waste his habitation." "Why should the nations say, 'Where is their G-d?' Let the avenging of the blood of Your servants which is shed be known among the nations in our sight" (Psalms 79:6-7, 10). "Sing aloud, O nations, of His people; for He will avenge the blood of His servants, and will render vengeance to His adversaries, and will make expiation for His land and His people." May the roars, weepings, and outcries of Rachel awaken the light of the Geulah, and may we merit to see, in the merit of Rachel our Mother, peace be upon her, the complete Geulah and the building of the Beis HaMikdash, speedily in our days in the blink of an eye, Amen, Netzach, Sela, Va'ed.

Prayers from the Gaon and Tzaddik Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a for the Me'arat HaMachpelah (Cave of the Patriarchs):

Master of the World, Almighty from whom no purpose can be withheld, please help me reach the level of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel, and Leah, who are the seven branches of the Menorah, the head of the Menorah. May I merit miracles and wonders like the holy Patriarchs and the holy Matriarchs, whose lamp never went out, whose dough was blessed, whose tent had a cloud attached above it, and whose home was wide open.

Please, Merciful and Gracious One, just as You blessed Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob with everything, and the Gaon says regarding this that they all merited the 50th Gate (Sha'ar HaNun), so too may I merit the 50th Gate, and know that there is none besides You and nothing but You, and You are the only One who leads the world. And just as You merited the binder and the bound (Abraham and Isaac) to the world of Akudim, and Yaakov to the worlds of Akudim, Nekudim, and Berudim (Kabbalistic levels of emanation) which is the world of Atzilus, so too merit me that I may merit to ascend to the worlds of Akudim, Nekudim, and Atzilus. May the world of Asiyah (Action/Physicality) be completely nullified for me, so that I know nothing of it. In the merit of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, Sarah, Rebecca, and Leah, to whose holy Tziyun I am now traveling, may I merit to be included in them perfectly, and to be dust and ashes like them from now and forever.

Master of the World, merit me to reach the level of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, of whom Abraham said, "And I am but dust and ashes," Isaac's "ashes are piled upon the Altar," and of Yaakov it is said, "Who can count the dust of Jacob."

Please, Merciful and Gracious One, Almighty from whom no purpose can be withheld, help me reach the holiness of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and help my wife reach the holiness of Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel, and Leah. Merit me and my wife to be included in the holy Cherubim that dwell upon the Ark-cover, and may I merit to be like David HaMelech (King David), peace be upon him, who said, "And my heart is hollow within me."

Master of the World, merit me and my wife to be included in the Zihara Ila'a (Supernal Radiance) of Adam HaRishon (the first man), for the Zihara Ila'a was the soul of the Patriarchs and Matriarchs—Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel, and Leah—and the other unique individuals of the generations.

Please, Merciful and Gracious One, merit me to the clusters of the vine, and to the blessing, "Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine in the recesses of your house; your children like olive plants around your table." Fruitful (Poriya) = Fire (Esh) = 301; may I and my wife burn with a flaming fire toward You day and night, like the holy Patriarchs and holy Matriarchs.

Master of the World, Almighty from whom no purpose can be withheld, merit me to be like Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, of whom it is said, "Only in your fathers did Hashem delight to love them, and He chose their seed after them, even you, from all the peoples, as it is this day. Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no more stiff-necked."

Master of the World, merit me in the merit of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to no longer be stiff-necked, and to merit a soft heart, a heart that is full of "sparks of the flame of G-d" toward You, day and night without a moment's pause. May I merit to be like Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who burned toward You day and night with the fire of a holy flame without a moment's pause. May I always merit to burn toward You, whether in my Torah study or in my prayer, with eternal love and true love. May the Name Havayah (Y-K-V-K) never depart from before my eyes day and night, and may I merit to be like the holy Patriarchs to whom You swore by El Shaddai to multiply their seed like the dust of the earth, the sand of the sea, and the stars of the heaven. May I merit like Yaakov our Father to see six hundred thousand descendants even in my lifetime.

Master of the World, Almighty from whom no purpose can be withheld, merit me to complete the image of the Man who is above the Chariot. May I and my wife merit to be included in the Supernal Man, and may we merit to receive Your seal which You gave to Yaakov our Father, as it is written, "You give truth to Jacob." May all my actions be the absolute truth, as Yaakov our Father merited. May I increase in kindness like Abraham our Father, and may our home be a house wide open to every passerby. May we merit the Fear of Isaac, as it is written regarding Yaakov, "And Yaakov swore by the Fear of his father Isaac."

And may I never again open my eyes to see anything forbidden. May I merit like Isaac our Father, who from the day he reached maturity never opened his eyes, and through this merited to draw down the Clouds of Glory for the entire People of Israel. So too, merit me and my wife that the seven Clouds of Glory shall surround us day and night, and through this may we merit to hear the seven voices from which the Ten Commandments were drawn. May I and my wife merit to be included in the Sefiros (Divine emanations) of Chochmah, Binah, and Keter. Through this, may we merit like Abraham our Father who merited to be included in the world of Akudim, like Isaac who merited to be included in the world of Nekudim, and like Yaakov who merited to be included in the world of Atzilus.

Please, Merciful and Gracious One, as I stand here before their holy and awesome Tziyun, merit me to be included perfectly in their holy soul, and from now on I shall no longer blemish my covenant nor my eyes, from now and forever.