A Lesson for the Residents of Holon at the Holy Residence of the Gaon and

This evening - Wednesday, the night of the 13th of Adar I, Parshas Tetzaveh, our fellow followers (Anshei Shlomeinu) from the city of Holon entered the holy residence of our teacher, the Rav, Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a (may he live long and good days), to hear a Torah lesson.

Before you is a summary of the lesson delivered by our teacher, the Rav shlit"a

The Rav began the lesson regarding the matter of the Mishnah, "Does a snake kill or does a snake give life?" and said that the main thing is always to look upward (toward Hashem). Afterward, he dealt with the matter of Chanah, who saw all the miracles that would happen to the Jewish people when she said, "The sated have hired themselves out for bread," which refers to the seventy sons of Haman. During his words, the Rav strengthened the matter of the peyos (side-curls) of a Jewish man and said that during the days of the Sefirah (the counting of the Omer) when one does not cut their hair, it is a good time to start growing peyos. Afterward, he spoke about these days—the days of Purim Katan (Minor Purim) in Adar I—which according to Rabbi Yossi are the true days of Purim. Then he spoke about the covenant that the Hasmoneans made with the Egyptians.

Afterward, he moved on to speak about the weekly Torah portion—Parshas Tetzaveh—and the secret of the Tarshish (Chrysolite) stone of the tribe of Asher. During his words, the Rav began to sing "Odem, Pitdah, Barekes..." (the names of the stones on the High Priest's breastplate). After singing for about five minutes, the Rav returned to the matter of the Tarshish stone, which is the stone of Asher, and mentioned that in the tribe of Asher, all the daughters were pure, and this is why Leah called him "Asher—for the daughters will call me happy." From one topic to another, the Rav dealt with the matter of Serach the daughter of Asher, who practiced mesirus nefesh (self-sacrifice) to gladden our forefather Yaakov (Jacob). Even though it was possible that Yaakov would have been strict with her and all the brothers for not revealing the truth to him for twenty-two years, and from his strictness they all might have died, she nevertheless agreed to die just to gladden the tzaddik.

Later in the lesson, the Rav dealt with Chananyah, Mishael, and Azaryah who jumped into the fire. He also spoke regarding the humility of Yehoshua (Joshua), who despite knowing that the spies were going to kill him because they heard "Moshe dies and Yehoshua brings them in," he nullified himself to Moshe and went with them to scout the land. During his words, the Rav mentioned the fasts, which one should "grab" like lekach (honey cake/treats)... and he enumerated the days on which there is a ta'anis tzaddikim (fast of the righteous) throughout the year. Toward the end of the lesson, the Rav mentioned again that these days (Adar I) are days of Purim that are higher than the days of the actual Purim, and one must know how to utilize this.