A Lesson for the Residents of Tiberias at the Residence of the Gaon and Tzaddik

On Monday night, the 18th of Mar-Cheshvan, the week of Parshas Chayei Sarah, a lesson took place at the residence of our teacher, the Rav (Rabbi Berland) shlit"a (may he live long and good days), for the community of Bnei Torah (Torah scholars) and residents of the city of Tiberias who are close to our teacher and master, the Rav shlit"a. Before you is a summary of the topics from the lesson that was delivered:

"The bow of the mighty is broken" — eight hundred years earlier, Chanah already prophesied about Chanukah and the miracles that would happen to the Hasmoneans. Women are obligated in the mitzvah of Chanukah because of the miracle of Yehudit (Judith), who cut off the head of Holofernes, and also because of the victory of Yehuda (Judah) over Nicanor. "Perhaps (Ulay) the woman will not want" — Eliezer intended to say "to me" (Elay), hoping that the marriage match (shidduch) would go to his own daughter. "He gave him advice regarding the circumcision" — the place of Abraham's covenant is called "Elonei Mamre" because Aner and Eshkol were against performing the covenant in public and they died, whereas Mamre, who said to circumcise in public, remained alive. "Without you, no man shall lift his hand" — Rebbe Nachman fights all the wars; if there had been ten tzaddikim who traveled to Uman, the Holocaust would not have happened. The Abraham and Abimelech agreements — the first agreement between Abraham and the Philistines was violated immediately after the histalkus (passing away) of Abraham, as they stopped up the wells he had dug for the benefit of the world. Abraham did not even look at his own — Abraham our forefather did not even look at our mother Sarah (due to his extreme holiness). Eldad and Medad — all the abundance of prophecy in the world comes from Eldad, as brought in Torah 97 of Likutey Moharan, and from the secret of the letter 'He' from which all abundance flows and which was transformed into a 'Dalet'. "The matter came from Hashem" — Laban and Bethuel saw the miracles that happened with Eliezer, who flew with the camels through the air, as it is written, "And behold, he stood over the camels over the spring." Furthermore, Bethuel put poison in the food, but Eliezer ate the poison and Bethuel died instead; therefore they said, "Take and go." Regarding Rebecca saying "I will go" despite the fact that she should have sat shiva (seven days of mourning) for her father ("days or ten"), this was because if she had simply said "yes," it would not have clearly shown that she definitely wanted to go, similar to the Talmudic discussion in Tractate Bava Kamma 33a regarding the law of a homeowner who said "yes" to his workers and then the homeowner's dog bit the workers. "And Moses called Hoshea the son of Nun, Joshua" — he added the letter 'Yud' from Sarah's name to him, and on this the Targum (Aramaic translation) says, "When Moses saw the humility of Joshua," who nullified himself to Moses our teacher even though he knew the spies were planning to kill him when he went with them to scout the land—but when the Tzaddik says to travel, one travels! The tribe of Benjamin was the first tribe to jump into the sea immediately after Nachshon ben Aminadav, bypassing all the other tribes, and therefore Benjamin merited the Beis HaMikdash (Holy Temple). "The princes of Judah stoned them" — they threw stones at them because they also wanted to jump first; therefore, they merited kingship. "Moses died and Joshua brings them in" — Miriam heard the prophecy of Eldad and Medad and did not agree that Moses should die, and therefore she did what she did. A woman also needs to go to the forests, wake up for Chatzos (midnight prayer), perform Hisbodedus (secluded prayer), and pray the three daily prayers.

Our teacher, the Rav shlit"a, concluded the fascinating lesson for the residents of Tiberias after about forty minutes and went out for the Maariv (evening) prayer with a large crowd from the balcony of his home.