A Miracle on Simchas Torah

From within the fog of “concealment within concealment” on the morning of Simchas Torah, the gaze of Divine Providence begins to break through—the guidance of “Arich” (Arich Anpin, the supernal level of Divine patience and mercy), the faith in Hashem’s absolute Oneness. In the article before us, we will dive into the code of the wondrous salvation of the communities that closed their gates in honor of the holy day. We will wonder about the secret of the weapons that were not surrendered, and about the open miracle that took place inside the fog. Through the shaking insights of our teacher, the holy tzaddik Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a, we will discover how—even in the heart of government, and even facing the prosecution’s “hobby” of persecution—one thunderous recognition echoes that changes the rules of the game: “I saw Hashem.” This is a story about simple faith that crosses fences, and about the gaze that finally enables us to see—eye to eye.

The Daily Chizuk from our teacher, the holy tzaddik Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a — Sunday, 28 Shevat 5786.

These are his holy words:

“‘For eye to eye they shall see when Hashem returns to Zion’ (Isaiah 52:8). The whole matter is to receive the eye of Arich. The Zohar says regarding this: What is ‘eye to eye’? It is the eye of Arich!

[VIDEO: https://vimeo.com/1164521873?share=copy&fl=sv&fe=ci]

When you see the eye of Arich, you see revealed Divine Providence. Right now we are in concealment within concealment. What happened on Simchas Torah was concealment within concealment. But the religious kibbutzim—they were not entered; they didn’t dare.

There were gates there (closed because of the sanctity of the festival). Even Yakhini, which is a secular kibbutz—(despite being secular) they closed the gate in honor of the religious people, and so the terrorists did not enter.

They murdered someone there near the gate, and he (someone who had drawn close to our teacher Rabbi Berland shlit"a) was the closest to the gate—I’m speaking about the one who is here. I told him: On Simchas Torah you should celebrate in Jerusalem at Shuvu Banim. And so he was saved, even though he had been the closest to the gate.

This was in Kibbutz Yakhini. It is a half-secular kibbutz, and despite that, everyone agreed to close the gate. The gate was closed and the terrorists could not enter. A few came in on foot, killed several, and immediately fled.

In Kissufim, they were left with only 15 bullets for the coordinator—they took away from them (by the state) all the bullets. The coordinator said, “This—I’m not giving.” So he killed 15 terrorists out of the 500 terrorists who arrived. But they didn’t know there were only 15 bullets. They saw that 15 were falling—everyone ran away. That is how Kissufim was saved.

In Kerem Shalom, people from Alon Moreh came (as guests) to dance with them on Simchas Torah. And they did not give up the weapons. They took away from everyone (the local residents) their weapons and none remained for them. They (those authorized) knew that the Nukhba were coming; they knew everything. But they took away their weapons so that they could eliminate them, and through that bring down Bibi.

They took away their weapons, but the people of Alon Moreh did not give them up, and they remained with their rifles. That is how Kerem Shalom was saved; that is how they pushed back the terrorists. But in Mefalsim they slaughtered everyone, and in Be’eri they slaughtered everyone, and likewise in Kfar Aza, in Nahal Oz, in Nir Oz. Everyone was slaughtered everywhere—another 100 and another 100—until they reached 1,500 murdered in one day. Within one hour they finished off a thousand murdered.

Only the secular were killed, because someone who does not believe in Hashem—Hashem is not with him. Someone who believes in Hashem—Hashem goes with him everywhere. The main thing is to believe in Hashem, to see Hashem eye to eye.

Like now with Bibi: I was in the hospital for a week; they already wanted to cut off my leg. They said, “We’ll cut off your leg and give you a new leg.” In the end we traveled to Kiryat Ono, and there he said, “No need to replace it—it will work itself out.”

On the way to Kiryat Ono I heard a bit of Bibi. All the time he says, “With Hashem’s help (b’ezras Hashem), with Hashem’s help.” People asked him, “Have you gone crazy? What happened to you? Once he would say b’ezras Hashem once a month; today he says b’ezras Hashem every hour.” They asked him, “Did you become a believer?”