First Lesson from the Moment of Release

The first full lesson of our teacher, the Gaon and Tzaddik, Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a, immediately upon his release. Today, 11 Tevet 5782, from the balcony of his holy home, through the mercies of Hashem! A blessed day of Geulah.

"You shall add days to the king's days, his years like generation after generation."

"The Tenth of Tevet is actually Yom Kippur; we are now after Yom Kippur. The Tenth of Tevet pushes off Shabbat, and therefore the Yahrtzeit of Rebbe Nathan never falls on Shabbat—because Rebbe Nathan is the Rebbe himself. And these are the miracles of Rebbe Nathan and the Rebbe, for he is the Rabbi and the student for whom they waited since the creation of the world."

"Before Adam HaRishon sinned, before he even thought to sin, the souls of the Rebbe and Rebbe Nathan soared. And they bring about all the miracles (meaning they act before Hashem) that will occur until the end of all generations; they bring them about, and they brought about this release! The opposite! 'And it was turned around, that the Jews themselves would rule over their enemies!' (The tzaddik breaks into song together with the thousands in the crowd)."

"Now, Ezekiel chapter 24, verse 2: 'Etzem Hayom Hazeh' ('Son of man, write for yourself the name of the day, this very day: the King of Babylon has laid siege to Jerusalem, this very day'). What is 'Etzem Hayom Hazeh'? What is special about this day above all other days, that on this day the Holy Temple began to be destroyed, and the Third Temple must be built? So it is written: 'On this very day, Abraham was circumcised, and Ishmael his son' (Genesis 17:26). In Hebron, they said they would not allow a brit to happen, they would not allow it! Just as now, may their names be erased, they have started inciting on the televisions, saying, 'What is this, cutting an 8-day-old child?!' Because such a thing had not existed in the world for two thousand years, for Isaac was born in 2048, and Abraham was born in 1948. For two thousand years, they did not see circumcisions! Noah was born circumcised, Enoch was born circumcised, but a brit?! To cut an 8-day-old child?! Pieces, pieces??! This is only a revelation of the holy Torah! According to intellect and nature, there is no such thing as cutting an 8-day-old child."

"Now scientists have discovered that only at this age does the blood clot immediately! And specifically at 8 days, the baby feels no pain at all. And the babies do not cry at all (and if they do cry, it is because they are startled by the commotion, the Rav says in his lessons). On the contrary, they are happy and joyful! He is just waiting for this moment!"

"'And from the womb, they are circumcised for Your Name' (from the piyut Yom L'yabasha); from the womb, from the pregnancy, he is already waiting for this moment, for them to take away this terrible shell! Only the tzaddik can remove it, only Rabbeinu can remove it! So they said that if Abraham performs a brit here, they will immediately slaughter him and burn him at the stake! So Aner and Eshkol said, 'We will be the first.' Because why didn't he go to Rachel's Tomb?"

"There is a terrible question: a brit to be performed at Rachel's Tomb, or in Shuvu Banim, or a brit to be performed at the Cave of the Patriarchs, or in Meron. Why at Mamre?! Who is this Mamre?? Zaken Mamre (a rebellious elder)?! That is where the feast is held? What does he have to do with Mamre? Why is he a friend of Mamre?! But what does Rashi say? 'Mamre gave him advice regarding the circumcision.' Advice? Does Abraham need advice from anyone?? If so, whether to do it or not? Hashem told him to perform a circumcision, and he does it immediately! Hashem told him to bind Isaac, and he binds Isaac! Ishmael said to Isaac, 'I am greater than you! I had a brit at age 13, I already had understanding, I felt terrible suffering!' Because at age 13, it is the most terrible suffering in the world. At age 8, you didn't feel pain at all! Isaac said to him: 'If Hashem tells me to bind me and slaughter me, I will go with joy!' (And immediately Hashem commanded the Binding)."

"Yaakov Galinsky was in a house with a mohel (in Russia, when it was forbidden to circumcise), and suddenly a KGB agent entered and said he wanted to circumcise his son, that he should come to such-and-such address, see a lady with a purse leaving, enter the apartment, and the baby would be in the crib. And the mohel immediately ran out the door; there was another door there. In Russia, you must have two doors in every apartment. Just like today, you must have two doors in every apartment; if they come through this door, you have already escaped through the second door, and whoever has only one door is lost."

"The mohel returned and said to him, 'It's a trap! What did you tell him, that I am a mohel?!' He said, 'I promised we would come, we must!' He told me, 'Go up to the third floor, a lady with a purse will come out. Enter the apartment, the child will be in the crib.' Good, they went, climbed 3 floors, saw a lady with a purse leaving, entered the apartment, and found a baby in a crib. They circumcised him; Yaakov Galinsky was the sandak. He has a will to tell this story at every brit."

"There were 12 loaves of bread and 12 eggs there (payment for the circumcision, which in those days was considered a huge fortune). He said to the maid, 'Bring me coupons! You are KGB, you have no problem, how will I walk around with this on the street? They will think I robbed a bank! I robbed a supermarket. Someone walking with such a thing in Russia...'"

"One day he is walking on the street and suddenly the KGB agent passed by and recognized him, and says to him: 'Thank you for circumcising my son! Today the Jews are down, but I know that the Jews will return to the top one day! It will be good for the Jews, soon everything will turn around! The darkness will turn into light!! And then we will see the light! I want to have a circumcised son already!'"

"Now we are talking about the first brit in the history of humanity. To cut children?! So now they say on the televisions, may their names be erased, Yair Lapid and all his friends. They want to uproot the brit now! They don't know that people will jump off roofs to circumcise their son! Am Yisrael will never give up the brit!"

"And Abraham Avinu has to circumcise his son in Hebron; everyone hates him with a deathly hatred, waiting for there to be some small mistake so they can slaughter him! Parshat Vayera, the first verse, everyone will read it at home ('And Hashem appeared to him in the plains of Mamre, and he was sitting at the entrance of the tent in the heat of the day'). Aner arrives, they perform the first brit on him, boom—he immediately faints and dies! They pour 3 buckets of water on him and he doesn't wake up! So Eshkol says, 'Now circumcise me,' they circumcise him—baruch Hashem, he passed away! He went up to Gan Eden. Two go up to Gan Eden, the police arrived, the KGB, 'Abraham is slaughtering people, slaughtering children!' Two have already died, why? Because they didn't really want the brit, they did it because of social pressure. So this Mamre arrives, what does he say? 'Circumcise me now! I am the third, now it is my turn!' They circumcise him, everything goes with joy, all the angels arrive! Now they are circumcising 100,000 converts. A river of blood flowed in Hebron. All of Eretz Yisrael converted."

"And now, in the merit of this release, all of Eretz Yisrael is converting! There will be Breslov, there will be Shuvu Banim! And we will merit the complete Geulah and the Third Temple speedily in our days, amen!"