Lesson for the Residents of Harish at the Residence of the Gaon and Tzaddik

Last night, Wednesday, the eve of the 26th of Tammuz, Parshas Matot-Masei, a lesson was held at the home of our teacher, the Rav shlit"a (may he live long and good days), for the residents of Harish, students of our teacher Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a. Before you is a summary of the lesson:

The Rav shlit"a began the lesson with the "Inyana D'Yoma" (matters of the day) regarding the elimination of the arch-terrorists in Hezbollah and Iran, and the miracles that Hashem (the Holy One, Blessed be He) performs in every generation. Likewise, the Rav shlit"a told many stories of miracles that happened to Jews. He also mentioned the story of the diamond that was searched for on the Titanic, which was ultimately held by a woman who was saved from the Titanic; in her later years, she told the media about it at the site where the luxury ship sank, showed the diamond to everyone, and threw it into the sea. Afterward, the Rav shlit"a returned to the concept of "When the wicked perish, there is song" regarding the elimination in Beirut, and shared how he traveled to Lebanon to bring back Yehuda Katz and how he visited the tomb of Zevulun son of Yaakov there. (The full story can be read here).

After all the stories, the Rav shlit"a encouraged the participants to strengthen themselves in the study of Gemara (Talmud), particularly during the days of "Bein HaZmanim" (intersession/vacation period), and mentioned the words of the Chazon Ish zy"a (may his merit protect us) that during Bein HaZmanim, it is proper to study twice as much as usual. Furthermore, the Rav shlit"a, moving from theory to practice, began to study with the participants the topic of "mustard and bees" currently being studied in the Daf Yomi (daily page of Talmud) - Bava Batra, with all the commentaries in great depth.

Afterward, he added that everyone needs to sharpen their intellect and perform all the calculations, such as the calculation appearing in Rashi on II Samuel 24:3, which the Rav shlit"a has mentioned frequently lately—on the verse "as many as they are, and as many again, a hundred times over," where every number is doubled a hundred times. He mentioned that this was the blessing of Yoav, who would distribute tzedakah (charity) to everyone.

Later, he cited Rashi on the verse "But among these there was not a man" from last week's Torah portion—Pinchas: that only the men died in the desert, while the women did not commit any sin in the desert, and therefore all the women merited to enter the Land of Israel. Afterward, he spoke about his journey to Victoria Falls during the years of exile—in the month of Tevet 5774 (2014)—as was detailed extensively in the "Hitchadshus" magazine of Tevet 5784 (2024) in the series of articles about the exile. The Rav shlit"a continued to encourage studying as much Gemara and Poskim (halakhic decisors) as possible. At the conclusion of the lesson, he returned to what he had started with—"When the wicked perish, there is song"—and quoted the Sefarim HaKedoshim (holy books) that all the ministers and tyrants who harassed the People of Israel were actually harassing themselves, and no trace of them remains at all! And this is also what we see happening now. For Hashem does not overlook a single drop of blood shed from a Jew because of the enemies of Israel and takes vengeance on all of them, as it is written: "O nations, acclaim 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."