"No Bulletproof Vest Helps Against a Missile

Before you is the full daily lesson as delivered by our teacher, the Rav, Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a – yesterday after the Maariv (evening) prayer, Tuesday night, the 25th of Tammuz, Parshas Matot-Masei:

"So the Parsha (Torah portion) concludes with Machlah, Noa, Hoglah, Tirzah, and Milkah—the five daughters of Zelophehad. Machlah corresponds to Reisha D'lo Isyada (the Unknown Head, the highest level of Keter), the verse before the end, for she merited Reisha D'lo Isyada. Hashem forgave (machal) her for all sins, and everything turned into merits. After that, Tirzah corresponds to Tala D'Bedulcha (the Dew of Crystal), and after Tirzah comes Noa, which corresponds to Kruma D'Avira (the Membrane of Atmosphere). After that comes Hoglah, who corresponds to Amar Naka (Pure Wool), the secret of Amram—the father of Moshe. This refers to the 'hairs' of Adam Kadmon (the Primordial Man). After that is Milkah, who merited to be Ein HaBedulach (the Eye of Crystal). This is 'And the gold of that land is good; there is the crystal (bdolach) and the onyx stone' (Genesis 2:12). This is Milkah, who merited to rule (limloch) over all her limbs. Over all 248 limbs and 365 sinews, she merited to be a queen (milkah). A queen is one who rules over all her limbs and doesn't just do whatever she feels like; she does what the Torah writes, what the Torah dictates to us—what is permitted and what is forbidden. Therefore, the women were not confused by anything. For Hashem gave the woman an IQ a million times greater than the man; He gave her Binah Yeseirah (extra understanding). It is written 'Vayiven' (And He built/understood)—regarding the daughters of Zelophehad, it is written in the 'Flower of the Rose' (a Kabbalistic work). Why does it say 'daughters' (banot) and not 'wives' of Zelophehad? It should have used another word. 'Banot' implies that the woman has Binah Yeseirah; she has more understanding than the man. She understands everything more deeply than the man. Therefore, no woman sinned with the [Golden] Calf; no woman was enticed by the Calf. Even though the men explained that it was a Ma'aseh Merkavah (Work of the Chariot), a 'bull in the Chariot,' and that it was the Angel Michael or Gabriel—each man gave his wife all sorts of interpretations. Every woman said: We heard 'You shall not make for yourself a carved image or any likeness of anything in the heavens above or on the earth below or in the waters beneath the earth.' It doesn't matter if it's a 'Chariot' or not; it's 'in the heavens above,' and that is also forbidden. Only the women understood; the men did not understand, because a man does not have the intellect that a woman has. The woman understands everything more than the husband. The husband learns Gemara (Talmud), but he needs to learn the stories with his wife every day—'mustard and bees.' If a person has a hundred fields of mustard, a hundred dunams. 'Dunam' is a Turkish word—it's 32 by 32, which is 1,024. For we said that everyone must learn Joshua, Judges, and Samuel. Every girl needs to learn one chapter from these three books—everyone, every girl without exception, with Rashi's commentary... There are 55 chapters in Samuel. Because the Christians divided it into two, but in the Torah, it isn't divided; it was all one book. Until the Christians came and divided everything into two, the [Book of] Kings into two, but people didn't notice that the Christians did this, and now it's impossible to cancel it. We have 31 chapters in 1 Samuel and another 24 chapters in 2 Samuel. And in chapter 24, verse 3, it says 'as they are and as they are' (kahem vekahem) that Joab says—Joab, in the merit of distributing cans [of soda], popsicles, and ice creams to all the babies in Jerusalem... there wasn't a baby who didn't receive an ice cream or a popsicle or a can, or all three together. So Hashem gave him the power to bless the People of Israel a thousand billion trillion times over. Because we do 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, 512, 1,024. Within a second we reached a thousand, within two seconds we reach a million, within three seconds we reach a billion, four seconds we reach a thousand billion, fifty seconds we reach a million billion, at sixty we already reach a trillion—a billion times a billion, eighteen zeros. Every sixty is another eighteen. After that, at seventy, we reach a thousand trillion, at eighty we reach a million trillion, at ninety we reach a billion trillion, at a hundred—which is already thirty zeros—we reach a thousand billion trillion. At 110 we reach a million billion trillion, and after that at 120 we reach a billion billion trillion—that's twice a trillion, which is thirty-six zeros. And after that, we continue further after 120 to 130, then we reach a thousand trillion trillion. After that at 140 we reach a million trillion trillion, 150 is a billion trillion trillion, 160 is a thousand billion trillion trillion, 170 is a million billion trillion trillion, and at 180 we reach a billion billion trillion trillion—reaching three times a trillion, fifty-four zeros. So now we reach 190, which is fifty-seven zeros. At 200 we reach sixty zeros. At 100 we were at thirty, and at 200 we already reach sixty. 210 is sixty-three, 220 is sixty-six, 230 is sixty-nine—the jug (kad, numerical value 24) of Rebecca. The word 'jug' (kad) is written in the Torah ten times—no, nine times. If it were written ten times, she would have completely subdued Esau; there would be no Amalek, no Hamas, no Hezbollah. Hezbollah means 'the party of God.' 'Allah' and 'Hizb' is a party. It's like the Ba'ath party; this is the party of God. Now they said they would throw a thousand missiles here if even the smallest thing of theirs is bombed; they will throw a thousand missiles here. Of course, no missile will arrive, but that's what they said. They already threw three hundred—that was on Motzaei Shabbos (Saturday night) before Pesach (Passover). They threw three hundred and no missile arrived, only one missile reached Nevatim and blew up an American Hercules plane there, but it only caused damage. In any case, we walk in the Name of Hashem. Our bulletproof vests are the Tzitzit (ritual fringes); we don't need bulletproof vests. We have the Tzitzit—no bulletproof vest helps against a missile, only the Tzitzit protects us. The man fulfills the woman's obligation with Tzitzit and Tefillin (phylacteries), because the Tefillin of the hand corresponds to the head of the woman, who corresponds to the hand. And after that, there is the knot of the Tefillin, which is Leah—the knot of the head, the letter Dalet. And after that, there is the Tefillin of the head—Zeir Anpin (the Small Face/Divine emotive attributes). This is what Machlah merited. For the woman always merits more than the man. 'A woman of valor is the crown of her husband' (Proverbs 12:4). The woman is promised Gan Eden (Paradise); she doesn't need anything. For the woman, there is no judgment; judgment is only for the man. He gets confused by the Calf; he gets confused by everything. It is written 'bold as a leopard' (Ethics of the Fathers 5:20). The woman has boldness, 'bold as a leopard'; she is not afraid of anyone, she does what is necessary. She is a 'ruler' (straight-edge); Hashem created her as a 'ruler,' with an IQ a million times greater than the man. She needs to know all the calculations of how to make a circle and width. If there is a width, then you multiply by three. If the width is ten, then it's thirty; if the width is twenty, it's sixty; a width of thirty is ninety. But really it isn't [exactly three], but rather 3.14. If you want to be precise—point 14. After that 28, 55. So if we do 3.14 times—if it's ten, it's 31.14; twenty is 62.8; thirty is 94.2. And if we are at forty, it's 124.6. A woman should always multiply by 3.14; every woman needs to know this already by age thirteen. At age thirteen, she has an IQ a million times higher than a boy her age. The boy wanders the streets, he doesn't know what's happening with him, while the woman is already sitting and learning, focused, calculating, and precise. The boy is scattered; he doesn't know what's going on with him at all, where he belongs. Thank Hashem there is someone who saves the boys as well. But the daughter always stays at home; she is always more focused and more settled in her mind than the man, than the boy. Therefore, in the merit of Machlah, Noa, Hoglah, Milkah, and Tirzah, we travel to the Land of Israel. For Machlah is Reisha D'lo Isyada, and Tirzah corresponds to Kruma D'Avira, and Noa corresponds to Tala D'Bedulcha, and after that Hoglah is Ein HaBedulach, about which we say 'And the gold of that land is good; there is the crystal (bdolach) and the onyx stone'—for the bdolach is Hoglah, who merited Ein HaBedulach. And after that comes Milkah, who merits more than all of them, for she merits to rule over the whole world like Esther, who ruled over 127 provinces. For this was the argument between Vashti and Ahasuerus. Ahasuerus was the son of Darius, but Vashti was the daughter of Belshazzar, who got drunk that night. He drank a thousand barrels, and then he saw the bathroom and poor thing, he was stuck there for half an hour. He drank a thousand bottles and he couldn't get back; he got confused on the way. He was already completely blurred; he didn't see the way. He reached the main entrance where Cyrus and Darius were standing. He said, 'I am the king, let me in.' They said, 'The king said even if the king comes, blow his head off'—and this is against the Hague and against the Prosecutor's Office. Today, if someone says a word to one of the Nukhba (Hamas elite unit), to one terrorist, to one murderer—if he just says a word to him, he already gets life imprisonment, and maybe ten life sentences. So of course, Darius received life imprisonment for throwing a lamp at his head. Poor thing, poor Belshazzar, Vashti's father. And then [Cyrus and] Darius seized power; they were the bodyguards. They told all the Persians... the Persians were the waiters, and the masters were the Chaldeans. So they told everyone to rebel; it all happened in the middle of the feast. Vashti didn't understand; she thought everyone had gotten drunk. She was a twelve-year-old girl; she didn't grasp what was happening. She ran quickly to see what was happening with her father, thinking he was sitting on the throne. It was already Darius; he was wearing Belshazzar's purple garments and Belshazzar's crown, and he covered her with his cloak. A twelve-year-old girl. And after that, he married her off to Ahasuerus, who was Belshazzar's horse-washer. And she was constantly insulting him—poor Ahasuerus—'Who are you anyway? A horse-washer! What are you...? What were you, a herald? You were just a chimney sweep, like all the orphans in Europe who are chimney sweeps. Black from the soot—like Kushites. You're some chimney sweep, washing horses all day.' And he didn't forgive her. He said, 'Let's make a feast.' They made a feast for 180 days. He said, 'We'll see who hangs whom—I'll hang you or you'll hang me,' that's what he said to her. Just like Belshazzar, they hung him at the end of the feast. And then Ahasuerus and Vashti—it is actually written that Nebuchadnezzar took four steps. When he was Merodach-Baladan son of Baladan, he saw that the sun moved backward. He thought it moved forward; he thought it was seven in the morning. He thought he had slept all night. Maybe he slept with Putin and Trump; he said, 'What's happening here?' And then he fell asleep. He said, 'How did I sleep until morning?' They told him, 'No, it's the Jews. There is a king among the Jews named Hezekiah; he moved the sun backward.' Just as Methuselah moved the sun from west to east for seven days. So what's happening here now? Who is moving it? Well, so he sent him gifts. Then he wrote a thank-you letter. Merodach-Baladan son of Baladan wrote a letter to King Hezekiah, a letter to Jerusalem, a letter to the God of Israel—to the God of Hezekiah. Then the scribe said to him, 'Not like that, excuse me.' He ran three steps—he says four steps. Vashti claimed he ran four steps. There are two versions: in the Sanhedrin (Talmudic tractate) it says four steps in the gloss; in the Yerushalmi (Jerusalem Talmud) it says three steps. And then he ran three steps; therefore, he merited three generations of kingship. For every step, a whole generation of kingship. He ruled for forty-five years; Evil-Merodach ruled for twenty-three. He called him 'Evil' (fool)—his son. Because when he [Nebuchadnezzar] became a beast, he [Evil-Merodach] ruled for seven years. [Nebuchadnezzar said,] 'This fool, I won't give him my kingdom.' He put him in the dungeon for twenty-three years. And so Evil-Merodach ruled for twenty-three years. And Belshazzar ruled for two more years and a day. Together it's seventy years. And therefore Vashti ruled over 127 provinces—actually, it wasn't Vashti, it was Esther. It is written: In what merit did Esther merit the kingdom? In the merit of Sarah. For every second she served Hashem. Every second. Therefore, for every second that a girl cleaves to Hashem, says Tehillim (Psalms), says a chapter of Tanakh (Bible)—Joshua, Judges, Samuel—for every second, she conquers a province. So Sarah conquered all 127 provinces. In what merit did Esther merit to rule over 127? In the merit of Sarah, for every second she conquered another province. Every second that a girl thinks about Hashem, says a chapter of Tehillim, says Birkat HaMazon (Grace After Meals) with intention, she conquers another province. Every letter conquers a province. So Sarah conquered another province and another province, until she conquered the whole world, and Esther ruled over the whole world. Vashti didn't know in whose merit it was; it was in the merit of Esther. May it be that in the merit of Esther the Queen, we merit the complete Geulah (Redemption) speedily in our days, Amen!"‏.