Raising Children: "The Wisdom of Women Builds Her House"

The Daily Strengthening from our teacher, the holy Gaon and Tzaddik, Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a – What was Ruth's desire? And what was Bathsheba's desire?

"She considers a field and buys it" (Proverbs 31:16)

"The words of King Lemuel, the burden wherewith his mother corrected him" (Proverbs 31:1)

"For this child I prayed" (I Samuel 1:27)

"And from Hashem comes a prudent wife" (Proverbs 19:14)

"Who led me in the way of truth" (Genesis 24:48)

Tuesday, 4th of Cheshvan 5785 – "Our Rebbe lives and endures"

Everything Ruth asks for is to see the Beis HaMikdash (the Holy Temple). She says, "I want to convert, I want to see the youths, the Beis HaMikdash" – the "youths" refer to the Keruvim (Cherubs).

The Zohar Chadash says regarding Ruth that her entire essence is "She considers a field and buys it" (Proverbs 31:16).

What is "She considers a field and buys it"?

It is written in the Midrash HaGadol on Genesis: "She considers a field" refers to the Beis HaMikdash (the Holy Temple), for Bathsheba would pray that her son would build the Beis HaMikdash!

https://vimeo.com/1026234088?share=copy

Just as the Gemara (Talmud) says that Bathsheba tied Solomon her son to a pillar—is this education? Is this how one behaves? He was only 16, a young boy, a small child, so what happened if he slept a little?

All of Israel arrived to open the Beis HaMikdash (the Holy Temple) and the King was sleeping! What shame and disgrace! His mother Bathsheba said, "What kind of child did I bring into the world? What, did you get drunk? You married Pharaoh's daughter and you're sleeping for me until 10 AM?"

Because Pharaoh's daughter made for Solomon a [canopy of] heavens with stars and a moon (Midrash Rabbah 10:4), so his mother tied him to a pillar. "The words of King Lemuel, the burden wherewith his mother corrected him" (Proverbs 31:1). "What does 'his mother corrected him' mean?" That she tied him to a pillar and gave him a severe beating. "Why did you fall asleep and cause me shame before all of Israel?" Just as Hannah said, "For this child I prayed" (I Samuel 1:27)—is this what I prayed for a child for? I prayed for a child who is a Talmid Chacham (Torah scholar), a tzaddik (righteous person) who wakes up in the morning and prays Vatikin (prayers at sunrise), not a child who sleeps until 10 AM! Is this what I prayed for? Is this why I made vows?

I made vows, I brought sheep, I brought oxen, I brought sacrifices so that I would have a righteous child. And all the prayers I prayed so that I would have a righteous child—suddenly he's sleeping for me until 10 AM.

So she took him and tied him to a pillar. She said to him, "You had a righteous father (King David), therefore they will say the flaw is with me. Because the flaw comes from the mother; everything comes from the mother. Ninety percent comes from the mother, because the child is in the mother for 9 months, and he nurses for 12 months. Through the milk, he receives all of her Da'as (knowledge/consciousness)—if the mother is a tzaddikus (righteous woman), the child will also be a tzaddik."

He nurses for two years and is inside the womb for 9 months; it all depends on the mother. If the mother were righteous, the children would be righteous. Therefore, one must choose and marry a righteous mother. "And from Hashem comes a prudent wife" (Proverbs 19:14).

Regarding this, the Rebbe (Rebbe Nachman) says in Torah 2, Part II: "Who led me in the way of truth" (Genesis 24:48).