Tu B'Shevat is Truly Rosh Hashanah! The Daily Lesson from HaGaon HaTzaddik Rabbi

"Today is literally Rosh Hashanah; we are in the Keter (Crown) of 'Arich' (Arich Anpin - the level of Divine Mercy). Rosh Hashanah in Tishrei is 'Keter d'Atik' (the level of the Ancient One), and now it is 'Keter d'Arich'."

Presented before you is the full daily lesson delivered by our teacher, the Rav Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a, after the Maariv (evening) prayer, Wednesday, Parshas Beshalach - Shirah 5784, the night of the fifteenth of Shevat, the New Year for Trees:

"All members of the community should register their sons and daughters for the institutions of Rabbi Stern, for 'Yedidut Mishkenotecha' and the cheders (elementary schools), 'Nachli Torah'. Thirty girls and ten boys are still missing to ensure these institutions do not close. These institutions are what save Shuvu Banim; everything Shuvu Banim does is assisted by these institutions. Everyone must send their daughter and son to Rabbi Stern's institutions and register today, as these are the final seven days for registration. Do not register anywhere else, only with Rabbi Stern, and through this, with Hashem's help, we will be able to stop the war. All the girls must wear long [modest] clothing, because now three soldiers were killed in a tank and twenty-one in buildings. These were all men with black kippahs (skullcaps), and they all left wills asking that people study Torah. Every soldier today leaves a will before going out to war.

Just as it was with King David, where everyone left a get (divorce document), so that if he were to disappear, his wife would be divorced and would not have to wait for the identification of remains or DNA. In King David's time, it was the custom for every soldier to leave a get, as it says, 'and take their pledge' (1 Samuel 17:18). In David's time, Yishai sent David to collect the divorce documents because they had forgotten to leave them for their wives. This was so that if they were lost in battle or suddenly became captives, the wives would not be agunot (chained wives unable to remarry) for a hundred years, Heaven forbid. Even David was among the captives [spiritually], and Dinah was among the captives. Shimon and Levi decided to free their sister; they looked at nothing else, entered the camp of the Philistines—into the camp of Shechem—and killed Shechem ben Chamor.

And this is what happened to all the Gazans who seized David; no one came out alive. Even Orpah, who was the most righteous woman of the generation and the sister of Ruth the Moabitess, unfortunately was killed through no fault of her own; Abishai threw a pelech (spindle/spear) at her head, poor woman, she wasn't guilty at all. And when Michal saw David's feet [dancing], she immediately screamed at him and would not let him into the house. She said, 'You will not enter the house; sleep in the stairwell.' He was doing 'figure-eights' in the air out of honor for the Aron HaBrit (Ark of the Covenant). They brought the Ark from Kiryat Yearim to Kfar Shiloach. They passed through Har HaBayit (the Temple Mount), and when they reached Har HaBayit, the Ark began to jump. David did not understand the hint; David should have understood the hint that if the Ark jumps, it is a sign that this is the Kodesh Hakodashim (Holy of Holies). It is not just a coincidence; the Ark knows where the Holy of Holies is. Therefore, it is written once as 'Goren Nachon' (the prepared threshing floor) and once as 'Goren Kidon' (the threshing floor of the spear). In Chronicles, it says 'Goren Kidon,' and in Samuel, it says 'Goren Nachon,' meaning he arrived at the correct place, the Holy of Holies. This was after he had been in Hebron for seven years and brought the Ark to Jerusalem. So the Ark... they passed—one must pass through Har HaMoriah (Mount Moriah) when coming from Kiryat Yearim (Telz-Stone). They had to pass through Har HaMoriah, through HaGai Street; it passed through HaGai Street. It reached the Temple Mount, and the Ark began to jump, and the entire Sanhedrin (High Court) was killed; everyone who grabbed the Ark was killed. Through no fault of their own, they were innocent; there is a trial in the Hague about why innocent people were killed... but that is what happened. Then it says, 'And David was angry.' If David had accepted it, he would have understood the hint, because all day long, hints are being sent to a person. For all those who are killed for Kiddush Hashem (Sanctification of Hashem's Name), 'no eye has seen, O God, besides You' (Isaiah 64:3); they merit the radiance of the Shechinah (Divine Presence).

Today is literally Rosh Hashanah; we are in the Keter (Crown) of 'Arich' (Arich Anpin). Rosh Hashanah in Tishrei is 'Keter d'Atik' (the level of the Ancient One), and now it is 'Keter d'Arich'. On Shavuot, it will be Keter—which is the Rosh Hashanah for fruit—so that will be 'Keter d'Abba' (the level of Father). After that is the fifteenth of Av (Tu B'Av), when all the daughters of Israel go out and dance in the vineyards. The girls only need to dance; dancing for twenty-four hours like that sweetens the dinim (judgments). Therefore, on Yom Kippur, they only dance; through dancing, all wars are nullified.

This is why Haman wanted to make a decree in the month of Shevat. He tried in Shevat, but they told him, 'This is the New Year for Trees, it is impossible.' Now, the New Year for Trees is a day when we only go out in dancing, and the fact that the girls dance sweetens every judgment in the world and prevents wars. May we merit the complete Geulah (Redemption) speedily in our days, Amen!"