"We Bless the Sons to be Like Menashe and Ephraim Who Withstood Trials" • The

Below is a summary of topics from the daily lesson as delivered by our teacher, the Rav, Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a – yesterday after the Maariv (evening) prayer, Tuesday night, the eve of the 15th of Teves, Parshas Shemos:

Today at 6:00 AM, an entire five-story building collapsed, resulting in five deaths and eight injuries. Investigations are being conducted to determine if it was an IDF (Israel Defense Forces) explosive, an explosive placed by the Arabs, or an anti-tank missile. The entire country is under missile fire; the woman who was hit by a missile in Nahariya was killed. This is all because people do not conduct themselves with tzniut (modesty). It is because everyone has a Xiaomi (smartphone). Even in the generation of the Flood, there weren't such terrible things. Rebbe Nachman said that regarding the trials (spiritual tests) that exist in this generation, whoever holds on will be like the Baal Shem Tov, like Yosef HaTzaddik (Joseph the Righteous) who withstood trials. Menashe and Ephraim rose to the level of Avraham Avinu (Abraham our forefather), to the level of the Tribes, and we bless our sons to be like Menashe and Ephraim who withstood trials. Whoever breaks their Xiaomi and smartphone is literally like the Baal Shem Tov. The hardest trial is to sit and learn; one needs to finish the entire Tehillim (Psalms) and study Likutey Halachos (the seminal work of Reb Noson of Breslov). For women have a million times more intelligence than men; after the wedding, a man puts all the gifts into gambling and in the end, he is left with nothing. If a woman does not watch over her husband, he wanders around until two or three in the morning. Rabbi David Oppenheim says that it is the actual law that a daughter is worth more than a son, because for a daughter one receives two hundred and for a son one receives one hundred. Aharon (Aaron the High Priest) said to bring the nose-rings for the Golden Calf from the daughters because he knew they would not agree; so they [the men] tore the rings from them along with their ears, and therefore they [the women] received Rosh Chodesh (the New Month) as a holiday on which it is forbidden to do laundry. Every girl will be a principal; she will open a seminary in Be'eri, in Nir Oz. Trump is pressing to give up everything in order to release the hostages; they are waiting for an answer from Hamas. But if they release all the hostages, then they [the IDF] will eliminate them; the hostages are their shield. So we are waiting for the war to stop, and everyone should break their Xiaomi, and the girls should lengthen their skirts, and every woman should say Tehillim (Psalms), study Likutey Halachos, and say Chatzos (the Midnight Lamentation), and sleep until Netz (sunrise), and whoever stays awake should learn an entire Maseches (tractate of Talmud), and through this, we will merit the complete Geulah (Redemption) speedily in our days, Amen!