Whoever Leaves Jerusalem

Before you is a summary of the topics from the daily lesson as delivered by our teacher, Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a – yesterday after the Maariv prayer, Sunday night, the 8th of Shevat 5786, Parshat Beshalach:

1. Everyone must say 'Tzaddik' - 90 Amens, 4 Kedushot, 10 Kaddishim, 100 Amens. One does not speak during prayer.
2. Only Moshe Rabbeinu truly did not eat or drink for 40 days and 40 nights. There was a priest who secluded himself for 40 days and 40 nights, and in the end, it was discovered that he took vitamin pills as a substitute for eating and drinking.
3. Esau did not want Yitzchak to see that he was killing Yaakov, so he made a plan to marry Machalat, and then Ishmael would kill Yitzchak, and then he could kill Ishmael and Esau.
4. The reason the rebellious son is put to death is because already at the age of 13, one can know what he will become.
5. The issue of the tenth of the assets: If there are ten daughters and ten sons, the daughters receive a tenth more of the inheritance than the sons.
6. Adam HaRishon saw that the day was becoming shorter, so he fasted until the 1st of Tevet, when the day begins to lengthen, and therefore he lit candles.
7. The story of the snake with seven heads, which is the secret of the story of the concubine in Giv'ah.
8. Girls have intelligence a billion times greater than boys. Girls can be teachers, prime ministers, and presidents.
9. Like Queen Helena, whose sons all converted, and she converted as well. She took a vow of Naziritehood for her son to return from battle. Regarding this, there is a discussion as to whether her vow took effect and how many years she was a Nazirite.
10. The Chatam Sofer writes that a person who lives outside of Jerusalem is in violation of a Torah prohibition. There is a 'note' of Jerusalem; whoever leaves Jerusalem, it shows that they have been cast out from the note.
11. Eliezer did not understand why Avraham was sending him to take a wife from the most depraved place.
12. 'There is no house that does not have a dead person,' at which point they discovered that all the sons were firstborns, meaning they had been with other husbands.
13. Everyone must study the laws of Erev Gimmel with his wife and read about the Crusades.
14. It is written, 'And He called to him, Moshe, and Hashem spoke to him.' Seemingly, this is a redundancy, but the Arizal explains that 'And He called' is the highest level.