On Wednesday, the night of the 30th of Av, the first day of Rosh Chodesh Elul 5783 (2023), a group of Anash (our community of followers), supporters of the Beis Medrash (study hall), entered the inner sanctum to hear the words of the living G-d from our teacher, the Rav, Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a (may he live long and good days).

Before you is a summary and a few of the words spoken during the lesson:

Our teacher, the Rav shlit"a, began the lesson with the matter of Bilaam, who said, "And he shall crush (machatz) the corners of Moab and break down all the sons of Seth." The Rav innovated that "machatz" (crush) has the same gematria (numerical value) as Nachman, for Rebbe Nachman (Rabbi Nachman of Breslov) subdues all the enemies. He also spoke about the matter of Mount Gerizim—the Mountain of Blessing—and encouraged traveling there, saying that at least once in a lifetime, a person should be there. He also strengthened the matter of Techeiles (the blue thread in the tzitzit), stating that when a person walks with Techeiles, he can nullify every din (judgment) in the world. Likewise, if a person wakes up before there is Techeiles (the specific blue light of dawn) in the sky, he sweetens every judgment in the world.

Later in the lesson, he spoke about how Chana said, "For this lad (na'ar) I prayed." The meaning is that he should always be a "na'ar" (youthful), that he should always remain in youthfulness and vitality and not leave the path of the Torah, remaining always as if he were at the age of his Bar Mitzvah. He also spoke about the matter of Chophni and Phinehas, the sons of Eli, noting that surely what is written about them is not to be taken literally, and their sin was that they did not accept the offerings of the women. Furthermore, he spoke about how Asher was under a cherem (excommunication) for two hundred years until Moshe revealed, "Blessed of sons is Asher," because they thought he had revealed to Serach the daughter of Asher that they had sold Yosef, and she revealed it to Yaakov. But the truth is that in the past, all women were prophetesses, and thus Serach the daughter of Asher also merited this.

Towards the end of the lesson, he told of the period when it was announced that the Holocaust had ended, and the famous story about Rabbi Zilberman, who asked to wait for Birkat HaLevanah (the blessing over the new moon) before the lighting on Lag BaOmer, waiting until the telegram arrived stating that Hitler had committed suicide. At the end of the lesson, he also spoke about the hint found in the small letters of Megillat Esther (the Scroll of Esther), which allude to the Nuremberg Trials.