Faith Can Turn the Desert into the Hilton

THE DAILY CHIZZUK BY MOREINU HARAV ELIEZER BERLAND SHLIT”A – MONDAY 27 SIVAN 5785

These are his holy words:

It is written in the Zohar (Behar, 110) that Rabbi Chiya saw from afar two men walking.  He saw that they were standing at a distance of a kilometer away.  He had a looking glass with which he could see exactly what was happening.  They saw in front of them two men walking in the desert.  When a person walks in the desert, he doesn’t know when he’ll make it out of the desert.  Today, there are already roads in the desert, but then, there was no Waze.  People would walk in the desert and get lost; they wouldn’t make it home.

Rabbi Chiya wept.  Rabbi Chiya shed tears and said: “I want the merit of this mitzvah [feeding the needy] myself.  Why didn’t I merit it?”  If a person asks, “What will we eat,” he stops the shefa (influx of bounty)!!  Now a person [who performs the mitzvah of kindness] will see twice the shefa, “I will command My blessing for you in the sixth year” (Zohar Behar, 110b).  Rabbi Chiya and Rabbi Yossi were walking on the way and came to a mountain.  They found two men who were walking.  They saw with a looking glass with which they could see to the end of the world.  They saw him taking out a cloth [with food to give to the poor man].

Not like Nachum Ish Gamzu, who told the poor man to wait (Taanit 21a).  Rather, he made sure that he first ate and drank.  He gave him all his food.  After he ate, he gave him even more food.  He gave him everything he had left.  His friend told him, “We are in the desert.  You can’t [give him all the food].  Give him [just] a sip.  Give him a bite.  Someone else will come [besides us] and give him another bite, so that little by little, he will be revived.”

The poor man said, “I haven’t eaten in two days.”   He gave the poor man all his food and drink.  He said, “I only walk with Hashem.”  There’s no difference whether you’re in the Plaza or the Hilton.  There’s no difference whether you’re in the middle of the desert or on Yarkon Street.  If it’s written that, at noon, you are supposed to receive a hamburger, fattened gooses, then you’ll receive fattened gooses.  It makes no difference whether you’re at the Hilton, on Yarkon Street, or if you’re in the middle of the desert.  By Hashem, it’s all the same thing.  It’s not the Hilton or the Plaza that make the difference.

It’s brought in the Gemara in Ketubot (67b) that someone came to Rava and said to him, “I eat a chicken every day at noon!”

“What happened, have you gone crazy?  The entire chicken?!  People eat 100 grams, 50 grams, but you want a whole chicken?  This couldn’t be!”

He told him, “No.  Everyone day at noon, I eat a chicken.”  Within five minutes, Rava’s sister – who hadn’t seen him in in 13 years – arrived and brought him a chicken in honor of the meeting.  Rava said to him, “Behold, your chicken is ready.”

The same Gemara continues and brings a story of someone else who asked to eat a chicken and then died.  It’s all according to the faith of a person.  You have faith that Hashem will send to you in any place in the world.  If it’s in the heart of the desert, it makes no difference – there’s no distinction.

If I remain in the Plaza, the Hilton, on the Yarkon beach, or I remain on King George in Jerusalem, Hashem will always send me the best lunch.

Now [at the time of the shiur] Shavuot will be in a little while, and there will be shefa such as hasn’t been since the creation of the world.

So he [the friend who was against giving food] said to him, “Know, that by me this is a matter of principle [not to give Tzedaka].  I won’t give you anything.”  There are people with principles.  “He won’t receive a thing from me.”  He stands up for his principles.  “I’m telling you that you won’t receive a thing from me.”

Rabbi Chiya saw this and went crazy.  He said [to Rabbi Yossi], “Let’s give him food already.”

Rabbi Yossi answered: “No, no, no.  I want to see the miracles.”

[Rabbi Chiya said], “Why didn’t we merit?”

[Rabbi Yossi said:] “Apparently, there was a decree of death on him.”

“He has a decree a death on him?”

Suddenly, he sees that after walking with him for half an hour in fifty degree [C] sun, he falls unconscious.

Rabbi Chiya says [to Rabbi Yossi], “Let’s give him food.”

Rabbi Yossi says, “In no way whatsoever!  Hold steady!

Then a giant snake came upon him [the hungry man who passed out].  Rabbi Chiya said, “This is the end.”  Rabbi Yossi was a true Breslover.  He said to Rabbi Chiya, “Now you’ll see the miracle.”  Within a second, they saw another snake come and bite the first one, swallowing it up.

Bezrat Hashem, everyone should live 120 years.

https://vimeo.com/1095481232

https://ravberland.com/without-torah-theres-no-trust-and-faith-parashat-behar-by-rabbi-eliezer-berland-shlita/