The Daily Strengthening from our teacher, the holy Gaon and Tzaddik, Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a – What was Ruth's desire? And what was Bathsheba's desire?

"She considers a field and buys it" (Proverbs 31:16)

"The words of King Lemuel, the burden wherewith his mother corrected him" (Proverbs 31:1)

"For this child I prayed" (I Samuel 1:27)

"And from Hashem comes a prudent wife" (Proverbs 19:14)

"Who led me in the way of truth" (Genesis 24:48)

Tuesday, 4th of Cheshvan 5785 – "Our Rebbe lives and endures"

Everything Ruth asks for is to see the Beis HaMikdash (the Holy Temple). She says, "I want to convert, I want to see the youths, the Beis HaMikdash" – the "youths" refer to the Keruvim (Cherubs).

The Zohar Chadash says regarding Ruth that her entire essence is "She considers a field and buys it" (Proverbs 31:16).

What is "She considers a field and buys it"?

It is written in the Midrash HaGadol on Genesis: "She considers a field" refers to the Beis HaMikdash (the Holy Temple), for Bathsheba would pray that her son would build the Beis HaMikdash!

Just as the Gemara (Talmud) says that Bathsheba tied Solomon her son to a pillar—is this education? Is this how one behaves? He was only 16, a young boy, a small child, so what happened if he slept a little?

All of Israel arrived to open the Beis HaMikdash (the Holy Temple) and the King was sleeping! What shame and disgrace! His mother Bathsheba said, "What kind of child did I bring into the world? What, did you get drunk? You married Pharaoh's daughter and you're sleeping for me until 10 AM?"

Because Pharaoh's daughter made for Solomon a [canopy of] heavens with stars and a moon (Midrash Rabbah 10:4), so his mother tied him to a pillar. "The words of King Lemuel, the burden wherewith his mother corrected him" (Proverbs 31:1). "What does 'his mother corrected him' mean?" That she tied him to a pillar and gave him a severe beating. "Why did you fall asleep and cause me shame before all of Israel?" Just as Hannah said, "For this child I prayed" (I Samuel 1:27)—is this what I prayed for a child for? I prayed for a child who is a Talmid Chacham (Torah scholar), a tzaddik (righteous person) who wakes up in the morning and prays Vatikin (prayers at sunrise), not a child who sleeps until 10 AM! Is this what I prayed for? Is this why I made vows?

I made vows, I brought sheep, I brought oxen, I brought sacrifices so that I would have a righteous child. And all the prayers I prayed so that I would have a righteous child—suddenly he's sleeping for me until 10 AM.

So she took him and tied him to a pillar. She said to him, "You had a righteous father (King David), therefore they will say the flaw is with me. Because the flaw comes from the mother; everything comes from the mother. Ninety percent comes from the mother, because the child is in the mother for 9 months, and he nurses for 12 months. Through the milk, he receives all of her Da'as (knowledge/consciousness)—if the mother is a tzaddikus (righteous woman), the child will also be a tzaddik."

He nurses for two years and is inside the womb for 9 months; it all depends on the mother. If the mother were righteous, the children would be righteous. Therefore, one must choose and marry a righteous mother. "And from Hashem comes a prudent wife" (Proverbs 19:14).

Regarding this, the Rebbe (Rebbe Nachman) says in Torah 2, Part II: "Who led me in the way of truth" (Genesis 24:48).