Shiur for 17th of Tammuz from Rabbi Eliezer Berland Shlit”a

BELOW IS A PHENOMENAL SHIUR BY MOREINU HARAV ELIEZER BERLAND SHLIT”A GIVEN A NUMBER OF YEARS AGO REGARDING THE 17TH OF TAMMUZ AND ABOUT WHY THE EVENTS OF THAT DAY OCCURRED AND IN THE MERIT OF WHAT WILL THE REDEMPTION COME:

Today is the day of the redemption.  Today is the day that Moshe Rabbeinu was the first forty days in heaven.  In the first forty days, it is possible to accomplish anything in the world.  A person can finish all of Shas.  The Rebbe says in [Likutey Moharan] Lesson 85, that during the Three Weeks, it is possible finish all of Shas, that the mind is opened, the firmament is in purity, there are no filters.  “Upon the kadkod (crown) of the elect of his brothers,” everyone ascends to the kadkod.  Binyamin reached the shoulders.  Anyone can ascend to the kadkod, “the kadkod of the elect of his brothers,” the kadkod is the crown-Keter, the Keter of Leah, because every person in the world can reach the kadkod.  There is no person is the world who does not….

“I see a staff of an almond tree,” which is the matter of the almond tree, which grows in three weeks, like a hen’s egg.

Moshe held the Tablets and was suspended in the air.  He gripped the Tablets with two handbreadths.  Have you seen two people walking from Ashdod to Jerusalem and all the way holding a tallit?  One will snatch it from the other.  There’s no such thing.  What is two people holding a tallit?  How can two people hold a tallit?  The “Semichat Chachamim” asks what is [the meaning of] two people holding a tallit.  It is [referring to] when Moshe descended on 17 Tammuz, and Moshe gripped two handbreadths [of the Tablets], and Hashem gripped two handbreadths.  Because now we are before 17 Tammuz, the day of Moshe’s descent with the Tablets.  This is the day that the entire Torah is revealed, but it is impossible unless a person learns Kitzot HaChoshen.  Therefore, they folded the stones.  What happened in Gilgal – “Bring them across with you” (Yeshoshua 4:3).

This is the secret of 17 Tammuz, that Moshe held two handbreadths and was suspended on them.  Moshe gripped two handbreadths and remained suspended in the air.  Moshe is pulling downward; Hashem is pulling upward.  Now, who will prevail over whom?  In the end, Moshe prevailed.  Yes, Moshe brought us the Tablets.  If not, we would not have had the Tablets.  We would not have had any remnant of the Tablets, even though they were broken, because he broke them.

Now we are in 17 Tammuz, which is called “the day of the breaking of the Tablets,” and everyone needs to see to truly join the Tablets anew and to study Torah, a lot of Gemara.  Today, the Tablets only mean learning Gemara.  Everyone needs to learn Gemara eight hours, from this moment until the morning.  Tonight, we do not go to sleep.  Everyone should learn until the morning to join the Tablets.

The entire churban (destruction of the Temple) – all 17 Tammuz – is all because they destroyed Nov, the city of Kohanim.  “Yet today he will stand in Nov” (Yeshaya 10:32), because the sin of the massacre of Nov stands until the end of generations.  Therefore, now comes 17 Tammuz, when Moshe receives the Tablets.  Today, the Tablets are Kitzot HaChoshen – this is the Tablets, to know if a person can betroth a fetus, all the opinions about a fetus, because according to Rav Hai Gaon, it’s impossible to betroth a fetus in any way at all.  True, he does not have a match.  True, he is at the age of ninety.  True, he is childless, but it is impossible.  If it’s impossible, then it’s impossible.  However, according to the Rambam, if the fetus is recognizable, the betrothal applies, even if the person is still at the beginning of pregnancy.  The Tablets were pregnancy.

Because there is no such thing as churban.  There is no such thing as churban!  It is written in the Zohar that there is an ointment – puch.  Whoever puts puch in their eyes sees the Temple alive and enduring.  Eliyahu HaNavi brings offerings, checks them.  Eliyahu HaNavi is the Kohen.  Aharon HaKohen lights the Menorah.  Everything is at it should be.  Now is 17 Tammuz; we begin to say Chatzot.  From noon, we already say Chatzot.

It is written in Kabbalat HaGaonim that immediately after the destruction, everyone needs to say Chatzot.  David rose for Chatzot already before the Temple.  But after the destruction, there was no Jew who did not rise for Chatzot.  Everyone was horrified by the sudden destruction.  We already were born with this, but the churban for the first time in life, the first time in history – all the children wallowed in ashes.  They lied down in it, wallowed in dust.  A Heavenly voice came out: Now the Temple will be rebuilt!  Now the Temple will be rebuilt, speedily in our days, Amen!