The Value of One’s First Wife and the Obligation to Vaccinate Children

BELOW IS A SUMMARY OF THE TOPICS FROM THE DAILY SHIUR OF MOREINU HARAV ELIEZER BERLAND SHLIT"A — GIVEN AFTER MA’ARIV ON SUNDAY NIGHT, 7 TISHRI 5786, PARASHAT HA'AZINU:

1. The Baal Shem Tov said that if he had been with his first wife he would have ascended to Heaven in the middle of the marketplace, and not like Eliyahu who ascended in the wilderness.
2. The Fast of Gedaliah — he didn’t want to accept lashon hara (evil gossip); therefore, they stabbed him.
3. Avner did not stab Yoav back, and therefore he was buried in Ma’arat HaMachpelah (the Cave of the Patriarchs).
4. Zohar, Tazria: “That it may go well with me for your sake, and that I may live on account of you” — everything comes from the woman, both this world and the World to Come.
5. A woman discovered the atom. Only the Jews knew how to split it; Hitler threatened to kill them, so they fled to Switzerland — thanks to that, Hitler did not obtain the bomb.
6. Rabbeinu says that every minute is made up of combinations of names. One must know how to calculate the secret of intercalation in the Rambam.
7. Rabbeinu says that one must have their children vaccinated, and whoever does not vaccinate is called a blood-shedder. He cannot enter the World to Come; even Aharon, who lost two sons, could not enter the World to Come until Moshe sweetened it for him.
8. One must prepare for every calamity with weapons as much as necessary; we do not rely on miracles. The same thing for vaccinations — to precede the disease with weaponry.
9. Through Torah, we merit to sweeten all judgments.
10. “He sent darkness and it became dark” — so that people won’t see the miracles that happen.
11. True, Rabbeinu says one must prepare weapons, but as long as there are girls in the army, it is forbidden to go to the army.