Last night, Monday—the eve of the Fast of Esther, 11th of Adar II—the Simchas HaTannaim (engagement celebration) for the great-grandson of our teacher, the Rav, Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a, took place in his home. The groom is the excellent student Shimon, son of the Chassid Rabbi Nachman Treisman shlit"a, grandson of the Zucker family, with his bride, the daughter of the Ram (Torah lecturer) in the 'Chochma V'Daas' Yeshiva, the Chassid Rabbi Yitzchak Halperin shlit"a.

The Simchas HaTannaim took place, as mentioned, in the holy residence of the great-grandfather, our teacher the Rav shlit"a, and with his participation. Upon the Rav shlit"a's entrance to the Simchas HaTannaim, they began singing songs of joy in honor of the groom and bride for many long minutes. After half an hour of singing and music, the Rav shlit"a began to deliver a Torah lesson at the Simchas HaVort (engagement celebration) in which he spoke about the greatness of singing and dancing. Later, he even dealt with the matters of shidduchim (marriage matches), explaining that everything is above nature, and he cited the story of Eliezer with Rebecca. Naturally, as is his holy way, the lesson branched out into many topics, including the secret of the "small Aleph" which refers to the three of Rabbi Akiva. He also spoke about the miracle of Purim, stating that such a great miracle never was and never will be. Later in the lesson, he returned to the matter of dancing, explaining that for us it is the opposite of the way of the world: we dance when we are not happy, and through the dancing, the joy comes. Towards the end of the lesson, he cited the words of the holy books regarding the significance of the days between the engagement and the wedding. After the lesson, he wrote the Shtar Tannaim (engagement contract) with his holy hand and set the wedding date, by the will of Hashem, for the 16th of Tammuz 5784. When everything was firm and established and the Shtar Tannaim was signed, the plate was broken with Mazel Tov. Everyone then burst into joyful dancing to the song, "It shall yet be heard in the mountains of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem—the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the groom and the voice of the bride...!"