Some of the awesome secrets behind the gathering in Uman, Rosh Hashana
Excerpt of comments made by Rav Eliezer Berland, shlita, on the 18th of Elul, 5778, about the greatness of joining the gathering in Uman for Rosh Hashana.
Please note: We decided to translate the below, even though it’s speaking of extremely high concepts in kabbalah that generally require a good grounding in kabbalah even to begin to follow, in order to show a little of the greatness of the Rav, shlita, and his teachings.
Usually, we try to translate only the most easy-to-understand and easy to access shiurim, but in light of recent comments on this website, we felt it was important to try to share more of the Rav’s tremendous spiritual depth, so the reader can have more of an idea of the truly awesome spiritual levels the Rav’s lessons are being drawn from.
The world was created two weeks before Rosh Hashana
Two weeks before Rosh Hashana, Hashem created the world with the Divine light contained in His holy name, Havaya, yud keh vav keh, the name ‘Sag’. Everyone is born together with their marriage partner, because the name Sag joins together with the name Ban[1]… but in Parshat Vayekhel Moshe, the last letter heh cried to Hashem that “I don’t have a partner!”…
Today, it’s the 18th of Elul, when the Baal Shem Tov was born, whose soul came from the the keter, the crown of Ban. The Baal HaTanya was also born today, because his soul came from the chachma, the wisdom of Ban – the חב”ד (Chabad) of Ban. And so, he founded the Chabad movement, which is the Chabad of Ban.
Eliyahu HaNavi is the name of Ban, when the name of Ban is ‘hung down’ from the name of Sag. In the world to come, there will only be Av and Sag, because the name of Ban will be included in Av.
The secret of the alef
So, Sichon, the King of the Amorites, and Og, the king of Bashan, this is Av alef (a thousand / chiefs) – the secret of the alef. This is the healing for the sick of your people Israel, and ‘in Israel they acted with valor’, as it was said about the wars against Sichon and Og.
It’s written in the Midrash Tanchuma, and in Midrash Rabba, that Sichon is Elul, and that Og is after the hakafot hashniot (second hakafot that take place the night after Simchat Torah.) Og is nourished from the heel of the left leg, and Og is nourished from the right. And about this it’s said:
“Don’t be afraid of him.”
Joining Leah to Rachel
Now, on Rosh Hashana, the heels of Leah are being entered into the crown of Rachel. And about this, it’s said: “I will send my sandal upon Edom”, that the crown of Rachel is changed into the sandal of Leah. “And his feet stood on the Mount of Olives” – the Mount of Olives is the crown of Rachel, and the feet are the feet of Leah, that are joined to the crown of Rachel.
And then, we will have the geula.
The end of the world
When Balak saw that the heels of Leah were being joined to the crown of Rachel, he said, the end of the world is coming! Same with Ham, when he saw that the dove was returning. The dove comes from the bird’s nest. Tzippor, bird, is the 370 myriads of light that were divided from Chava (Eve).
370 myriads were taken from Chava, and 150 myriads were taken from Adam. And so, that’s why there are 150 chapters of tehillim (psalms), to return the 150 myriads of light that were taken from Adam HaRishon.
The lights that were taken from Chava were 370, the bird’s nest, by way of bringing two birds close to the metzora (leper).
The word tzippor spelt without the vav is 370 myriads. Tzipporah (Moshe’s wife) merited to the 370 myriads of light that were divided from Chava. All of this is written in the book Shaar HaKavana (by the Arizal), chapter 5, as part of the commentary on Parshat Metzora.
The metzora is, זה סליקו דנהורא עלאה – the withdrawal of the upper light, and then his skin will be metzora – covered in leprosy – because the skin will cease to be illuminated.[2] The ‘or’ (skin) with the ayin receives the or (light) with the alef, and we are receiving these lights all the time.
Rosh Hashana is a present
On Rosh Hashana, Rabbenu keeps bothering Leah. Only Rabbenu is the tzaddik that knows how to bother Leah, as he said: “I received Rosh Hashana as a present” – i.e. Hashem revealed to Rabbenu how to really approach Leah and Zeir Anpin, and how to join the heels of Leah with the keter, crown of Rachel.
Balak saw what Israel did to the Amorites – “Like an ox licking up all the grass in the field” and “the first-born of the ox, you shall redeem” – this is the casket of Yosef, that went before Israel’s encampment. Because in his lifetime, Yosef never stumbled and committed any pgam (spiritual blemish) at all.
When a person doesn’t stumble into any spiritual blemish at all, nothing can harm him. He can enter the lion’s den, like Daniel. Daniel ruled over the lion that is part of the merkava (Divine chariot), because all the lions in the world are taken from this lion on the merkava.
Lions don’t prey on humans
So, the lion is the midda (characteristic) of chesed, kindness. Because a lion doesn’t prey on humans. [Jokingly:] You can come out of the car and give him something small, and the go back to the car, and nothing will happen. Unless you really try to irritate and anger him, nothing will happen. He won’t touch a human being.
The Rebbe says that when a person knows the secret of the animals, then no animal will harm him. Even if a person goes to do hitbodedut in the jungle, and sees a lion, he just needs to stand quietly. “Fear of you will be on all the animals of the land.” As it’s written… that even lions and tigers will be scared of human being.
A human being has the tzelem elokim, the image of Hashem. If he guards the holy brit (i.e. stays pure in his intimate relations), then no animal can rule over him.
Each person has five angels encircling him
Every person has angels that surround him. ‘Argaman’ is Uriel, Nuriel, Rafael, Gavriel and Michael. Everyone is encircled by five angels. And over the head of the Shechina, there is the light of Peniel.
And anyone who comes to the tzaddik haEmet on Rosh Hashana, who knows how to see Leah from Zeir Anpin, merits to this.
Because the secret of nesira is the biggest secret that exists in the world, as Rav Natan brings down in Likutey Halachot on Rosh Hashana. In the halachot about tefillin, and the halachot about Rosh Chodesh, where he says that the secret of nesira is only revealed to one single tzaddik in the whole world.
You can see (and hear) the rest of this awesome lecture in the original Hebrew, by clicking HERE.
To do a pidyon nefesh with Rav Eliezer Berland before Rosh Hashana 5779, (suggested amount 1,000 nis), please click HERE.
[1] In kabbalah, when you spell out the different permutations of the Shem Havayah, you get four main groups which are named Ban, Sag, Av and Mah, and of these four holy Divine names relate to a different kabbalistic world. We are currently in the world of Mah.
[2] In Hebrew, the words for light and skin are very similar, except light is spelt with an alef – ‘or’, and skin is spelt with an ayin, but still pronounced ‘or’.
