13 Hours of Prayer, and a Blaze of Dancing and Holy Melodies

Moadim L'Simcha. Whoever has not seen the joy of Pesach in the holy community of Shuvu Banim with our teacher, the Gaon HaTzaddik Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a, has never seen joy in their life.

We merited to pray together with the public in the presence of an angel of Hashem Tzevaot for 13 hours of singing, dancing, and spiritual elevation in prayer and words of Torah—the service of prayer through song and dance in a way that has no equal in the entire world.

Fortunate is the eye that saw all this...

Fortunate is the nation that has it so...

Fortunate is the generation that merited him...

Over 13 consecutive hours standing without rest, which began with the Mincha prayer of Pesach Shabbat. Immediately after the Mincha prayer, our teacher Rav Berland shlit"a continued with the holy order of the Third Meal of Shabbat with melodies and enthusiasm.

As is his holy custom, the Rav shlit"a ignited the crowd for many long hours, and immediately after Birkat Hamazon, he began the Maariv prayer of Motzaei Shabbat Kodesh with Ya'aleh V'Yavo; the first night of Sefirat HaOmer was also recited with great enthusiasm.

Our teacher the Rav shlit"a performed the Havdalah order and continued again, this time for the Melaveh Malkah meal and the recitation of Tikkun Chatzot. The light of the singing and dancing only grew stronger as the hours passed, until the public noticed that our teacher the Rav shlit"a had begun the morning melodies, the Shacharit prayer of Chol HaMoed with the recitation of the Hallel with enthusiasm.

Our teacher Rav Berland shlit"a began the Mussaf prayer together with the public only at 8:35 the next morning. It follows that the Rav shlit"a spent most of the Shabbat hours in prayer and song, already starting with Kabbalat Shabbat and the Maariv prayer, which lasted about 3 hours. The Shacharit and Mussaf prayers of Pesach Shabbat were spent in prayer and melody, lasting 7 hours from 4:30 to 11:30.

One does not need to be a person of great sensitivity to understand that we are not talking about the concepts of our generation...

It is known of tzaddikim who pray in solitude for long hours, closed alone in their rooms, but a tzaddik who has already passed the age of 85, who performs such holy works together with hundreds of his followers. To them, he connects hundreds of simple people, men, women, and children, and reaches with them such deveikut (cleaving) and holy awakening with yearning—such as this we have not found...

In order to understand a fraction of the magnitude of the self-sacrifice and holiness of the tzaddik, it is important to note that our teacher Rav Berland shlit"a began the Shabbat services with the G-d-fearing public after having been awake throughout the entire night at the Pesach Seder with great enthusiasm.

Father, thank You for the merit to dwell in the shadow of the flowing stream...

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