“On the 29th of Tevet was the first trip when we arrived in Uman; it was minus forty degrees, there was very, very heavy snow! Just as you hear in all the descriptions, you need to make an entire book about that day—heavy snow that is impossible to describe at all. And they had to come to Shmuel Aizik—this is the highest name there is! And they had to come and stand near his house in Dashiv; it was sheer terror—it was a flame of fire! They saw fire burning around the house בתוך the terrible snow! Rabbi Hirsch Leib—it was forbidden to take him… they left the son of Rabbi Aharon of Breslov to wait until he finished his Tikkun Chatzot; it was four hours of fire!”

“FIRE! FIRE! FIRE! (אש באנגלית) with dreadful screams, with terrible crying—outside it was minus forty, and in the room there was such a fire, they couldn’t go outside. And all this was on the 29th of Tevet, the eve of Rosh Chodesh.

Thus opens our teacher, the holy gaon and tzaddik Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a, his holy words—“a flame of fire”—after the Ma’ariv prayer, 13 Tevet 5782, before a crowd of thousands, with all the streets opposite packed with pounding hearts— a flame of fire.

This coming Motzaei Shabbat a new year begins; therefore, in “Davar Be’ito” it brings that one must eat fruits immediately, immediately on Sunday night, 1 Shevat, because the halacha will be like Beit Shammai—the halacha in the future will be like Beit Shammai. And therefore, in truth Adam HaRishon made Chanukah twice—first 8 to 1 and afterward from 1 to 8. In the future the halacha will be like Beit Shammai, so they will make Chanukah twice.”

[caption id="attachment_49310" align="alignnone" width="510"] Ma’ariv, 13 Tevet 5782 – the congregation of thousands of worshippers before our teacher Rav Berland shlit"a. Photo: After the tzaddik[/caption]

“And that’s how it was for 695 years until he died—may it not be upon us and not upon you. Then Enosh said, ‘I am the god; I created Adam HaRishon; I created the god and everyone’ (עפ"ל). The generation of Enosh—‘then it began to call in the Name of Hashem’ (that the Name of Heaven was made like something mundane, may the Merciful One save us). The name Enosh is 703; ‘az’ is eight; 703 minus 8 is 695. They made Chanukah every year, and there was Purim, and Rosh Hashanah, and Yom Kippur—everything was fine until Enosh came and overturned the order, and Chanukah they turned into the festival of fire; today they call it Christmas—they took it from idol worshippers. ‘So they light all the lamps and all the candles in their homes together with the Chanukah candles (to distinguish).’”

“Adam HaRishon did not succeed in infusing the light, so he had to come within King David and live another 70 years, to complete the thousand. David did not live 70 years—that is your mistake! He lived a thousand; he completed Adam HaRishon’s thousand. He came to complete the thousand in order to bring down a Holy Temple of fire. David needed to complete it and bring down a Holy Temple of fire, and then the terrible mistake happened when he said, ‘You and Tziva shall divide the field’ (II Samuel 19:30). He said to Mephibosheth, who was the son of Yonatan (son of Shaul), who was crippled in his legs and could not make it to the dreadful journey to Machanayim. For half a year he was in exile; all of Israel rebelled against him; his son (Avshalom) organized the rebellion. In the end 20,000 died; lions ate the people. But for half a year he was outside the yeshivah, outside the home, tormented and pursued with the Pereti and the Kereti. So Achitophel said immediately to run after him—immediately!! Then Chushai the Archite foiled Achitophel’s counsel and said, God forbid—now he is prepared in the field; let us wait until he straightens out, until he calms down, until he is at ease, not so alert. Then we will attack him and bring him down all at once. Hashem made it that Chushai the Archite’s counsel—to wait—was accepted.”

“And then, because he was unable to make it to the grueling journey, he said, ‘You and Tziva shall divide the field’ of Shaul. A Heavenly voice went out: Now you have lost everything! Yerovam and Rechavam will divide the kingdom. Because he accepted lashon hara, for a drop of lashon hara…”

“Rechavam wanted to fix all this—Rechavam the grandson, the son of Shlomo the tzaddik, said: I will fix it. So he ordered a thousand sacks of scorpions; ten we received as an inheritance and we have them down here—anyone who wants some scorpions will get them for free. Rechavam said: From today it will be the scorpion method: anyone who gets up after 4 a.m. will receive a sack of scorpions—they will be poured onto his bed. Not like Shlomo, where one gets up at 10, at 11, at 12, one at 15… he managed to eat chocolates… the wife comes and her husband is sleeping.”

“And this is the power of the problem of the gittin, that the husband continues to sleep calmly and serenely, like Avshalom. The wife sent the children to cheder, fed them, prepared sandwiches for them, managed to go to work and come back—and her husband is still in the upper worlds, strolling in Gan Eden in the firmament of Aravot…”

“So Rechavam said: By me there will be no such thing! By me only scorpions will be given. Because who says such nonsense?! This was the ‘counsel of the youths’—these were Torah scholars, Shuvu Banim, yeshivah students—so who would say such nonsense (that the nation would immediately hate him)? A person wants to be prime minister, king—he’ll say scorpions?! On the contrary, he’ll say everything will be free! Rides to the sea for free, rides on Shabbat for free—like the secularists say, you’ll get everything for free! So for two years already they can’t go to the sea; they got such a corona that whoever went to the sea got a 5,000-shekel fine. They said, ‘Everything will be free’—what free? So Rechavam said: With my father Shlomo you did what you wanted, but I want the Holy Temple to be built! The sign of Scorpio, the month of Cheshvan—the Holy Temple will be built. We are now in Tevet, the sign of Capricorn—so this month the Holy Temple will be built! Before the month ends, a Holy Temple of fire will descend! We will see a Holy Temple descending from Heaven and there will be the complete redemption speedily in our days, amen!”