A Lesson for a Group of Avreichim

On Wednesday night, the 28th of Tammuz, Parshas Matos-Masei, a lesson was held at the home of our teacher, the Rav, Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a, for a group of avreichim (married Torah students) who are students of the Posek (Halakhic authority) Rabbi Yisrael Sharat shlit"a.

Before you is a summary of the lesson, which was delivered over the course of approximately fifty minutes:

A wife wants her husband to be a Talmid Chacham (Torah scholar); the entire Gemara (Talmud) is made of stories. The tzaddik (righteous person) does not die! It is only the Satan (adversary) who shows the black bed and black candles. Avraham called Eliezer a "donkey" because if he had been with Avraham for so long and still did not see the fire, then he is a donkey! "From on high He sent fire into my bones" (Lamentations 1:13)—Hashem threw torches into the Beis HaMikdash (Holy Temple), because on the 7th of Av they entered the Beis HaMikdash and for two days they tried to burn it, but in the end, "From on high He sent fire...". My mother wanted me to go to the Technion; I was already registered, but in the end, I went to a yeshiva, to Kfar Hasidim. There was someone here, Chaviv Mishali; he was the national boxing champion. One day they brought all the champions to New York, and each one boasted about how successful he was, etc. In the morning, a phone call came saying that the one who boasted the most had died. The next day, he [Mishali] walked in the snow, was buried under piles of snow, and was saved. Then he realized there is a Hashem in the world, and eventually, he came here. There was another person who sold jewelry; one day he decided, "I want to learn Torah," and he threw all the jewelry into the street. Just as the Rebbe [Rebbe Nachman] says, that money will roll in the streets. It is written in the Zohar: "The Palace expired"—the Beis HaMikdash did not burn! Rather, it ascended to Heaven in one piece and it exists there, and what they burned was only plywood. Similarly, regarding "Moshe died," the *Asara Maamaros* (a Kabbalistic work) says: Moshe died meaning that within five minutes there will be the Resurrection of the Dead and they will enter the Land, and there will be a Beis HaMikdash that will never be destroyed. So what we cry about is "And show us its building"—the Beis HaMikdash exists, but we want to see it. And this is "Behold, I will set your stones in fair colors, and lay your foundations with sapphires, and I will make your windows of rubies" (Isaiah 54:11). Only the tzaddikim see the Beis HaMikdash, like Rabbi Nachman of Horodenka who related that he saw the Beis HaMikdash. When they asked him where the Ark was, he said, "The Ark is the tzaddik!" Wherever the tzaddik is, that is the Ark of the Covenant. So if Moshe had entered [the Land], there would have been the Resurrection of the Dead. The daughters of Zelophehad said our father "died in his own sin," for did Moshe not know the law that a daughter inherits? Rather, Moshe wanted to know if he was from Korach's assembly. For Korach was flying in the air and did not know that the one making him fly in the air along with the Ark was Moshe. In the end, he was swallowed by the earth, and now he is in Heaven shouting, "Moshe is true and his Torah is true," but the whole point is to reveal here in this world that Rabbeinu [Rebbe Nachman] is truth and Breslov is truth, because in Heaven everyone knows it is the truth. So Avraham said to Eliezer, "You have been here for a hundred and twenty years and you still don't see fire? You are a donkey!" Regarding Yonatan ben Uziel, everything was surrounded by fire, just like Rabbi Elazar ben Arach who, when he began to speak of the *Maaseh Merkavah* (Divine Chariot), the whole house became fire. So everyone should learn the Gemara in Chagigah about Abba Chilkiyah, that in the merit of his wife the rains came. And Rabbi Chanina [ben Dosa], for whom the whole world was created, yet he was satisfied with a *kav* (measure) of carobs. Rabbi Elazar ben Pedat, to whom Hashem said, "Even if I recreate the whole world, it is not certain you would be wealthy." The tzaddikim also partook of the sin of Adam HaRishon (the first man), so they atone for this by not eating in this world. But today there is already abundance. So Eldad and Medad were liable for death because Moshe did not die; he lived another forty years. Rather, it is according to the words of the *Asara Maamaros* mentioned above. In two days there will be Hallel said for an hour; one should say Hallel for the whole day. Once we would finish the Shabbos prayer at four in the afternoon, and then the meal; Rabbi Dov Kook makes a meal for four hours with all the melodies. The melodies are all the abundance. Reb Noson explains in *Hilchos Orlah* that Tu B'Shevat is the greatest day of the year; everything can be achieved. A person must make his wife a righteous woman; if not, the wife falls into depression. The mule [in Perek Shirah] says, "All the kings of the earth shall praise You, Hashem" (Psalms 138:4), for all the kings of the earth and all the inhabitants of the world heard "Honor your father and your mother," because no idol says to honor someone else besides me. So all the kings converted, and it is written that there will be a Sanctuary in Egypt. Kozbi bas Zur truly wanted to convert. She was reincarnated as the wife of the wicked Turnusrufus, and Zimri was reincarnated as Rabbi Akiva. And he [Rabbi Akiva] had to come to all the lessons, and therefore "your death is the hardest of all." It is written in the Gemara that everyone left [Egypt] with ninety Libyan donkeys for each and every person. Specifically a donkey, because a donkey is entirely humble—"Issachar is a strong-boned donkey" (Genesis 49:14)—and this is Eliezer, who was happy to be considered like a donkey in the Torah, as he is the most humble. "What are you doing here (po)?" Eliyahu says, "I want the mouth (peh) of Moshe." So the Zohar says that there is no comprehension of Moshe nor of Moshe's grave, and only Moshe and Eliyahu entered the cave (the cleft of the rock). The *Pri Tzaddik* says that there the cave is sealed because the *Or HaGanuz* (Hidden Light) is there; only after fasting forty days and forty nights can one enter. Moshe fasted three times for forty days and forty nights; there are three opinions as to exactly when this was. They entered there and the whole body became a torch of fire—"the skin of his face shone" (Exodus 34:29)—this was from the cave. The cave (the cleft of the rock) and the grave of Moshe are the same thing; whoever reaches the grave of the tzaddik becomes torches of fire. And travel to Uman, and on Rosh Hashanah the Rav will be with you, the war will stop, and all the hostages will return today.