A Lesson for Ashdod and the Residents of Southern Israel at the Home of The Rav

While the city of Ashdod and the other cities and communities of southern Israel are being shelled without pause by the missiles of the sons of Satan—the Hamas terrorists, may their name be erased—residents of Ashdod and the surrounding area came out to hear words of strengthening in these turbulent days, at the home of The Rav, Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a, on Wednesday night, the eve of 4 MarCheshvan, Parshas Noach.

Below is a report of some of the topics The Rav shlit"a spoke about during the lesson:

The Rav shlit"a opened the lesson with encouragement that one should live in Jerusalem, and about the special greatness of those who dwell there. He then spoke about how 3 Cheshvan—when it was the yahrtzeit of Rabbi Ovadia Yosef zy"a—is like Yom Kippur, and he also spoke of the greatness of Maran zy"a. After that, he spoke about Rashi’s very first comment on Bereishis, which refutes the claims of the nations in these days: “You are robbers, for you conquered the land of the seven nations.” The answer is: “The land belongs to Hashem; by His will He gave it, and by His will He took it from them.” Within these words, he spoke about the surging antisemitism throughout the world against the Jews, and he recounted a little about the Kishinev pogrom, saying that every person needs to know what happened in the Kishinev pogrom.

For most of the lesson, he addressed the horrific murders carried out by the sons of Satan who call themselves “terrorists,” and he said one must know that all the disasters are because of the four words Avraham Avinu said: “If only Yishmael might live before You.” Because of this, we suffer until today. The Rav shlit"a concluded the lesson with the point that when it comes to kedushah, a person must be stubborn and stand firm. And if a person persists, he merits double—because before the Giving of the Torah, all the mountains wanted to leap into the desert so that the Torah would be given upon them, as it is written, “The mountains danced like rams.” But they all withdrew—except for Tavor and Carmel, who insisted that the Torah be given upon them and refused to turn back. Therefore they merited: Mount Carmel merited the double proclamation of “Hashem, He is the G-d,” at the moment of Eliyahu HaNavi on Carmel. And Mount Tavor also merited a double “Anochi”—“Anochi to Hashem, anochi will sing,” in Devorah’s song.

Below is documentation from the lesson at his home for the Shuvu Banim Ashdod community: