The group of close students—through the mission of The Rav Rabbi Berland shlit"a, who sent the chassidic Rav R’ Ofer Erez shlit"a ○ A brief summary from the lesson

More than a decade ago, The Rav Rabbi Berland shlit"a sent one of his greatest students—the chassidic Rav, Rabbi Ofer Erez shlit"a—to the city of Tel Aviv. There, The Rav asked his student: “Find a place where you can give lessons.” And indeed, Rabbi Ofer Erez shlit"a arrived in Tel Aviv and began delivering lessons in the city center, as people gathered around him—people whose outward appearance was as far as east from west from the kind of people one would expect to want to hear Torah lessons. And when we say “as far as east,” we mean it in more than one sense.

Those young men merited to hear more and more from the “flowing stream,” and over time even the most distant among them merited to draw close and strengthen themselves in keeping Torah and mitzvos—each according to his own level. Since then, the regular weekly lesson in Tel Aviv has moved through many locations, yet every week new young men gather in Tel Aviv. There is no doubt that it is through the great power of The Rav Rabbi Berland shlit"a that this wondrous thing is accomplished: that each week more and more young men—who never heard of Torah, mitzvos, or Judaism—draw close and merit to come near to the “flowing stream, the wellspring of wisdom,” according to the unique path of The Rav shlit"a.

Some of the regular participants in the lesson merited yesterday, Monday night—the night of the 13th of Tammuz—to enter for a special lesson “further within,” in the inner sanctity. In the lesson delivered by The Rav shlit"a, he began speaking about the holiness of a person and about the battle against the terrible lust, and he spoke about the upcoming trip to Uman for Rosh Hashanah. After that, he spoke from the weekly Torah portion and about the greatness of dancing, and he also spoke about the greatness of the approaching day—the 17th of Tammuz. After that, he spoke about additional topics: how Bilam tried to find a point of guilt in the sin of the Golden Calf, not realizing that it would be turned into merit, as it is written, “My nard gave forth its fragrance.” After that, he spoke about Shaul and the war with Amalek.

Here are a few teachings from the lesson:

“Because this whole matter is dancing. That’s why we would dance in shul for forty-five minutes after Ma’ariv—for four or five years like that—we would dance. And in Uman they would dance. But the whole point is: ‘When He hears their song’—a person nullifies all decrees. The song we sing after the prayer nullifies all decrees! The prayer itself still does not nullify. If they had done one dance before the Holocaust, they would have nullified the entire Holocaust. Say one The Tikkun HaKlali! If all the Rebbes had said The Tikkun HaKlali—if two Rebbes had traveled to Uman—they would have nullified the entire decree [of the Holocaust]. They needed to travel to Uman. There is no decree in the world that cannot be nullified. Through traveling to Uman, it is possible to nullify every decree in the world. Because the Tzaddik is clean of all lusts; he is clean of everything; he is entirely for the sake of Heaven. The Tzaddik has no personal agenda—no agenda at all!”

[caption id="attachment_51790" align="aligncenter" width="618"] The Rav Rabbi Berland shlit"a delivering a lesson to the people of Tel Aviv[/caption]

After the lesson, the participants—strengthened and uplifted—went out to Ma’ariv as on every evening, in the courtyard of the prayer hall.