A Lesson for the Group of Close Students from Tel Aviv

The group of associates in the merit of the mission of our teacher Rav Berland shlit"a to the esteemed Rabbi Ofer Erez shlit"a ○ Summary of the lesson

Over a decade ago, our teacher Rav Berland shlit"a sent one of his greatest students, the esteemed 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." Indeed, Rabbi Ofer Erez shlit"a arrived in the city of Tel Aviv and began giving lessons in the city center, with people gathering around him whose outward appearance was as far from the typical appearance of those who want to hear Torah lessons as the east is from the west. And when we say "as far as the east," we mean it in both senses of the word.

Those young men merited to hear more and more from the "flowing stream" (Nachal Novea), and with time, the most distant young men merited to draw close and strengthen themselves in the observance of Torah and mitzvot, each according to his level. Since then, the regular lesson in the city of Tel Aviv has moved to many locations, yet every week new young men gather in the city of Tel Aviv. There is no doubt that it is through the great power of our teacher Rav Berland shlit"a that this miraculous thing occurs: every week, more and more young men who had never heard of Torah, mitzvot, or Judaism draw close, and they merit to draw close to the "flowing stream, source of wisdom," according to the unique path of our teacher the Rav shlit"a.

Some of the regular participants in the lesson merited to enter yesterday, Monday night, the 13th of Tammuz, for a special lesson in the inner sanctum. In the lesson delivered by our teacher the Rav shlit"a, he began to speak about the holiness of man and the war against the terrible lust, and he spoke of the upcoming trip to Uman for Rosh Hashanah. Afterward, he spoke about the weekly Torah portion and the virtue of dancing, and he also spoke about the virtue of the approaching day, the 17th of Tammuz. Following that, he spoke on several other topics, about how Bilaam tried to find a point of accusation in the sin of the Golden Calf and did not know that it would turn into a merit, as it is written, "My spikenard sent forth its fragrance." Afterward, he spoke of Saul and the war against Amalek.

Before you are several excerpts from the lesson:

"For the whole matter is the dancing. That is why we would dance at the Shul for forty-five minutes, after Maariv, like that for four or five years—but we would dance. And in Uman, they would dance. But the whole matter is 'when He hears their song.' A person annuls all the decrees; the song that is sung after the prayer annuls all the decrees! The prayer itself does not yet annul them. If they had done one dance before the Holocaust, they would have annulled the entire Holocaust. They say one Tikkun HaKlali! If all the Admorim had said the Tikkun HaKlali, if two Admorim had traveled to Uman, they would have annulled the entire decree [of the Holocaust]; they needed to travel to Uman. There is no decree in the world that cannot be annulled. By traveling to Uman, it is possible to annul 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, he has no personal interest, the tzaddik has no interest at all!"

After the lesson, the strengthened participants went out for the Maariv prayer, as they do every evening, in the courtyard of the prayer hall.