A Lesson for the Students of the 'Mitchabrim LaTzeirim' Yeshiva at the Residence

On Wednesday of Parshat Bo (the Torah portion of Bo), the first night of Rosh Chodesh Shevat (the beginning of the month of Shevat), a lesson was held for the students of the 'Mitchabrim LaTzeirim' (Connecting to the Youth) Yeshiva at the residence of the Gaon and Tzaddik Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a. Before you is a summary of the topics from the lesson which the Rav shlit"a delivered to the young men for approximately forty minutes.

All the young men who go to the army practice mesirus nefesh (self-sacrifice) for the sake of the People of Israel, but in the end, they leave there spiritually damaged, taking drugs and ending up in prison. In Parshat Bo, Moshe Rabbeinu (Moses our Teacher) asks, "Why have You sent me?" The Spies said, "We will not go up," because they did not want the prophecy "Moses dies and Joshua brings [them] in" to be fulfilled, but the truth is that they needed to enter the Land. The issue of mustard and bees. Regarding the Concubine of Gibeah, it is brought in the context of gilgulim (reincarnation of souls) that the incident in Kiddushin 29b regarding the seven-headed snake involved the reincarnations of all those souls. David was [effectively] a captive in Gaza, and similarly, Dinah was a captive. Shimon and Levi held according to the view of the Rambam (Maimonides) that if someone touches a Jewish girl, the entire city is put to death. The Ramban (Nachmanides) disagrees with him and says that because they had accepted the commandments upon themselves, it was forbidden to kill them. The entire Gemara (Talmud) is [composed of] stories. Avishai saw a hawk preying on a dove and saw blood in a tub of water; he then understood that David was in trouble. He flew there using a Holy Name upon David's mule. He managed to arrive just as Ishbi [the giant] threw David into the air, planning for him to fall onto the sword he had stuck into the ground below. If a person falls from a plane, he has enough time to say three Tikkun HaKlalis (The General Rectification). Nachman Bitton was on a plane from Casablanca to Kyiv; he told all the gentiles to say three times: "When you pass through water, I am with you, and through rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire, you shall not be scorched, and a flame shall not burn within you" (Isaiah 43:2).