Baal HaSadeh Synagogue in Holon ○ A Summary from the Lesson of The Rav, Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a

Baal HaSadeh Synagogue in Holon has become a powerful magnet for many young people who long to behold the sweetness of Hashem and to visit His Sanctuary. The synagogue is led by a student of The Rav, Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a—HaRav HaChassid, the mashpia Rabbi Ofer Erez shlit"a—who arrives every Tuesday to ignite in the hearts of all the worshippers of the Beis Midrash a deeper closeness and love for the Creator of the world.

This past Wednesday night, the eve of the 12th of Teves, about forty men from the Beis Midrash—especially among those young people drawing close to the path of Hashem—entered into the inner holiness for a special lesson delivered by The Rav, Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a, in his home.

At the beginning of the lesson, The Rav shlit"a opened with the weekly Torah portion, Vayechi—speaking about the blessings of the sons and the secret of how Yaakov crossed his hands over Ephraim and Menashe. He then spoke about Shimon and Levi, who killed the people of Shechem, as brought in the parashah. After that, he spoke about how even the greatest deniers, deep in the hidden chambers of their hearts, truly knew that Hashem exists in the world—and in the end they repented at the close of their lives, such as “Achad Ha’am,” and the like. He then spoke from Parashas Vayigash, about how they found the goblet in Binyamin’s sack.

The brothers believed that he [Binyamin] had stolen, and they struck him. For every blow he received, he gained another wall in the Beis HaMikdash. If he had accepted just one more blow with love, he would have received the entire Beis HaMikdash. This is why the southeast belongs to Yehudah—at the mizbe’ach, on the yesod. Down to the millimeter: according to the blows he received, so he received the entire Beis HaMikdash.

After that, he spoke about how, if the tribes had known where the Beis HaMikdash would stand, they would never have agreed to a lottery when dividing the Land. Each tribe thought that “the place that He will choose” would be in its own portion. He then spoke about the month of Teves, whose gematria is “Behold, a place with Me,” which is the secret of the cleft of the rock. And on the Tenth of Teves, a Beis HaMikdash of fire was meant to descend. He then spoke about how Eliezer saw with Ruach HaKodesh that from Rivkah would also come Esav, and he did not want to bring such a match to Yitzchak. In that context, he spoke about Yitzchak’s blessings to Esav. But the truth is that the Tzaddik knows everything; and even when there are questions, Rebbe Nachman says that if a person has a question, he should cry out to Hashem. He then spoke about the secret of “on the road to Efrat,” which is the joining of Rachel and Leah. Later in the lesson he spoke about the secret of shoes—that the dances “make shoes” for the Shechinah. He spoke about how, with the Imahos, the oil did not burn up as it did on Chanukah, and yet Esav still did not do teshuvah. Within these words he also spoke about using time well—for example, going to the graves of Tzaddikim during bein hazmanim. At the end of the lesson he returned to the matter of the goblet, and how Yehudah said to Yosef, “Do we need your goblet? We have plenty of money.” And Yosef told him, “I am not afraid of you.” But the moment he saw two hairs of Yehudah standing on end, he understood that the world was in danger—and immediately revealed himself and cried out: “I am Yosef! I am Yosef! I am Yosef!”

[caption id="attachment_54203" align="aligncenter" width="1080"] At the lesson for the Baal HaSadeh worshippers from Holon, 12 Teves[/caption]

With these words, The Rav, Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a, concluded the lesson. After Kaddish, he blessed all the participants in the lesson and went out to Maariv with a great crowd—from the balcony of his home!