Kollel Chatzos at Kever Rachel ○ A Shiur for the Kollel Avreichim

At midnight—at the very place where Rachel Imeinu rests, still weeping for her children—more than fifty avreichim, Torah scholars, sit and toil in their learning within the framework of the kollelim of the “Kever Rachel Institutions,” headed by the chassidic Rav R’ Moshe Menachem Kluger shlit"a. Most of these avreichim are students of The Rav, Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a, who for years sent his students to reopen Kever Rachel so it would be accessible to all of Am Yisrael. The kollel runs from 12:30 until Shacharis at sunrise.

These avreichim merited to enter the home of The Rav shlit"a to be strengthened and to hear living words of Hashem, spoken by a “malach of Hashem Tzevakos,” on Monday night, the eve of 7 Av, before the Maariv prayer. Below are several of the topics The Rav shlit"a spoke about during the shiur:

For most of the shiur, The Rav shlit"a dealt with Responsum 116 in the Shut HaMahari”t, Part II, regarding an incident in which Reuven said to Shimon: “Take these boots as a deposit to someone in Constantinople.” Shimon said to Reuven: “I do not want to take the deposit, because I am afraid it may be lost on the way. I am willing for you to throw it to the ground, and I will pick it up—then I will be like one who returns a lost object, who is an unpaid guardian and is exempt from liability for theft and loss.” And so it was done, and Reuven took the boots. But when he arrived at the customs station, he saw that the boots were not with him, and they were lost. The Mahari”t discusses this question at length. The Rav shlit"a read from the Mahari”t and explained, with deep Torah analysis, the different sides: when it is considered “returning a lost object” and one is exempt, and what is the status of the one who picked up the deposit from the ground, and so on.

In the course of these words—and in keeping with the theme of the day, on the eve of Tisha B’Av—The Rav shlit"a also spoke about the story of the Churban HaBayis, and the episode when Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai came to Vespasian and called him “king.” He also discussed the story of Shammai and Chonyo, and the approaches of Rabbi Meir and Rabbi Yehudah regarding who was considered the tzaddik in that incident, as brought in Maseches Chullin. The Rav also related the history of the Temple of Chonyo—how it was established, and what ultimately happened to it. At the end of the shiur, The Rav shlit"a returned to the matter of the borrowed deposit that was lifted from the ground in the Shut HaMahari”t, and read the Mahari”t’s conclusion, which limits his words to a case where that guardian guarded it in the normal manner of guardians—so that he would not even need to take an oath.