A Shiur for the “Magginei Eretz” Yeshivah at the Home of the Gaon HaTzaddik

On Monday night, the 21st of Tammuz—34 years since the passing of Rabbi Levi Yitzchak Bender zy"a—a shiur for the bochurim of Yeshivas Magginei Eretz took place in the home of The Rav, Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a, led by the chassidic Rav, R’ Michoel Gol shlit"a.

The Rav opened the shiur by speaking about the yahrtzeit of Rabbi Levi Yitzchak zy"a, and about how only he truly knew what Breslov is. After that, he moved on to the Gemara in Gittin about Nero Caesar, who did not want to destroy Jerusalem. From there he spoke about how Yishmael claimed that Yitzchak was actually the son of Avimelech, and that he (Yishmael) was the only son of Avraham—and because of this, Yitzchak’s face became transformed to resemble the image of Avraham, his father.

Later in the shiur, he returned to the yahrtzeit of R’ Levi Yitzchak and said that if not for R’ Levi Yitzchak, there would not have remained from Breslov even a single minyan! He spoke about how Shuvu Banim and the ba’alei teshuvah were the only ones who would go to the shiurim of R’ Levi Yitzchak. From this point, within the flow of the topic, he began speaking about the journeys to Uman during the era of the Iron Curtain, mentioning participants in those trips—R’ Gavriel Grossman and the well-known singer Dovid (Dedi) Ben Ami—and he told how he returned in teshuvah: that through Hisbodedus he merited to recognize the light of Rebbe Nachman, the holy one. And The Rav said that the main thing is one hour of Hisbodedus—it is such a delight that it is impossible to stop that hour; it is a taste of the World to Come!

Later in the shiur, he spoke about the location of the true Hor HaHar, which is found at Har Tzin—Ma’aleh Akrabim—called in the holy Torah “Kadesh Barnea,” and there Aharon HaKohen is buried. Toward the end of the shiur, he spoke about using time well, and The Rav shlit"a calculated that a person who learns one hour continuously creates forty-eight thousand angels. With this, The Rav shlit"a concluded the shiur and went out to Ma’ariv with a great crowd, as every evening.