Kollel Activity in the Beis Midrash ○ A Summary from the Shiur

Anyone who walks through the gates of our Shuvu Banim Beis Midrash at 14 Ido HaNavi—beneath the home of The Rav, Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a—cannot help but notice the sound of Torah and song that never stops for even a moment. Twenty-four hours a day there is Torah learning alongside tefillos and dancing. Talmidei chachamim sit there—ranging from young avreichim who have only just completed their learning in yeshivah, to elders who merited to witness the founding of the Shuvu Banim yeshivah—and they immerse themselves in Torah. Not everyone knows, but behind those avreichim, with siyata d’Shmaya, there is a kollel in this place that strengthens and supports those avreichim who sit with mesirus nefesh—from Chatzos until Maariv together with The Rav shlit"a—delving into the holy Torah.

Those avreichim merited to enter further inward, into a shiur in the home of The Rav, Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a, last night—Wednesday night, the eve of the 16th of Marcheshvan—before Maariv. The Rav shlit"a opened the shiur with the idea of self-nullification, as seen with Aner, Mamre, and Eshkol, who agreed to circumcise themselves and were not afraid of the four kings, as brought in the Midrashim.

[caption id="attachment_53331" align="aligncenter" width="1009"] The Rav shlit"a delivering the shiur for the kollel[/caption]

After that, he spoke about Yocheved and Miriam, who were not afraid of Pharaoh and continued to deliver the babies of Bnei Yisrael. Even though he sent to kill them, he did not find them—“And He made them houses”—meaning they themselves became “houses.” He then spoke about the might of Yosef HaTzaddik and of his descendants, such as Menasheh, who conquered the region of Chavos Gilad. From there he moved to the story of Shimshon, as brought in Melachim. He also mentioned how the malach came to the wife of Manoach, Shimshon’s mother, and warned her to conduct herself with kedushah. The Rav said that all of a child’s chinuch depends on the mother! He then spoke about Shimshon’s greatness—that he was meant to be Moshiach ben David—and he brought sources from Likutei Halachos in Yoreh De’ah (168), as cited there. He also discussed Yetziyas Mitzrayim and Krias Shema that is mentioned at night, as explained there in the dispute of the Tannaim. He spoke as well about the power of the Tzaddikim—and the Tzaddik of the generation—who has the strength to take a person out of tum’ah, as brought there.

[caption id="attachment_53332" align="aligncenter" width="1080"] The kollel avreichim during the shiur[/caption]

After that, he spoke about the parashah—Avraham’s test, to listen to Sarah and send Yishmael away from the home. He then mentioned the Akeidah, and shared a chiddush he heard: that Sarah passed away because of what she heard from the malach—she thought that Yitzchak did not want to die in the Akeidah, and she said, “What—my child doesn’t want to be bound on Kiddush Hashem?…” and therefore she passed away. He then told the story of Rabbi Akiva and his wife—the daughter of Kalba Savua—and in the course of it he spoke about Rabbi Akiva’s greatness, that Moshe Rabbeinu said the Torah should have been given through him. He concluded with how Kalba Savua came to annul his vow with Rabbi Akiva, not knowing that he was his son-in-law. And so, after fifty minutes of words of Torah—sweet as honey and the finest nectar—he concluded with Kaddish and blessed the avreichim of the kollel with every good thing.

[caption id="attachment_53336" align="aligncenter" width="1080"] The Rav shlit"a delivering the shiur for the kollel[/caption]