Shuvu Banim Activity in Be’er Sheva ○ Summary from the Lesson

An eye-brightening sign welcomes those who come to Bloch Street in Be’er Sheva: “The Synagogue of the Breslov Chassidim Community, Be’er Sheva—for the salvation and success of Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a.” Yes—also in the capital of the south there is a special minyan every Shabbos of Breslov Chassidim that illuminates the entire area. During the weekdays there is not a fixed program, aside from occasional classes given from time to time by important members of our community—students of The Rav Rabbi Berland shlit"a—but on Shabbos the place is bustling. About forty worshippers, may they be blessed, arrive each Shabbos to the synagogue named for Rebbe Nachman, and they pray with vitality and with niggunim—a blend of The Rav’s shlit"a prayer melody together with traditional tunes customary in the community. On Shabbos morning after the prayers, there is a Kiddush and a class in Sippurei Ma’asiyos delivered by the chassidic rabbi Rabbi Avraham HaLevi, one of the local rabbis; and Seudah Shlishis is also held there every Shabbos, with niggunim from The Rav Rabbi Berland shlit"a, songs, and dancing. The place does not rest on its laurels. The wondrous phenomenon found in every Shuvu Banim branch throughout the Land of Israel repeats itself here as well in the Be’er Sheva synagogue: there are always new people being brought close and new seekers—an ongoing work of kiruv. And from time to time, students of The Rav Rabbi Berland shlit"a come—Rabbi Shalom Arush, Rabbi Moshe Tzena’ani, Rabbi Ofer Erez, and others—to deliver Torah classes here.

[caption id="attachment_52416" align="aligncenter" width="1024"] The Rav Rabbi Berland shlit"a in a lesson for Shuvu Banim Be’er Sheva[/caption]

The members of the ‘Shuvu Banim Be’er Sheva’ community—and those drawing close—merited to enter further inward, into the holy place, for a special lesson from Rabbi Berland shlit"a.

In the lesson, The Rav spoke about the matter of Rachel Imeinu’s burial—how she was buried “on the way,” by the roadside. Yosef HaTzaddik asked his father: Why did you bury her in the middle of the road? Could you not have buried her within the settled area? Yaakov Avinu answered him: Do not think that I was unable to bury her within the settlement—I could have. But I buried her at this very point, literally “by the word” (al pi ha-dibbur). Rabbi Berland shlit"a explained that today we see: if Yaakov Avinu had buried her inside Beit Lechem and not by the roadside, the Jewish people would not have been able to come there in the great multitudes that arrive today.