And From What Remained of the Flasks • A Chanukah Gathering for the Youth

A Chanukah gathering under the banner: “We Fight for the Home” ○ Words of Israel’s great leaders at the event ○ Singing and niggunim ○ The central address from The Rav, Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a ○ Distribution of “Chanukah gelt” to the fellowship’s bochurim ○ Dancing and Chanukah joy ○ A presentation about technological devices from The Rav shlit"a ○ A “clickers” program for the fellowship’s bochurim

This year, the Youth Fellowship gathering was held under the theme “We Fight for the Home,” following the instruction and guidance of The Rav shlit"a. The gathering was arranged to strengthen the pure bochurim of the holy Shuvu Banim community, so they should merit to separate themselves from all “Greek culture” that is flooding the entire generation—dragging it into the deep abyss of forgetfulness through technological devices that are dangerous for a Jewish person. As every year, the gathering took place with the participation of close to a thousand holy and pure, precious bochurim, who are counted among the members of the “Youth Fellowship” in our holy community.

At 8:00 PM, the gates of the “Karl Neter” auditorium in the Eretz Cheifetz neighborhood of Jerusalem opened. Hundreds upon hundreds of precious bochurim—Breslov Chassidim of Shuvu Banim—crowded at the entrance to the hall. Little by little, the masses entered to the sound of the orchestra. After some time, the head of the Kever Rachel institutions, the holy tzaddik Rabbi Moshe Menachem Kluger shlit"a, ascended the stage and strengthened the bochurim to be like the Chashmonaim: to merit guarding the pure flask of oil, and to distance themselves and completely abstain from all the harms of technology—devices that were forbidden by The Rav shlit"a and by all the Gedolei Yisrael together with him.

At 10:10 PM, to the sound of stirring, heartfelt niggunim, The Rav shlit"a entered the auditorium. For long minutes he sat immersed in holy sefarim, strengthening himself together with the fellowship’s bochurim through songs of yearning—Chanukah zemiros and Breslov niggunim that awaken every heart!

A hush fell over the hall as The Rav shlit"a began his holy address to the hundreds of bochurim—words that come from the heart of the world and pierce the heart of every bochur wherever he may be. At the beginning of his words, The Rav said that the war of the Chashmonaim was against the impurity of Greece, and today that “Greece” is the smartphones and technological devices that destroy every good portion within a Jewish person.

Afterward, he spoke from the weekly parshiyos about the disputes between the brothers and Yosef, and about how Yosef sat in prison. He said that if a person has seichel, he knows how to use captivity itself as a springboard for ascent—through learning Gemara and through tefillos said מתוך Hisbodedus—and that is what Yosef did.

He then said that Parshas Vayigash is the most important parshah, because it is the parshah of the revelation of the Tzaddik—“I am Yosef.” He added that this year we merited that the parshah falls on the yahrtzeit of Moharanat (Rabbi Nosson)—something rare in itself, which, according to the calendar, will occur again only in another 17 years.

After that, he returned to the matter of the disputes between the brothers and Yosef, noting that they even differed about the law of ever min hachai—whether it applies to a bird as well, or only to meat—similar to the dispute of the Karti u’Palti and the Radbaz regarding the Rambam’s view.

He then brought the Ramban’s question: Why does Yaakov curse Shimon and Levi for not receiving their own inheritance in Eretz HaKodesh, when they had freed his daughter Dinah from captivity? From one matter to another, he said that even Rabbeinu HaKadosh was taken captive on his way to Eretz Yisrael by the Philistines—and so too the Baal Shem Tov and his daughter. In the midst of his words, he recounted, with sweetness, the story of the Baal Shem Tov and how he was saved in the merit of the letters Alef-Beis.

After these words, he returned to the battle against impure devices and said that all the so-called “glorious Greek culture” was not culture at all. It had one goal: to defile the minds and hearts of Israel—especially through the terrible ta’avah. And this is exactly the matter of the technological devices that exist today.

The Rav shlit"a said that fathers too must instill in their children a deep revulsion toward those disqualified devices, so that the child will not want to come near them at all. He said that this is the entire essence of Chanukah: to defeat the culture of Yavan—the culture of impure technology.

The Rav shlit"a brought the words of Rabbi Nosson in Likutey Halachos (Choshen Mishpat): every person is standing at the entrance, only he is “struck with blindness,” like those around the house of Lot in Sodom. A person must disperse that blindness—and this is done by breaking the impure devices and abstaining from them completely.

At the conclusion of his words, The Rav shlit"a strengthened the bochurim and instructed them to sign the commitment form not to possess any disqualified device. He said that when a person accepts this upon himself, it is as though he is smashing the altar of the sitra achra—just as Yochanan Kohen Gadol shattered it before the Greeks.

When the shiur ended, hundreds of the fellowship’s bochurim came up one after another to receive from the holy hands of The Rav shlit"a the “Chanukah gelt”—the holy Chanukah money. All the while, hundreds of bochurim burst into circles and dancing, with tremendous joy over the merit of being the Chashmonaim of our generation, in the joy of the holy days of Chanukah.

Afterward, The Rav shlit"a left for his holy home, and the holy bochurim of the fellowship sat back in their places. The bochurim merited to watch a special presentation that had been prepared with great effort. It featured the heads of the fellowship who merited to enter into the inner sanctum several weeks earlier, to hear and receive counsel, guidance, and direction from The Rav shlit"a on how one merits to abstain from these impure devices—true da’as that is rooted in the truth of Torah.

At the end of the presentation, the bochurim participated in the entertaining “clickers” program, which brought much laughter to the faces of the precious bochurim.

Photo gallery: Chanukah gathering for the Youth Fellowship with the participation of the holy tzaddik Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a:

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