BE READY • Hundreds of Avreichim in a Preparation Gathering for the Holiday of

In anticipation of the holiday of Matan Torah (the Giving of the Torah), a preparation gathering was held for hundreds of avreichim (married Torah students) from anshei shlomeinu (our community) by the 'Avreichim Union of the Shuvu Banim Holy Community.'

The gathering took place in our Beis Medrash (study hall), the 'Prayer Hall,' on the night of the 3rd of Sivan, the beginning of the Shloshes Yemei Hagbalah (the three days of preparation before Shavuot), with the participation of our teacher, Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a (may he live long and good days).

Close to 10:45 PM, the Rav shlit"a descended from his holy residence to our Beis Medrash, where hundreds of avreichim awaited him, excited, singing "Avinu Av HaRachaman... VeHa'er Eineinu BeSorasecha!" (Our Father, Merciful Father... enlighten our eyes in Your Torah!). Everyone cried out. Afterward, they sang for over fifteen minutes "Nichsefa vegam kalsa nafshi l'chatzros Hashem..." (My soul yearns and even pines for the courtyards of Hashem, even a bird has found a home and a swallow a nest for herself...).

At 11:00 PM, silence fell, and the Rav shlit"a opened with the melody of Akdamus (a liturgical poem for Shavuot). As brought in the books of our holy Rebbe (Rebbe Nachman), he spoke very highly of the merit of the Akdamus melody, even saying that "The treasure that Jews have is Akdamus with the melody!" and people do not understand the greatness of Akdamus with the melody. When these holy and pure words emerge from the holy mouth of the Rav shlit"a with the melody of yearning, there is no heart that does not tremble with great awe and fear.

Upon concluding the awesome piyut (liturgical poem), the Rav shlit"a began his holy words. For about an hour and twenty minutes, he delivered words of the Living G-d with "voices and lightning." Here is a summary of the topics he mentioned in his holy discourse:

Now we are before the holiday of Shavuot. Shuvu Banim is only for learning—not eating, not sleeping. Moses our Teacher went up to heaven to receive the Torah, and suddenly he saw Rabbi Akiva and his Torah. Moses said, "I am not ready to deliver the Torah; let Rabbi Akiva deliver it in my place." It is written that Sarah nifkeda (was blessed with a child); everyone saw, everyone heard. "Bas Levi" (the daughter of Levi) who was the daughter of the Leviathan, the secret of the 50th Gate, like Reuben who went out in the days of the wheat harvest, which is Shavuot. In the days of the wheat harvest, Naomi, Ruth, and Orpah went out. Orpah kissed and went back, but Ruth said, "Where you go, I will go..." Boaz told Ruth to go to the young men—meaning she should go to the Cherubim (angelic figures). On Shavuot, all the gates of heaven are opened, and all barren women are nifkados (blessed with children) and everyone is healed. "And they stood at the foot of the mountain"—meaning everyone received legs (healing). Now on Shavuot, we merit the 50th Gate, we merit the secret of the Leviathan. Job was a simple and upright man, and was only a spark of Abraham. He asked why Hashem does not stand by His word? For He said, "And they shall serve them and they shall afflict them 400 years," yet they left after 210 years. Ephron wanted to get rid of the Cave of Machpelah and didn't understand why Abraham wanted to bury Sarah in the most frightening place in the land. Eli did not understand; [Hannah] stood and prayed for three hours, and he checked the Urim VeTumim (High Priest's breastplate) and the letters Sh-K-R-H (drunk) came out. He thought she was drunk and said, "Remove your wine from you," but in truth, she was Keshera (worthy/kosher). Nadav and Avihu wanted to nullify the decree of death from the world. As Saul said regarding Job's question of why Hashem cut the 400 years in half to 210, until he saw the verse "BaSukkah BaSukkah" on Sukkot—meaning that one can make a Sukkah from 4 walls, or 2 walls and a third wall of a tefach (handbreadth), and that is what happened: from 400 they cut to 210. One must learn Pirkei D'Rabbi Eliezer every day. Hashem said regarding Abraham that there is no difference between Isaac and Ishmael. The Zohar says that because of four words—"O that Ishmael might live before You"—we suffer from the Arabs to this day. During the Holocaust, there was someone from the Swedish Congress who said the Jews must be saved, but there was a Zionist rabbi who did not agree because he said there would be antisemitism, and because of this, Jews were not saved. In Egypt, there were three types of women: 1. Those who were quick and would run to the field and give birth there. 2. Those who would run to the Nile, and Hashem told the angels, "Descend quickly! For this I created you," and the mothers would hand the babies to the angels, who would carry them across the Nile, and then "He made him suck honey out of the rock, and oil out of the flinty rock." Every birth is a Divine revelation! Yocheved lived 250 years, and in the piyutim (liturgical poems) it is brought that Moses comforted her on the passing of Aaron and Miriam and himself, who passed away in the same year. Dan is the most important tribe, the "gatherer of all the camps." "And behold, a youth was weeping"—that Moses our Teacher wept as a baby over the troubles of Israel. Boaz wanted Ruth to see the Cherubim. Job was a parable who remained because of the klipah (husks/evil forces). If Amram had not divorced Yocheved, he would have brought the whole world back in teshuvah (repentance). Moses had 10 names, but Hashem chose the name Moses. Five people were a reflection of the Upper World: Saul was "from his shoulders and upward," "the race is not to the swift"—this refers to Asahel who would run on top of the stalks of grain and they would not bend. Abner said, "Give me a place to hold, and I will move the world from its place." The sun stood still at the Giving of the Torah for Joshua, and when Moses wrote 400 Torah scrolls in one day. Samson was also a reflection of the Upper World; Samson was a reincarnation of Shem and Japheth who walked backward with their faces turned away. But in the end, they gouged out his eyes because he said, "She is right in my eyes"—a person must say only that everything is from Hashem. Now we reach such a holy night that everyone should finish the Tikkun (the Shavuot night study order) or learn Gemara. "Consumed by heat by day and frost by night"—a person needs to be "frost" at night and "fire of Torah" by day. Every person needs the Torah to burn within him like fire!