Breslov Yeshivah Chochmah V’Daas

Examination for First-Year Students on Masechet Berachot ■ A Fiery Lesson on the Greatness of the Days of Purim and Other Matters - A Special Summary of the Lesson

After laboring this past winter in memorizing and mastering Masechet Berachot, the pure first-year students of the holy yeshiva for young men, 'Breslov Chochma V'Daat,' under the leadership of our teacher Rav Eliezer Berland shlit"a, entered into the inner sanctum for an examination and lesson last night, Sunday, the eve of 11 Adar II, 5782.

Initially, the maggid shiur, Rabbi Eliyahu Weiss shlit"a, examined the students in the presence of our teacher the Rav shlit"a on Masechet Berachot. From the clear answers of the fine young men, it was evident that the students had labored and that they have a firm grasp of the material studied in the holy yeshiva.

Following the examination, our teacher the Rav shlit"a immediately began singing 'And Esther added and spoke before the King...' for about five minutes. Afterward, he began a lesson on the virtue of the days of Purim and on Mordechai the Tzaddik, who was 'crowned in his Judaism,' just as the Ben Ish Chai says—that he had thick, coarse side-locks, and this is what angered Haman. Afterward, he spoke about the Jews in Communist Russia who were not afraid and performed circumcisions on their children with self-sacrifice. He spoke regarding the 'cleft of the rock,' and then brought up the question of why specifically the 'Shema Yisrael' was brought in the mezuzah, answering that wherever a person goes, one must be with Hashem as One, to know that Hashem is One in every place. From there, he moved to the matter of the service of Enoch, who was 'sewing shoes for the Shechinah.' Our teacher the Rav said that everything one studies and prays for must be to crown Hashem over everything, just like Enoch, who would say upon every stitch, 'Blessed be the Name of His glorious kingdom forever and ever.'

Afterward, he spoke from Torah 37, that one must merit the breath of the mouths of 'schoolchildren,' through which, by praying with that breath, one merits to bring about all salvations. He also spoke of the wife of On ben Pelet, who saved her husband by giving him a drink, thus he was saved from Korach and his assembly, and she walked in innocence after the tzaddik. Our teacher the Rav shlit"a said that one must learn from this to walk through one's entire life in innocence. He then returned to the matter of the 'cleft of the rock' and the difference between Moshe Rabbeinu and Eliyahu: that in Moshe Rabbeinu's body, there remained no drop of food or drink from which he was sustained, which was not the case with Eliyahu, who, although he fasted for forty days and forty nights, still had something remaining in his body from which he was sustained. Afterward, he moved to the account of Sisera and Yael, who sacrificed herself to save the people of Israel, and connected it to the story of Avner ben Ner, who, in the merit that he could have taken revenge and, in the final seconds of his life, killed Yoav ben Tzeruiah back but did not do so, merited to be buried at the feet of Adam HaRishon. He then moved to a halachic implication regarding a get (divorce document) and Kohanim, regarding the fact that even when a person is in the final seconds of his life, he is still considered alive, as brought in the Rambam.

With these words of living G-d, our teacher the Rav concluded the lesson after about half an hour and finished with a fiery Kaddish. The moved students left the holy residence of our teacher Rav Berland shlit"a strengthened, and on their pure faces, it was clear that there is no doubt this lesson gave them the strength to persevere in their studies toward the end of the 'zman' (term) and the beginning of the upcoming 'bein hazmanim' (break).