Class for the residents of Brachfeld on Monday ○ Class for the residents of Chatzor and the surrounding communities in Northern Israel on Wednesday ○ Highlights from the classes

This week, Parshas Chukas, we were privileged to have two classes in the home of The Rav, Rabbi Berland shlit"a—one for the residents of Brachfeld and one for the residents of Chatzor:

On Monday night, the eve of the 29th of Sivan, a group of Breslov Chassidim—residents of Brachfeld and students of The Rav, Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a—entered “into the inner sanctum” for a class. At the beginning of the class, The Rav shlit"a spoke about how Rebbe Nachman taught that one must honor all the Tzaddikim and receive from everyone. Yet one must know that with the Tzaddik Emes it is something entirely different: with the Tzaddik, one merits “face to face.” After that, he spoke about the greatness of “Miriam’s Well,” and about how the Yalkut Shimoni says that the scoffers would laugh at Moshe Rabbeinu and say to him, “Bring out water from here… bring out from here…”—because they thought Moshe simply knew the secret that there are stones from which water can emerge (what are called “geysers”). But Moshe wanted to show them that the rock of Miriam is something completely different: it brings forth not only water, but also oil and honey.

Later in the class, The Rav shlit"a spoke about the obligation to learn Gemara in depth. Then, moving from teaching into practical learning, The Rav shlit"a began to explain—carefully and in depth—the sugyos of “yei’ush shelo mida’as” (despair without one’s knowledge) in Torah study, as well as the well-known sugya of “mustard and bees.” At the end of the class, The Rav shlit"a spoke about how last week was the 23rd of Sivan—the day the second letters were written—and he explained that Esther merited to give over her life and said, “My life is in my request”—meaning, regarding myself, I do not care what you do to me; that will remain “a request.” But “my people are in my plea”—in this matter, Esther said to Achashverosh, “I will not yield to you; here I demand that you change the decree.” The Rav shlit"a concluded the class by singing “Vatossef Esther vatedaber lifnei hamelech…” for about twenty minutes. After more than an hour, The Rav shlit"a concluded with Kaddish, and afterward the participants went out to Maariv.

[caption id="attachment_51596" align="aligncenter" width="618"] The Rav, Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a, during the class for the residents of Brachfeld[/caption]

Later that week, on Wednesday night—the eve of Rosh Chodesh, the 1st of Tammuz—a group of people drawing closer came to The Rav, Rabbi Berland shlit"a, from the city of Chatzor and the surrounding areas in the North, and merited to enter “into the inner sanctum” for a special class.

In the class, The Rav shlit"a spoke about the weekly parshah—Chukas—and about Miriam’s Well. Below is a short excerpt from the class:

“And now Moshe needed to bring down Torah from fire. The Chidushei HaRim explains that Moshe needed to bring down Torah anew, because this generation did not hear the Aseres HaDibros; everyone who heard the Aseres HaDibros had already died—they were no longer here. ‘And from them there did not remain a man’ (as the verse says in Bamidbar 26:64). The women remained, but the men did not remain—because the women were all prophetesses.”

And later, The Rav shlit"a spoke about the greatness of the women of Israel—that “in the merit of righteous women we were redeemed,” in the merit of the women’s prayers. Even though they did not know how to read or write, they would pray from the depths of their hearts. He also spoke about honoring one’s wife and about shalom bayis: if one is delayed even a little, one should inform the home that one is running late, so that those at home will not worry.

At the end of the class, The Rav shlit"a said that the moment Miriam’s Well split open, all the rocks in the desert split open as well—and all those scoffers who had mocked Moshe were then swept away by those waters that burst forth in the merit of Miriam’s Well. And if Moshe had sung a song about it, he would have merited to enter Eretz Yisrael. He concluded by speaking about the greatness of song and the niggunim before prayer and after prayer.

After the class, the participants went out to the Maariv prayer of the eve of Rosh Chodesh with a great crowd, as every evening in the plaza of our Beis Midrash, “Olam HaTefillos,” on Ido HaNavi Street—together with The Rav shlit"a.

[caption id="attachment_51594" align="aligncenter" width="1024"] The Rav shlit"a during the class for the residents of Chatzor and the surrounding area[/caption]