Everything is Done with Alacrity

The Daily Chizuk from our teacher, the Gaon and Tzaddik, Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a (may he live long and good days) – How did our teacher, Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a, pray Shacharis (morning prayer) when he was 13 years old?

Sunday, 29 Nissan 5785 – "The beams of my house never saw the seams of my shirt."

The first section in Siman 2 of the Tur (foundational code of Jewish law) teaches that everything must be done with zerizus (alacrity). At 5:00 AM everyone must wake up; there is no such thing as staying in bed past 5:00 AM. One should sleep from 10:00 PM until 5:00 AM—that is 7 hours, and one does not need more than that. One should already be at the vasiqin (sunrise prayer service) to pray with zerizus.

I used to pray through three minyanim (prayer quorums); from the age of 13, I would pray through three minyanim. I would go to the Great Synagogue, and it would take me an hour just to say ‘Hodu’ (opening section of morning prayers). They would reach the Shemoneh Esrei (the standing prayer) in 20 minutes, but I wasn't capable of that; it took me the duration of 3 minyanim to finish. I would pray until six minutes to 8:00 AM in the Great Synagogue, and within 2 minutes I would arrive home, doing it at a run. I would walk with my tefillin (phylacteries) openly like that; 10,000 workers were employed there, traveling to the bay, to the oil refineries. I would run with my tefillin in front of everyone's eyes and eat breakfast. In 2 minutes I ate breakfast, and in another 2 minutes I would arrive at school—all together in 6 minutes. I would arrive exactly at the bell, entering the classroom with the teacher right behind me.

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This means that the first thing is zerizus (alacrity). If we finish the prayer at 9:20 PM, then by 10:00 PM everyone must already be in their beds. Whoever can stay awake all night, all the better, but at 10:00 PM people should be in bed. Do not let the children wander around, and then they will wake up at 6:00 AM, while the father wakes up at 5:00 AM. He should wake up with zerizus and not dress while naked in front of the holy books or the furniture; sometimes there is even the Name of Hashem (the Tetragrammaton) in the room.

“He should take his shirt” (the language of the Tur), and while he is lying under the blanket, he should get dressed while the body is covered. Just as Rabbi Yossi says, “The beams of my house never saw the seams of my shirt” (Shabbos 118b)—they didn't even see the inner shirt. And he should not say, “In my private rooms, who sees me?” Hashem sees! “The whole earth is full of His glory!”

These are the words of the Tur—that it is forbidden for even a single millimeter of the body to be seen; it is forbidden for any millimeter to be seen.