The Bar Mitzvah Celebration in the Stern Family Home ○ Singing and Melodies ○ A Fiery, Flame-Like Lesson at the Bar Mitzvah Feast

On Sunday, 2 Iyar, the Bar Mitzvah celebration took place for the great-grandson of the Gaon and Tzaddik Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a—the distinguished young man, Nachman Stern n"y, grandson of the chassid Rabbi Shmuel Stern shlit"a. The Bar Mitzvah feast was held at the “Eiz” halls on Yirmiyahu Street in Jerusalem. The Rav, Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a, arrived to participate in the family Bar Mitzvah seudah at 6:30 PM. At the outset, the Rav shlit"a sang heartfelt songs together with the family for more than ten minutes.

After the melodies, he began delivering a fiery, flame-like lesson on the greatness of the day of a Bar Mitzvah. He spoke from the Zohar about a Bar Mitzvah where Rashbi invited all the Tannaim to the Bar Mitzvah celebration of Rabbi Elazar, and they were all surrounded by fire. Then, as is his holy custom, the Rav shlit"a asked the Bar Mitzvah boy whether he wants to be a Tzaddik. Naturally, the Bar Mitzvah boy answered, “Yes!” The Rav said that now he has merited to receive a new soul and to be a Tzaddik—because it depends on the Bar Mitzvah boy’s decision. The Rav then explained his holy custom of asking the Bar Mitzvah boy this question: Rabbi Levi Yitzchak Schneerson, the father of the last Lubavitcher Rebbe, said that all his life he regretted that he waited forty-five seconds before answering the question of the Rebbe Rayatz at his Bar Mitzvah—whether he wanted to be a Tzaddik.

Later in the lesson, he also spoke about Shimon and Levi, who differed with Yaakov—according to the views of the Ramban and the Rambam—regarding whether a non-Jew who did not protest is liable to death, and he said that this was their Bar Mitzvah derashah. After a lesson of nearly forty minutes, the Bar Mitzvah boy led the zimun over the cup, and the Rav shlit"a traveled back, escorted by a royal convoy, to his holy abode.

Before you is a breathtaking photo gallery from the event: