"If a Woman Does Not Protect Her Husband

Before you is a summary of the daily lesson as delivered by our teacher, the Rav, Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a (may he live long and good days) – yesterday after the Maariv (evening) prayer, Sunday night, the 26th of Shevat, Parshat Terumah:

It is written in the Parsha (Torah portion), "and your wives shall be widows," because if a woman does not protect her husband, then she remains a widow. This is what happened with the Meraglim (spies), where no woman died; only the men died. And similarly with Korach; Korach said, "Will you gouge out the eyes of those men?" Everyone needs to finish [studying] Terumah today, and learn about the Keruvim (cherubim) who spread their wings ten Tefachim (handbreadths), and from there we learn the laws of the Sukkah. A woman has infinitely more wisdom than the man who puts all his money into gambling and is left without a house; it is the woman's role to give him a "club to the head" (metaphorically) to protect him so that she does not remain a widow. Therefore, Rashi says, "And among these there was not a man," meaning that no woman passed away in the desert; all the women lived for forty years, because no woman was enticed by any sin—neither by Korach nor by the Meraglim. Korach said to Moshe (in the name of the Chida zt"l), "You want us to stay in the desert for forty years because you know that when we enter the Land [of Israel], you will die." "Because Hashem hates [us]," they said; [claiming that] Hashem hates us so much that He split the sea just to kill us in the desert. Korach said the Tzaddik hates his people... The men believed every bit of nonsense; a woman must protect her husband. It is written that [men] are enticed more than women. If a woman has Emunah (faith) in the Tzaddik, she will remain [steadfast] all her life. But a man, he hears Lashon Hara (evil speech/gossip) and is immediately enticed, as written in [the story of] the Rav and the Only Son [by Rebbe Nachman]: at first the horses went, then the axles broke, then they went on foot, and finally when they arrived, someone told them, "I just saw him committing a sin"—at this point, he broke. Just like with Enosh, who at the age of 694—which is the most dangerous age—we ask everyone who reaches this age to call the Rav, and the Rav will strengthen them.