The daily strengthening from The Rav, the holy gaon and righteous Tzaddik Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a – Why are you asking for Yavneh? Ask for Jerusalem!

“He turns wise men backward and makes their knowledge foolish” (Isaiah 44:25)

“And it was: when Moshe raised his hand, Israel prevailed; and when he lowered his hand, Amalek prevailed” (Exodus 17:11)

Tuesday, 2 Shevat 5783 – Whatever you ask for on your birthday, you receive.

These are his holy words:

What is “Bashan”?

“Bashan” is Nesanel! Shimon ben Nesanel (Rabbi Shimon ben Nesanel was a Tanna of the second generation, a student of Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai, who called him “G-d-fearing.” He was a Kohen and married the daughter of Rabban Gamliel the Elder).

For all the power of the wicked comes from the neshamah that is inside them—within every wicked person there is some spark, and that is their power. If he merits it, he will return in teshuvah. If he merits it—like Nero Caesar, who did teshuvah (The Gemara (Gittin 56a) tells of a man named Nero Caesar as an emissary of the Caesar who ruled in those days, and not as the Caesar himself. According to that passage, the Roman Caesar sent Nero Caesar to conquer Jerusalem following a slander by a man named Bar Kamtza, claiming that the people of Judea were rebelling against him. When Nero Caesar arrived in Eretz Yisrael, he shot arrows to the four directions of the heavens to determine which place to conquer, and all the arrows ultimately fell in Jerusalem. Nero concluded from this that he would win his war against Jerusalem. Later, he saw a child passing nearby and asked him what he was learning, and the child quoted the verse: “And I will place My vengeance upon Edom by the hand of My people Israel” (Ezekiel 25:14). Nero saw this as a prophecy that G-d would one day take revenge on him for conquering Jerusalem. As a result, Nero fled, converted, and one of his descendants was the Tanna Rabbi Meir).

In every wicked person there is a spark of a Tzaddik—no matter who: Titus, Vespasian, all of them.

Vespasian asked Rabbi Yochanan: What do you want me to give you? (The Gemara (Gittin 56a–b) tells of the meeting between Rabbi Yochanan and Vespasian (the father of Titus), after Rabbi Yochanan was smuggled out of Jerusalem. As described there, Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai foretold to Vespasian that he would be crowned Caesar of Rome, and immediately said to him, “Peace to you, O king” (explaining that the Beis HaMikdash had to fall into the hands of a king). Vespasian explained to Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai that he must destroy Jerusalem, because it is like a barrel of honey with a dragon (meaning a snake) wrapped around it; one must break the barrel in order to remove the dragon, even at the cost of losing the honey. The parable hints that if the zealots (the dragon) are wrapped around the walls of Jerusalem (the barrel), the walls must be destroyed to defeat the zealots, even at the cost of the destruction of Jerusalem and the Beis HaMikdash (the honey). Hearing this, Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai was silent. When Vespasian asked him why he had not come to him until now, he answered that the “biryonim” (violent rebels) prevented it. Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai’s words about Vespasian’s coronation were soon confirmed, and Vespasian—who had to return to Rome and was deeply impressed by Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai’s wisdom—granted him the right to ask for one request. Rabbi Yochanan’s requests were: “Give me Yavneh and its sages, the dynasty of Rabban Gamliel, and doctors to heal Rabbi Tzadok.”)

He said to him: I want Yavneh and its sages. Why Yavneh? Ask for Jerusalem! If you’re already asking—then ask for Jerusalem. Why Yavneh?

“He turns wise men backward and makes their knowledge foolish” (Isaiah 44:25)—what does that mean? Ask for Jerusalem!

Rabbi Yochanan said: If I would have chosen Jerusalem, I would not have received anything; Yavneh is enough for me. What is Yavneh? Ask for Jerusalem!

Rabbi Akiva said: “He turns wise men backward and makes their knowledge foolish.” There are moments when even the greatest rasha is ready to give everything—even Esav. Esav already wanted to convert. Every rasha has a spark—for a minute, an hour, a day.

It is written that on the day of a bar mitzvah, the yetzer hara is not present at all—the yetzer hara runs away. It is brought in Sha’ar HaPesukim on Shemos that at a bar mitzvah the yetzer hara flees from a person. When someone reaches bar mitzvah age, you must tell him: Say that you want to be a Tzaddik. Say that you want to be a Tzaddik—now, at the bar mitzvah, this is the moment.

If a person says that he wants to be a Tzaddik, then he will be a Tzaddik. Whatever he asks for at his bar mitzvah, he receives!

It is written in the Yerushalmi in tractate Rosh Hashanah that whatever you ask for on your birthday, you receive. Whatever you ask for—you and your wife, that is double—on a birthday, whatever you ask for, you receive. You defeat all enemies; there is no enemy that you do not defeat on your birthday.

It is brought here in the Gemara Yerushalmi, Rosh Hashanah: “And it was: when Moshe raised his hand, Israel prevailed; and when he lowered his hand, Amalek prevailed” (Exodus 17:11). When Moshe lowered his hands—“and Amalek prevailed.” Amalek took to war only people whose birthday was that day. He came with 400 mighty warriors, because on a birthday a person defeats everyone; on a birthday, whatever he asks for, he receives—whatever he asks from Hashem regarding the children, the grandchildren, the great-grandchildren.

From the whole generation, only 7,000 will remain. Soon there will be Gog and Magog and only 7,000 will remain. One must pray that those grandchildren and great-grandchildren of mine will be among the 7,000.

It is written regarding Eliyahu HaNavi that 7,000 remained who did not bow to the Baal (“And I will leave in Israel seven thousand—all the knees that did not bow to the Baal, and every mouth that did not kiss him,” I Kings 19:18).

So what did Moshe do? He mixed up the mazalos! Because Amalek knew that if he takes people whose birthday is that day, he defeats everyone—he defeats the people of Israel, he defeats Hashem.