"Jephthah's Daughter Did Not Die; Rather, She Dances, Sings

Before you is the full 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, Monday night, the 10th of Tammuz, Parshat Balak:

"So we read about the daughter of Jephthah; she brought him the knife. He wanted to regret his vow; he is a good man. [She said,] 'No, you cannot regret it. You spoke a word, you must fulfill it.' I have never seen such a girl in my life. Why did she do this to him? I don't know, I don't understand; I can never understand it. In short, she brought him the knife [and said], 'Now slaughter me as you said. You must not let a single word of yours fall [unfulfilled].' But it is forbidden to slaughter a human being! What is this? How could she commit such a transgression? She was also being impudent to her father, taking control, and telling him to slaughter her. What is going on here?! Is it permissible to slaughter a person? I don't understand. I cannot understand this. In short, the knife began to drip blood—as it is written in the Abudraham—and this blood entered all the waters in the world. It was a few drops of blood, and it mixed into all the waters and all the lakes. Therefore, this year it was on the 15th of Sivan—the Tekufah (seasonal turning point); usually, it is the 15th of Tammuz, but this is a leap year. In short, all the springs, wells, and lakes were filled with a drop of blood. Therefore, during the Tekufah, it is forbidden to drink even a drop of exposed water. It is all because of Jephthah's daughter; she is responsible for it all. In the end, a Bas Kol (Heavenly Voice) went forth. What did the Bas Kol say? It’s good that you don’t know: 'Do not lay your hand upon the lad and do nothing to him' [a verse from the Binding of Isaac applied here]. Such a Bas Kol went forth. I didn't hear the Bas Kol; what can I do? A Bas Kol went forth, but I didn't hear it, and no one takes me into account. People always hurt me and insult me; they didn't take me into account. A Bas Kol went forth: 'Do not lay your hand upon the lad'—that's it, what can be done? Now she dances all day, just as she went out with drums and dances; so too, she dances in Heaven twenty-four hours a day—she only dances and dances. Just like Serach bat Asher, who said, 'I am ready to die.' Anyone who would have said that Joseph was alive would have died on the spot. [Jacob would ask,] 'How do you know Joseph is alive? Why didn't you reveal this to me?' Is there a grandfather or isn't there a grandfather? What is this... anyway, I don't have a grandfather, but he [Jacob] had a grandfather. I didn't know my grandfather; what can I do? I tried to get to know him; I traveled to Técső and Budapest to look for him. I traveled to Rabbi Shayele of Kerestir (Rabbi Yeshaya Steiner zt"l) so he would reveal to me where my father is—I don't know where my father is, I don't know where he is. But he [Jacob] has a grandfather. And anyone who would reveal [that Joseph is alive] would die on the spot, for they [the brothers] made a Cherem (excommunication/ban). So the Baal HaTurim says: How did Serach bat Asher know? Who revealed it to her? Who told her? How did she know he was alive?! After all, her father didn't tell her, her uncle didn't tell her. No one told her; such a thing is not revealed. You sell a brother—do you reveal it? Heaven forbid! Anyone who reveals it dies on the spot. The Baal HaTurim says she was a prophetess. Once, every girl was a prophetess; every daughter was a prophetess. A girl always has a higher IQ than a boy in everything. At age thirteen, she is always a million times [more mature] than the boy. All of Jacob's daughters were prophetesses, and his granddaughters too. And the Midrash says, 'Your lips, O bride, drip honey (Nofes)'—'Nofes Titofna' refers to the 600,000 (six hundred thousand) prophets in every generation. Throughout the period of the First Temple, everyone was a prophetess. Therefore, the Rambam (Maimonides) says that Hashem did not reveal the location of the building of the Temple. It is written, 'To the place that Hashem shall choose.' If it had been revealed, it would have been filled with churches, mosques, and houses of idolatry. Now there are only two. Otherwise, there would have been thousands upon thousands. So Hashem did not want to reveal it, because the gentiles copy everything from the Jews; wherever there is a holy place, they immediately build a church, a place of idolatry, or a mosque there. Just like over the grave of Elisha, they immediately built a church. They knew where Elisha was buried. They threw Shalom, the father of Hanamel, into Elisha's grave. This Hanamel came to sell the field to Jeremiah. He said to him, 'In another moment, Jerusalem will be conquered; in another second they will enter. The armies are ready, they are ascending the wall—buy the field! It's worth a billion dollars, but it's only ten thousand dollars now. Buy it; in another seventy years, everyone will return. Because a field of ten thousand will be worth ten billion—buy it!' This was Hanamel the son of Shalom. They threw him [Shalom ben Tikvah] in the middle of the village. The Hamasniks and the Jihadists arrived from Gaza; they arrived in the middle of the burial on Mount Carmel. They threw him [into the grave], saw an open grave, and threw him in. He immediately jumped out of the grave! How did they throw him? This is also against the State Attorney's Office and against the courts. There is now a trial in The Hague—how did he jump out of the grave? It's against the law! There is an international law that it is forbidden to jump out of the grave. He jumped out, and he even had sons and daughters; they called [one of the sons] Hanamel. Everything now... so Reb Nosson (Rabbi Nosson of Breslov zt"l) says, 'Now we have arrived to return the church.' There was a church there; exactly then, the Arab governor conquered Haifa and destroyed the church. The Muslims had a room there; they wouldn't let them enter. We fought with them, he says. And then he says, 'We fought with them and succeeded in entering the grave of Elisha.' After that, they built a church there again; now the guys were there and didn't do anything to them. In any case, the grave of Elisha is a grave that can revive the dead. Whoever reaches the grave of Elisha can revive the dead. And Serach bat Asher, in that merit, lives forever, in the merit of her saying 'Joseph is alive': 'Joseph is still alive, and he is ruler over Egypt, and he has two sons, Menashe and Ephraim'."