Leaders of the 'Mifal HaTorah' Organization at a Lesson in the Residence of the

On Wednesday night, the 26th of Nissan, Parshas Shemini, a lesson was held at the home of our teacher, the Rav, Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a (may he live long and good days), for the group leaders of the 'Mifal HaTorah' organization. The lesson lasted approximately forty minutes. Below is a summary of the topics mentioned by the Rav shlit"a during the lesson:

Moshe knew the plot of the spies in advance, and we know this because he gave Yehoshua the letter 'Yud' and told him, "May Hashem save you from the counsel of the spies." This is a sign that he knew. Everything has a sign; if there are flies in the house, it is a sign that there is no Shalom Bayis (domestic harmony). The entire war against Amalek is in the merit of Yehoshua—today is his yahrtzeit (anniversary of passing). "A war for Hashem against Amalek from generation to generation"—every generation has an Amalek. Even today, Hamas is Amalek, and they cannot be killed [easily]. It is impossible to take the soul of the tzaddik, as written in the Gemara several times regarding the Satan coming to various Tannaim and Amoraim (Sages of the Mishnah and Talmud): Rabbi Elazar, Rabbi Chiya, and Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi—and he was unable to take their souls. The tzaddikim, through their eating alone, perform tikkunim (rectifications) for all the worlds, and it is considered like a contribution to Hashem. Sennacherib said, "I will bring Hezekiah horses and riders so he can fight me," because there were no soldiers; everyone was in the Beis Medrash (study hall). "The princes of Judah stoned them"—after Nachshon jumped into the water [at the Red Sea], there is a dispute as to why the princes of Judah stoned Benjamin with stones. Was it because they all wanted to jump and Benjamin took their place, or was it because they said Moshe said "Travel," so one must think first, check how it's possible... maybe build rafts... one shouldn't just jump and commit suicide? For it is written that Yehoshua is a "severed head" (meaning one who nullifies his intellect to the leader) and Zebulun is "without a heart and a heart" (meaning without duplicity). The truth is that when going with the tzaddik, one needs neither a head nor a heart; if the tzaddik says to jump into the water, you jump! It is written that when Joab and Abner met, they spoke words of Torah regarding how a woman without arms receives her get (divorce document). Abner showed Joab that she holds it in her mouth, and Joab took advantage of this to stab him in the "fifth rib" (chomesh). Two people came to Beis Shammai and Beis Hillel and asked to learn the entire Torah while standing on one foot. Reb Noson explains in Likutey Halachos (Laws of Deposits 4) the entire order of the Sefiros (Divine emanations) in Sefiras HaOmer (the counting of the Omer). Today is Netzach she'be'Gevurah (Endurance within Strength), which is the Gadlus Sheni d'Ima (the second state of expanded consciousness of the Mother/Binah). On the eve of the seventh day of Pesach, it is Katnus Bet d'Ima (the second state of constricted consciousness), when they said to Moshe, "Is it because there are no graves in Egypt [that you took us to die in the desert]?" There is a Midrash Peliah (wondrous Midrash) that Job asked why Hashem changed His word, saying, "And they shall serve them and they shall afflict them for four hundred years," and Job's mind was not settled until he saw Sukkah, Sukkah, Sukkah. Just as a Sukkah made of four walls can fulfill the obligation with two walls and a tefach (handbreadth), so too this [the exile] was 210 years—two walls representing 200, and the ten corresponding to the tefach. The Rambam says: A person who walks in the ways of Hashem does not need to be an actual prophet and must listen to His voice. Just as Deborah said, "Did Hashem not command?" Did Hashem command? Rather, since they returned to performing the mitzvah of Bris Milah (circumcision) properly, and she taught them the mitzvah of Priah (uncovering the corona) anew, they were then able to go out to war. Regarding Shimei ben Gera, Hashem said to him: even if you kill him, he will be in Gehinnom (purgatory). One must study Gemara with his son every day, and with his daughter, Likutey Halachos. Thus, if a son surpasses all his peers, being holy and ascetic and not turning to other things—if he says something, he is worthy of prophecy, and it is a mitzvah to believe in him, as two witnesses testified about him that his prophecy is true.