Nearly Two Hours of Shabbos Zemiros ○ Highlights from the Talk at His Pure Table ○ A Special Gift for the Young Men of the Group

The ‘Pe’er Bnei HaNe’urim’ group—bochurim from the great yeshivos of our holy community—were privileged to enter the Friday night Shabbos meal of Parshas Chayei Sarah, in the holy residence, with The Rav shlit"a in his sacred home. The meal took place in honor of the Shabbos celebration of the kapelot’che for the grandson of The Rav, Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a—Mr. Avraham Rubinstein, may he live. We will describe for our readers the Friday night meal in his sacred home together with The Rav shlit"a. After the Maariv prayer of holy Shabbos night, about forty of the group’s bochurim went up to the holy residence of Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a and sat around his pure table, waiting with excitement and awe for his entrance. At 8:45, The Rav shlit"a appeared in his majestic Shabbos attire, with his kapoteh and white kippah, looking like an angel of Hashem Tzevaos. He immediately began reciting “Vayechulu hashamayim,” and then made Kiddush for Friday night with The Rav’s unique melody. After Kiddush, The Rav shlit"a washed his hands for the meal. And immediately after the first kezayis, as is his holy custom, he began singing “Atkinnu,” “Azamer b’shvachin…” All the bochurim sang with excitement and deep awakening. During the zemiros, The Rav shlit"a lingered on the words “Shomrei mitzvoseha…” repeating the melody again and again, signaling with his hand. After completing those zemiros, The Rav shlit"a began “Yah Ribbon…” in the Bobov melody, as is his holy way. Then, when he wanted to repeat the section “Ravrevin,” they began the stirring Pittsburgh melody, and for forty-five minutes The Rav repeatedly signaled with his hand to return again and again to that passage. After that they began “Yah Echsof…” and on the words “V’yihyu rachamecha misgol’lim…” The Rav shlit"a repeated the tune for more than half an hour—just on the words “V’yihyu rachamecha misgol’lim al am kodshecha.” All the bochurim sang with tremendous deveikus together with The Rav, again and again, each time with renewed awakening—ah, the true sweetness of Shabbos! After more than half an hour, The Rav signaled with his hand and they continued with the holy song of Rabbi Aharon of Karlin, and after the stanza of “HaShabbos noam haneshamos,” they returned—according to The Rav’s custom—to the Vizhnitz melody for several minutes.

After more than two hours of melodies and Shabbos zemiros, The Rav shlit"a began saying words of Torah at his pure table. He spoke mainly about the parshah—Chayei Sarah—about Eliezer: that despite the questions he had about Avraham, he still went to seek a wife for Yitzchak. He spoke from Torah 46 about how “kashya” (a difficulty) is an acronym for “Shema Hashem koli ekra” (“Hear, Hashem, my voice when I call”). As the talk continued, he addressed many topics, including guarding one’s eyes, rising early in the morning, being careful with the kashrus of foods, and he also spoke about the sale of Yosef.

After the talk, The Rav shlit"a began singing “Tzur mishelo achalnu” and led the zimun for Birkas HaMazon. At the conclusion of Birkas HaMazon, The Rav shlit"a distributed a special gift to the bochurim of the group—a beautiful, high-quality siddur with a leather cover, embossed with the name of the ‘Pe’er Bnei HaNe’urim’ group. Only at 11:15 did the bochurim leave the home of Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a to return to their homes, to rise early for Shabbos Shacharis with vitality. Now they truly merited to taste the flavor of holy Shabbos.

[caption id="attachment_53681" align="aligncenter" width="787"] The gift the bochurim received from The Rav shlit"a on the Shabbos of unity[/caption]