The Breslov Synagogue in the City of Beitar Illit ○ A Brief Summary from the Shiur

In the Breslov synagogue in Beitar Illit, every day there are prayers with heartfelt melodies and many shiurim. In addition, there is ongoing activity under the leadership of R’ Nachman Zonnenshein, who has the merit of drawing close dozens of young bochurim and strengthening them with niggunim and fiery words of holy inspiration. Now the gabbaim of the Beis Midrash want to expand the boundaries of holiness, and they have decided to build a permanent building for the dozens of mispallelim. Because of this, the gabbaim entered the home of The Rav shlit"a on Wednesday night, the eve of the 25th of Shevat, and he wrote a letter of encouragement for them. After that, The Rav shlit"a delivered a strengthening shiur—more than fifty minutes of blazing fire.

[caption id="attachment_54748" align="aligncenter" width="1080"] The Rav Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a while writing a letter of encouragement[/caption]

At the beginning of the shiur, The Rav shlit"a spoke about a matter—that Shmuel’s father would fly through the air. After that, he spoke about the greatness of Benaiah ben Yehoyada, and also about the greatness of Avner and Shmuel HaNavi. Then he spoke about the obligation to learn the sefarim of the Ben Ish Chai, and also about the matter of the tribe of Zevulun, who nullified themselves before Devorah the prophetess. After that, in response to someone who asked why the tribe of Zevulun merited this, he answered with a wondrous, astonishing insight. Here is the excerpt from the shiur:

It is written: “There is Binyamin, the youngest, who descended into the sea; the princes of Yehudah pelted them with stones; the princes of Zevulun; the princes of Naftali”—all in that one verse, in Chapter 68—that Zevulun went after Binyamin. “There is Binyamin, the youngest, who descended into the sea”—Binyamin jumped into the sea; he didn’t care that they threw stones at him. So why did they throw stones at him? Because he pushed his way forward in line—like Shuvu Banim: they push forward in line. “Why are you pushing in line? Stand in line! There is a line! You’re last—you were born last—so it’s not proper; you should be last.” Binyamin decided: “I will be first—I’m jumping into the sea!” So “the youngest, who descended”—what does “descended” mean? He went down into the sea! “The princes of Yehudah pelted them with stones”—they began throwing stones at him. So this is my explanation: “the princes of Zevulun, the princes of Naftali”—that Zevulun and Naftali jumped in after Binyamin! It’s not understood what Zevulun and Naftali have to do with this here. Rather, Zevulun is without calculations—he says: “Binyamin is jumping? Then I’m jumping too.” He doesn’t think: yes or no, will we drown or won’t we drown—it doesn’t interest him. What do I care whether I drown or I don’t drown? The main thing is: we jump into the sea!

(From the full shiur, which will be published, with Hashem’s help, in the upcoming issue of Shivivei Or)

After fifty minutes of shiur, he concluded with Kaddish and blessed the gabbaim that they should succeed in building the Beis Midrash, in increasing Torah, and in drawing people close in the city of Beitar Illit.