Parshas Ki Tisa - "Every word a person learns is adorned with 370 myriad crowns"

The words of The Rav, Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a, for Parshas 'Ki Tisa'

"With every letter of the Torah, it is possible to turn over the entire globe—with every letter of the Torah. So the angels wanted to burn him (Moshe Rabbeinu). Myriads upon myriads arrived: 'Why are you taking the Torah? You are going to dominate us? What is happening here? We will burn you with the breath of our mouths.' Then several myriads of angels arrived, myriads of myriads of supreme angels, [saying] it is not fitting for them to have flames in their mouths."

The words of Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a for Parshas Ki Tisa

"So Hashem hid him. Hashem Himself screened him—'I have covered you.' He guarded him from all the destroying angels, guarding him until he descended down to earth. Then he saw the calf and had to break the tablets to bring new tablets, and they wanted to burn him. So too, when a person learns Torah, there are also accusations against him. When a person learns Torah, there are terrible accusations against him because he wants to rule over the whole world. These are the bad thoughts that come to him. The bad thoughts are the angels that come and want to burn him and want to confuse him so that he will leave."

"'Go out! How long can you hold on?' Bad thoughts come to him: 'I want to buy falafel, pizza.' Sit and learn! What is falafel? What is pizza? There is pritzus (immodesty) and [issues of] guarding one's eyes. Bring a sandwich from home and eat it. Bring three sandwiches, put whatever you put in them, the main thing is do not go outside. In one second, cut three or four slices, put something in it, and come to learn. Take a tomato with a cucumber in some bag, make some compote, and that's it. Why do avreichim (married Torah students) buy pizza and falafel? It is all toxins! It is all pikuach nefesh (danger to life)! It is all cancers! And specifically the terrible pritzus that exists in every corner; it is impossible to take even one step in the street today, neither in summer nor in winter."

"A person goes out, he can see the most terrible thing in the world, may Hashem have mercy. Afterwards, he cannot learn; for years afterwards, he cannot learn. So all of this is destroying angels that come to disturb him in the study of Torah. So a person is within the Torah—do not move! A million thoughts come to you—do not move! These are the angels coming to burn you because you are now going to dominate them."

"So he says the same thing: when a person learns Torah, billions of angels come to burn him, so Hashem at that moment (hides him as it is written), 'For I have covered you.' Hashem guards him, covers him so the angels will not be jealous of him. Because for every single word, he says, from every word a person learns, they adorn it with 370 rivoa (myriad) crowns—370,000 crowns. They adorn him and create from this new heavens—from every single word, new heavens."

"'I have covered you... the foundation of the earth.' And every single word ascends, as it is said, 'To say to Zion, you are My people (ami).' Do not read 'My people' (ami), but rather 'with Me' (imi)—that from every letter, from every word, they create new heavens. A new earth. We sing 'Adon Olam,' say The Tikkun HaKlali, and create new heavens, a new earth. 'Consumed in wrath, consumed and they are no more'—we do this against the missiles. 'Consumed in wrath, consumed and they are no more'—destroying all the nations, the nations are no more. There is no power like The Tikkun HaKlali; it destroys all the nations. 'I have covered you... the heavens and the foundation of the earth,' because every single word a person utters from his mouth, whether in Torah or in prayer, creates new heavens, a new earth, a new reality. 'To plant the heavens and lay the foundation of the earth, saying to Zion, you are My people.' 'When you walk, your step shall not be hindered'—you will walk straight. 'When you walk, your steps shall not be hindered, and if you run, you shall not stumble.' Do not be afraid, you will not stumble. We say The Tikkun HaKlali: 'He brought them out with silver and gold, and there was no stumbler in His tribes.' We say The Tikkun HaKlali, return from Uman: 'He brought them out with silver and gold.'"

"The People of Israel calculated that Moshe went up the mountain on the 17th of Sivan. It was six hours [into the day]; he went up at six, at noon, at 12:00 PM. Six hours was not part of the count. They calculated that as well, and he did not come. They said, 'Moshe has surely died.' Darkness, cloud, and fog appeared—the Satan did all of this. The Satan came and confused the world, saying, 'The end of the world has arrived,' like the daughters of Lot—the end of the world. What is 'the end of the world'? If it's the end of the world, do we start committing sins? Yehareg v'al ya'avor (one should be killed rather than transgress)! What is 'the end of the world'? So it's over, the end of the world, so we make a calf? Why make a calf? There is Aaron, there is Chur, there is Joshua bin Nun. The flaw of Klal Yisrael (the Jewish people) is the deed of the calf. This is the flaw of Klal Yisrael, that they made a calf. This is the flaw—in the middle of Matan Torah (Giving of the Torah), thunder and lightning, and they make a calf? How can such a thing be understood? There is no logic in this, no understanding."

"We are in Parshas Ki Tisa. They will read 'Calf.' The first tablets were given in public (parhesia), so the Evil Eye dominated them and they were broken. The second tablets were given in private, so they were not (broken). So why were (the first tablets) given in public? If not for the initial enthusiasm, if not for the thunder and lightning, it is impossible to hold on. A person has endless tests every minute, every second. If he does not see some vision, visions of God, he will not hold on in the regular tests. This one annoys him, that one speaks about him, this one throws a stone, that one punches him. A person is, after all, Cain and Abel. If he does not see visions of God, if there are no thunder and lightning, he will not hold on."

The words of The Rav, Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a, on the Haftarah of 'Ki Tisa'.

"Elijah comes to Ahab and says to Ahab, 'We are going up to Mount Carmel, and there on Mount Carmel, we will see who can bring down fire from heaven.' Hiel of Bethel hid under the altar, for how did the idolaters bring down fire? One would hide under the altar and light a fire. So a snake came and bit him—Hiel of Bethel, that mayor of Jericho, that man (about whom it is written in I Kings 16:34: 'In his days (of Ahab), Hiel of Bethel built Jericho; with Abiram his firstborn he laid its foundation, and with Segub his youngest son he set up its gates' (according to the word of Hashem spoken by Joshua bin Nun)) (as explained in Joshua 6:26). He dared in his insolence to be under the altar of idolatry and tried to light a fire, so immediately a snake came and bit him."

"Then Elijah came and mocked them: 'Scream loudly!' Why scream loudly? 'Maybe he fell asleep.' He hinted to them, 'I know you hid Hiel of Bethel under the altar. Try.' 'And they took the bull that was given to them, and they prepared it and called on the name of Baal from morning until noon.' They said, 'O Baal, answer us!' But there was no voice and no one answering. 'And they leaped upon the altar that was made.' And they scream and scream, thinking maybe he fell asleep. 'And it was at noon that Elijah mocked them and said, Call out with a loud voice, for he is a god; perhaps he is conversing, or pursuing enemies, or on a journey; perhaps he is asleep and will awaken.'"

"Elijah hinted to them, 'I know you hid Hiel of Bethel, the mayor of Jericho. Maybe he will wake up.' But a snake had already bitten him immediately in the morning. 'And they called out with a loud voice and cut themselves according to their custom... until blood gushed out on them. And it was when noon passed, and they prophesied until the time of the Minchah offering, but there was no voice, no answer, and no attention.' Elijah said, 'Now my turn has arrived.' Elijah's turn arrived, and fire descended from heaven, and everyone saw the fire descending and licking up the water that was in the trench. 'And the fire of Hashem fell and consumed the burnt offering, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and the water that was in the trench it licked up.' 'And all the people saw, and they fell on their faces and said, Hashem is God! Hashem is God!' And Elijah said to them, 'Seize the prophets of Baal; let not a man of them escape.' And they seized them, and Elijah brought them down to the Brook of Kishon and slaughtered them there."

"'And it was in the meantime that the heavens grew black with clouds and wind, and there was a great rain; and Ahab rode and went to Jezreel.' And rain began to fall. They screamed, 'Hashem is God, Hashem is God,' they saw the fire descending from heaven. The entire nation repented (chazar b'teshuvah). Gentlemen, this entire nation will repent! The entire nation is repenting! That the entire Nation of Israel does not sleep and does not eat, serving [Hashem] nineteen hours a day, twenty hours a day. And all the people will scream, 'Hashem is God, Hashem is God.' 'And the hand of Hashem was on Elijah, and he girded his loins and ran before Ahab until the entrance of Jezreel.' 'And Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done,' and all that he had done, that he killed all the prophets with the sword. Ahab turned into a believer. Ahab was simple (tamim); the Gemara says in Sanhedrin that Ahab was simple, only that Jezebel his wife incited him. He could not stand up against an evil woman who incites him. May Hashem have mercy on the entire Nation of Israel, that in this generation there will not be such women. Everyone did teshuvah."