Prayer for the New Moon of the Month of Tammuz - Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a

With the help of Hashem, may He be blessed.

Master of the Universe, Almighty, in the merit of the Molad of the month of Tammuz 5780, which will be on the night of Sunday (this night, Motzaei Shabbat) at 1:05 and 14 parts.

Reveal to us the Ancient of all Ancients, the Hidden of all Hidden, the Concealed of all. And may the verse in the Megillah be fulfilled in us: "The month which was turned for them from sorrow to joy and from mourning to a holiday, to make them days of feasting and joy" (9:22). And the verses in Zechariah: "And the word of Hashem Tzevaot came to me, saying: Say to all the people of the land and to the priests, saying: When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and in the seventh, and this for seventy years, did you fast for Me? ... So said Hashem to Yehoshua ben Yehotzadak the High Priest, and you shall say to him, saying: So said Hashem Tzevaot, saying: Behold, a man whose name is Tzemach (Sprout), and from his place he shall sprout, and he shall build the Temple of Hashem." For the month of Tammuz is when the first Tablets were given, the withered wisdom of Above from the Netzach and Hod of the Ancient One, and therefore it is written "Luchot" (Tablets) without a 'vav', because the Netzach and Hod of the Ancient One are connected. And it is written in Shekalim 16: '40 commandments on this tablet and 40 commandments on that tablet', in the mystery of 'filled with Tarshish', and all the decrees, the Rabbinic laws, and the Halacha given to Moshe at Sinai that the Sages have decreed and will decree, everything was written on the first Tablets, including Likutey Moharan, Likutey Halachot, Sippurei Ma'asiyot, and all other books. "So said Hashem Tzevaot: Old men and old women will yet sit in the streets of Jerusalem, and each with his staff in his hand - [Pesachim 68a] the mystery of the resurrection of the dead - because of many days; and the streets of the city will be filled with boys and girls playing in its streets; So said Hashem Tzevaot: If it is wondrous in the eyes of the remnant of this people in those days, it shall also be wondrous in My eyes," for the first Tablets are revealed every year anew in the month of Tammuz, "Remember the Torah of Moshe," and everything depends on: "So said Hashem Tzevaot, saying: Judge true judgment and perform kindness and mercy, each man to his brother, and do not oppress the widow and the orphan, the stranger and the poor, and do not think evil of one another in your hearts," for the entire destruction was because of 'Kamtza and Bar Kamtza', as it is said: Mishpatim [22:21-23] "You shall not afflict any widow or orphan. If you do afflict them, for if they cry out to Me, I will surely hear their cry, and My anger will burn, and I will kill you with the sword, and your wives will be widows and your children orphans." For in the month of Tammuz, the mystery of the Tablets is revealed, the supernal wisdom of the supernal, in the mystery of Melech Hadar, which is the mystery of the eternal Geulah, and therefore the word "and he died" is not written.

For on the 15th of Tammuz, the plague of blood began [according to the calculation of 30 days between each plague], and the hand of Hashem began to be revealed in the order of the plagues. For on the 17th of Tammuz, the daily offering ceased and the incense ceased, and therefore "The Supernal God, Master of the lower realms, found the worlds and wrote the Torah, for I am justified to serve Him from the time I was a young shepherd... and to offer incense, to the King whose crown is above all His words and prepared the thoughts of the precious matter [Introduction of the Ramban – end of Bechorot]. For in the month of Tammuz, we rectify all the evil thoughts, upon which the entire building of the Holy Temple depends [Pesachim 87a]. As it is said: "That our sons may be as plants grown up in their youth, our daughters as corner pillars, fashioned after the pattern of a palace" [Psalms 144].

And then: "Moab is my washbasin; upon Edom I will cast my shoe; over Philistia I will shout" for 'a man should always sell everything he has and buy shoes for his feet', for Tefillin are the mystery of shoes [Shabbat 62a]. For the heels of Leah are turned into the crown of Rachel, for the crown of Rachel is the heels of Leah, and from the sole of Leah becomes the crown of Rachel, in the mystery of 'what humility did as a heel for the sole, fear did as a crown for its head'. For on the 15th of Tammuz, the hand of Hashem began to be revealed. And with great terror, this is the revelation of the Shechinah, and with wonders, this is the blood, as it is said "And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood" [Haggadah], and with signs, this is the staff "And you shall take this staff in your hand, with which you shall perform the signs" "Or has God tried to come to take for Himself a nation from within a nation by trials, by signs, and by wonders, and by war, and by a mighty hand, and by an outstretched arm, and by great terrors, according to all that Hashem your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes" [Deuteronomy 4:34] [Haggadah]. For the greatest revelations began in the month of Tammuz with the plague of blood, and from then on the labor in Egypt ceased, for everything follows the beginning, and then Egypt and the whole world saw the hand of Hashem intervening in the governance of the world, and overturning all the systems of nature, for the ten plagues, about which it is said 'this is the revelation of the Shechinah', include the Ten Commandments and all the mitzvot until the end of all generations. For even though their defilement ceased from the 4th of Sivan until the 16th of Tammuz, it did not cease completely, and they needed further clarification, in the mystery of 'second Tablets', which are all the decrees and enactments that will be until the end of all generations, until each one merits anew the true resurrection of the dead that they merited from the 4th of Sivan until the 16th of Tammuz. And therefore everyone followed Rabbi Akiva to Bnei Brak even though he was the smallest of them all, for he expounded on every thorn and thorn heaps upon heaps of laws, for he merited the tip of the 'yud' and the thorn of the letter 'dalet' of 'Echad', and therefore he merited to expound in Egypt fifty and on the sea 250, total 300, and with Rabbi Eliezer 240 = 540, and another sixty of Rabbi Yosi HaGlili 600, and another the order of the plagues 613, corresponding to the 613 mitzvot, for on every single mitzvah, the Sitra Achra receives a crushing blow. And this begins from the Molad of the month of Tammuz in which the ten plagues began, for in the month of Tammuz we begin to rectify the seven lamps, for just as the eternal lamp was extinguished on the 17th of Tammuz, so we begin anew to trim the seven lamps in the month of Tammuz, until the flame rises by itself (Torah 21). For until a person rectifies the seven lamps, he is like a person drawing water in a perforated vessel, who will never have water to quench his thirst. And this is the mystery of "And the children of Israel groaned because of the labor, and their cry went up to God," for the children of Israel cried out then to Hashem, for they were rising at midnight and studying Torah and doing all the hard labor in the house and in the field and seeing no results, Hashem answered them: 'The evil tongue is still within you and you do not have proper guarding of the eyes, if so, you are like those drawing in a perforated vessel all the days of your lives and you have no water to drink.' And as the 'Noam Elimelech' says in Parashat Va'era: "And they did not listen to Moshe because of shortness of spirit and hard labor," that they complained to Moshe that they were doing hard labor in the service of Hashem and why were they not saved, Moshe said to them: 'Indeed the matter is known that the evil tongue is still within you and also you do not have proper guarding of the eyes,' in the mystery of "And Moshe heard the people weeping by their families," for when a person has guarding of the eyes, he can get married, and even with a woman who is missing a hand, he will not feel anything all the days of his life [Shabbat 53b]. For the month of Tammuz, which is the month of the Geulah and in the future to come will be turned to gladness and joy, in which the spies went through the entire Land of Israel [from the 29th of Sivan until the 8th of Av], and Calev ben Yefuneh went to prostrate himself on the graves of the Patriarchs, and therefore from him will come Mashiach ben David, and from Yehoshua bin Nun Mashiach ben Yosef, for they are the only ones who did not sin [Imrei Pinchas 886]. And therefore in the Molad of Tammuz specifically is the true segulah to be in the Cave of Machpelah, for there is revealed a spark of Mashiach ben David with Calev ben Yefuneh.

For all the ten plagues that began on the 15th of Tammuz are a preparation for the plague of the firstborn and for the mitzvah of the firstborn, as the Chinuch says in Parashat 'Bechorot' Bo: From the roots of the mitzvah that Hashem, may He be blessed, wanted to grant us merit to perform the mitzvah with the first of its produce, in order to know that everything is His, and he has nothing in the world except what Hashem, may He be blessed, will distribute to him in His kindness, and he will understand this when he sees that after the man has labored many labors and toiled many toils in his world [plowed, sowed, planted], and the time arrived that it produced fruit and the first of its produce is dear to him like the apple of his eye, immediately he gives it to the Holy One, blessed be He, and his domain is emptied of it and he brings it into the domain of his Creator [Bechadash page 99]. For in the month of Tammuz, Hashem began to judge the prince of Egypt with the plague of blood, for every nation has a prince above that protects it, until the time of its destruction arrives and then Hashem passes its prince through the river of fire, a fire consuming fire, for His ministers are flaming fire and they are the princes of the nations of the world, and when the time of their destruction arrives, Hashem passes them through the fire of the river of fire, a fire consuming fire.

And therefore the month of Tammuz begins with Parashat Chukat, the burning of the Red Heifer, which hints at the burning of the prince of the nations in a fire consuming fire, for the nations are called 'temimim' (innocent) [Yalkut Shimoni], but they are red with blood and with sins that have no end, and therefore it was necessary to pass the lamb, which is the idol of Egypt, through fire on its innards and on its legs and they roast it while it is whole, and it is forbidden to leave anything of it until morning, which hinted at the burning of the prince of Egypt and the princes of the nations of the world that begins at the Molad of Tammuz in the Cave of Machpelah, and no memory of it will remain until the 15th of Nissan. And when Hashem kills all the princes of the nations, He will begin with the plague of blood, as it is written in Tikkun 21 [in the small ones 19 Tevet 117]: 'And after He takes vengeance from them, He will not sit on the throne, and at that time that He takes vengeance from the children of Esau, He will come to appease the hind, and she is crying and weeping, Rachel weeping for her children, refusing to be comforted, until the Holy One, blessed be He, swears to her that He is standing to remove them from the world, and He will kill them until the sea is dyed with their blood, and all the beasts of the field will be sustained from them for twelve years, and the birds of the sky for seven years.'

And this is the mystery of the month of Tammuz that begins at the Molad, that then: And He kills the serpent, "And the children of Rechavia [who are the children of Moshe from Eliezer] went up to the head," and they made battles in the sea and on the land, until He kills the serpent. And this is the mystery of "And Hashem will bring you back to Egypt in ships" that all the nations of the world will come in ships against the people of Israel, but all of them will be broken and fall into the sea 'and they will descend into the depths like a stone' 'and they will sink like lead in the mighty waters', and then "There ships will walk" "Riders of white donkeys and those passing on the way speak" they are the ships of the Torah, and then "Leviathan You created to play with" the soul of the Tzaddik, the soul of Moshe that Hashem, may He be blessed, will delight in, in the mystery of "And a nursing child will play over the hole of a cobra and over the viper's den the weaned child will put his hand," and He will kill the serpent and redeem the hind, and then it will be "Set your hearts to her rampart, consider her palaces," and the month of Tammuz will be turned from sorrow and sighing to gladness and joy, and then the verse will be fulfilled: "All of them look to You to give them their food in its time" [Tikkuney Zohar 43a].