Sanctification of the Moon for the Month of Tammuz 5778 with the Esteemed Rabbi

Last night, the Tzaddik, Rav Eliezer Berland shlit"a, stopped in the middle of his journey for a mission of bringing the distant closer to perform Kiddush Levanah. Here are words that Rav Eliezer Berland shlit"a said in the past (Shemot, 17 Tevet 5766) regarding Kiddush Levanah: "And the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed. Everything we come to hear Torah for from tzaddikim is only to receive more humility and more humility, and humility is received through awe of majesty, by seeing Hashem face to face. In the shiur (of the tzaddik), they tell us about miracles and wonders, and then we receive humility, 'and by hearing from his mouth some matter.'"

The Rebbe says that humility is not being a 'shlumper'; humility is when you know that Hashem gives you life, you know that Hashem is speaking from within you. The Rebbe says in Torah 38 that speech is the breath of Hashem's mouth; when a person speaks words of Torah, when a person prays, it is the breath of Hashem's mouth—it is not him at all. You give your mouth to Hashem, you give your eyes to Hashem, your hands to Hashem, your ears to Hashem. That the eyes of the Rebbe should be implanted in my eyes, and the ears of the Rebbe should be implanted in my ears, and the mouth of the Rebbe should be implanted in my mouth—then at that moment, a person merits.

The Rebbe leads the world; he is the head of the house, but he does it through our eyes, our mouth, and our hands. We must pray that the eyes of the Rebbe be implanted in my eyes, and the hands of the Rebbe be implanted in my hands, and the mouth of the Rebbe be implanted in my mouth, and that all 248 limbs and 365 sinews of the Rebbe be implanted within me.

This is the 'lawgiver' (mechokek); the main thing is humility. How does one merit that the Rebbe be implanted in me? By knowing that I am nothing? Because this is called 'lawgiver,' for the Rebbe writes that the humility of Moses is engraved in every limb of every person. A Jew has no pride; that is only something external. The inner essence of every Jew is the peak of humility and lowliness, the peak of submission, and humility is from Moses our teacher, who is the 'lawgiver'—gematria 248.

Photography courtesy of Shachar Eliyahu