The Greatness of Dancing and the Merit of the Women Who Did Not Sin at All

Before you is the lesson delivered by our teacher, Rav Berland shlit"a, last night - Tuesday night, 14th of Tammuz, Pinchas, after Maariv.

So, Masechet Yevamot concludes. Yevamot, regarding the one who opened the heads of a thousand people. And he sat for a thousand years in prison afterward. You do not study Yevamot; you do not study what is written in Yevamot. Do you remember that one who opened the heads of a thousand people? With a fig branch. So [Rabbi Tarfon] said to him, "You are a lion." He said, "They call me Aryeh (lion)." They truly call me Aryeh: "He crouched, he lay down like a lion, and like a lioness, who shall rouse him?" (Numbers 24:9). Every Jew is a lion! "He crouched, he lay down like a lion, and like a lioness, who shall rouse him?" Everyone must know that he is a lion. And therefore, [in truth], it is written, "There was not a man" (ibid. 26:64). What does Rashi say? Do you have a Rashi in the Chumash Bamidbar? What does Rashi say about "There was not a man"? That all the men died except for the women; no woman died. No woman died, only men died. We calculated that every year, fifteen thousand eight hundred [men] died. Dividing six hundred thousand by forty, it is thirty-eight years. It comes out to fifteen thousand eight hundred eighty-eight. Everyone would dig a grave; everyone would dig a grave. Whoever was sixty years old would dig a grave in the morning—by Tisha B'Av morning, he was already in the Garden of Eden, strolling in the Garden of Eden, they just needed to cover his grave. Everyone dug a grave for himself, every year fifteen thousand eight hundred eighty-eight, except for the last year.

Therefore, there is Tu B'Av. On Tu B'Av, they dance all night; they do not stop dancing for a single second. Just as Serach bat Asher only danced; all of a person's service is only the dancing. A person is always for the sake of the dancing; for this, a person came into the world. Everyone must know that the dancing—it is written in Hilchot Apotropus, Halacha 3, that all the study of the Gemara is only for the sake of the dancing, for the sake of the melodies, "From the sound of the night, the roof collapsed" (Pesachim 85b). Now they will say Hallel in two weeks; we need "the roof to collapse" then.

Tomorrow is already the Yahrtzeit of the holy Ohr HaChaim. Everyone will be there without exception, and from there, we travel straight to Uman. A person must first know the holy Ohr HaChaim, and study the holy Ohr HaChaim every week. Every week, one is obligated to study the holy Ohr HaChaim! Everyone with the Parsha. "There was not a man," because all the people were counted, to show that everyone is an important number. Even thirty, it is written thirty, sixty-four thousand five hundred and thirty.

So why is it not written in the [sin of the] Golden Calf how many died? It is written "three thousand" (Exodus 32:28), so that it would be written exactly? Rather, in truth, in the Golden Calf, no one sinned! It was only Julius and Yambus. The Zohar says only two died, only Julius and Yambus, the children of Bilaam; they became the leaders [in the Golden Calf]. And this is the greatness of the people of Israel, that as soon as Moshe came down, they burned the calf, they burned it "thoroughly, thoroughly well," and it went down into the stream, and they gave it to everyone to drink. Everyone had to drink from the water, and their lips turned to gold. Whoever even thought! Only thought to worship the calf, their lips turned to gold, and he choked from the lips. They call it 'aspind' today; there is a disease where the lips swell, and then one dies from it. So that was the disease of the Golden Calf. [There were] three types: one was a plague, one was the lips swelling, and one was the three thousand. But in truth, "on the day I visit, I will visit" (Exodus 32:34), the entire Holocaust is because of the Golden Calf.

However, the women did not sin in the Golden Calf; no woman sinned in the Golden Calf. They did not give their earrings; they did this [covered their ears with their hands], so they tore their ears. Therefore, it is forbidden to do laundry on Rosh Chodesh, because the women did this [as mentioned], so it is impossible to do laundry now. Under no circumstances! For boys, it is permitted; for girls, it is forbidden. Rosh Chodesh is a holiday for women; they must recite Tehillim all day. They were not among the spies, therefore no woman died. All the six hundred thousand, six hundred thousand men died, but not the women. No woman died, no woman was harmed. All the women entered—everyone who left Egypt entered the Land of Israel. Every woman merited to enter the Land of Israel! Because they were not in any sin. Not only that, but even the wife of On ben Pelet bought him Hungarian wine. Everyone should see to buy Hungarian wine; we are obligated to buy Hungarian wine tonight, and drink a little of it. Hungarian wine is very important. She gave him to drink, he slept for twenty-four hours. He said, "What will be with Tefillin?" She said to him, "You are exempt from Tefillin; you are arguing with the tzaddik, you are exempt from Tefillin! Just sleep, sleep, sleep, sleep." He woke up when everyone had already been swallowed into the earth.