Holy words delivered by The Rav, Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a, on the 5th of Nissan 5782—the day of the Nasi Elitzur ben Shedeiur, and the yahrtzeit of the Apter Rebbe

“Today we read about Elitzur ben Shedeiur—that every person must enter into the Rock: ‘And you shall stand upon the top of the Rock,’ the cleft of the Rock. Because now we are traveling beyond the Sambatyon. In another ten minutes, one hundred buses are leaving—each bus with one hundred men.”

Because “Let Reuven live and not die”—Reuven crossed the Sambatyon. And just as he made the calves, our “friend” Yeravam made the calves. For his father was Sheva ben Bichri, and he saw fire. The Gemara in Sanhedrin says—he suddenly saw fire; he saw fire, and he understood that it was a fire of such holiness, a fire of Kodesh Kodashim. So he went and rebelled against David. He said, “The fire is going with me, surrounding me.” But it wasn’t really him—this was Yeravam ben Nevat. Sheva ben Bichri was a gilgul of Yeravam ben Nevat: he looked but did not truly see. He looked and saw fire, yet he did not understand what he was seeing.

You can see fire like Rabbi Yehonasan ben Uziel—fire that people would see: fire! Suddenly all the birds would be burned, all the trees would burn; all the trees would become roasted by fire. This is what happened around Rabbi Yehonasan ben Uziel. Birds, trees—everything was affected by that fire.

And after this there was a bris—there was a bris; by Avuyah there was a bris.

So now there was an argument: how did they keep the kollel going in the days of King David—and how do they keep the kollel going here? In the end it became unbearable for them, and they ran away; they went down into the basement below. Suddenly—boom—fire burst out! What a fire, what a blaze! And “all of them wept over the burning that Hashem had burned.” A fire like this had never existed in the world; the entire building went up in flames. They brought planes from Syria, from Greece, to put it out. They even brought a super-tanker—this super-tanker carries eighty tons. Every five minutes, eighty tons of water—yet it didn’t succeed; it didn’t work; it didn’t work.

What did Avuyah do? He put on asbestos clothing—clothing that protects against fire. Firefighters go with asbestos clothing, against fire. He entered into the fire, went down one hundred and fifty steps, descending בתוך the fire—down, down, down—until he reached the basement. He saw the fire coming out of the basement. Crash… he kicked the basement door; the door opened. What did he see? Rabbi Eliezer and Rabbi Yehoshua.

The Miracle of Shabbos HaGadol

Now we are learning the weekly parashah, Metzora—Shabbos HaGadol—about “On the tenth of the month, take for yourselves…” Because the miracle happened on Shabbos HaGadol. The Tur writes that the miracle of Shabbos HaGadol was even greater than the miracle of the Exodus from Egypt. Because there, everyone died—there, suddenly everyone died. At the Plague of the Firstborn, the firstborn came and said to Pharaoh: “What are you doing—what is going on here? We already received nine; we don’t have strength for one more. How much strength do you think we have?” True, Shuvu Banim can take more blows… but they said: “No strength—we have no strength.”

And he said: “No! I don’t care about anything! Not a single Jew is leaving here! I tell you—I swear by my crown! Not a single Jew will dare to leave here!” Then the blows began—swords; twice as many firstborn died as died in the Plague of the Firstborn. “Who struck Egypt through their firstborn”—double. This is Shabbos HaGadol, which will be in two days—Shabbos HaGadol will be in two days.

The Yahrtzeit of the Apter Rebbe

Today is the yahrtzeit of the Apter Rav—greater than Yom Kippur. Everything can be accomplished today. And today—today everyone is traveling to Uman, so that not a single person will dare to remain here. No passports are needed, nothing is needed; the Ukrainians are happy that people are coming. They strengthen them and pray for them, that there should be peace. “Why did you come?” To pray that there should be peace. All the time they asked us, “Why are you coming?” To pray that there should be peace. They want peace—“peace” in Russian is “mira,” “mira.” Everything is “mira” boulevards, and there are boulevards of “mir”—it’s all “mira, mira, mira.” Whoever has a daughter should call her Mira—then, with Hashem’s help, now we are still in “mira.” Then suddenly they saw the fire coming out, and they didn’t know what to do with the fire. They don’t know—everywhere fire breaks out, and more fire, and more… more fire, more fire, more fire. And this is Elitzur ben Shedeiur, who enters into the cleft of the Rock—and from there they ascend in a chariot of fire and horses of fire.