The Night of Tisha B'Av, "How to Restore the Divine Light"

Holy words from our teacher, the Gaon and Tzaddik, Rav Eliezer Berland shlit"a, for the night of Tisha B'Av, 5780.

"'And the middle bar shall bolt from end to end.' This is from the tree that our forefather Abraham planted in Beersheba. When the Children of Israel crossed the sea, the ministering angels cut down the tree and threw it into the sea, where it floated upon the water. The angels proclaimed: 'This is the tree that Abraham planted in Beersheba, where he prayed before Hashem and called out in the name of Hashem.' The Children of Israel took it and made from it a middle bar seventy cubits long. 'When they would insert it into the planks of the Tabernacle, it would roll and turn from end to end like a snake. And when they would remove it, it would stretch out like a rod'" (Midrash, Targum Yonatan ben Uziel).

Our teacher, Rav Berland, says:

"Here in Tzalmon is the middle bar; this is the place where they planted the middle bar, and afterwards, they brought it down to Jerusalem, eight cubits into the ground. Rebbe Nachman says (Likutey Moharan 286): 'Only through the gates, for there are gates—that is, the aspect of the gates of the Garden of Eden, through which one merits to enter the Garden of Eden, meaning the attainment of higher wisdom and lower wisdom. However, these gates are hidden and concealed in the earth, the aspect of (Eicha 2): "Her gates have sunk into the ground."' By reciting the Kinot, we raise the gates anew and build the Holy Temple—especially on the night after the Kinot, when everyone travels to Meron and Hebron."

"The sons of Korach did not die... everyone cries out: 'Moses is true and his Torah is true.' Tisha B'Av arrives, and everyone cries out: 'Moses is true and his Torah is true.' The tzaddik is the truth; even though they say 'Moses is dead'—Moses is not dead, he continues to live, alive and existing for all eternity."

"'And the name of the city was Luz at the first' (Genesis 28). Luz is the resurrection of the dead (Likutey Moharan 5)."

"Walnuts, which are called 'luzim' (hazelnuts), hint at the aspect of Leah, who is at the nape of the neck, which is the first female. Afterwards, one enters the Holy Temple, which is the aspect of: 'Jacob called it Beit El' (Pesachim 88). This is what Rashi explains (Judges 1), that through Luz, one enters Beit El. This is (Isaiah 40): 'Comfort, comfort'—'Nachamu' (comfort) has the same gematria as 'kodkod' (crown of the head), which is the aspect of the nape of the neck, through which one enters Beit El. These are the three weeks, which are the twenty-one days of the Three Weeks, and corresponding to it is the Luz tree. For this reason, it is customary to eat an egg at the final meal before the fast on Tisha B'Av, because the egg is completed in twenty-one days, as our Sages, of blessed memory, said (Bechorot 8, see Tosafot there): 'A hen lays in twenty-one days,' etc. Corresponding to this is the Luz tree, and this is the Luz bone that exists in the nape of a person's neck, which remains after the destruction of the body, and from it, the body will be rebuilt at the time of the resurrection of the dead. This is the essence of our comforts, the aspect of 'Comfort, comfort' as mentioned above. For regarding the body, it is said (Ruth 3): 'Lie down until the morning,' which is the time of resurrection. 'And behold, in the morning, and behold, she is Leah' (Genesis 29)—this is the aforementioned Luz bone, through which the body is built. And because all of Jacob's intention was for Rachel, it is said regarding the sons of Rachel, meaning Joseph: 'And to the crown of the head of the one set apart from his brothers' (Genesis 49). And regarding Benjamin, it is written (Deuteronomy 33): 'And between his shoulders he dwells.' This is a hint that through the aspect of Leah, who is the first, one can come to the aspect of Rachel. The crown of the head and his shoulders are the aspect of the aforementioned Luz. 'Oref' (nape) has the gematria of 350, the initials of: 'Shabbat Nachamu,' a hint to the above."

"Luz is the time of the resurrection of the dead; now is the time of the resurrection of the dead, '370,000 lights.'"

"A person dies because the Divine light departs from him. The evil inclination extinguishes the light, and one must study Torah in order to receive the light (Likutey Moharan 21). When a person disputes the tzaddik, he immediately dies, literally; he has no light at all. Tisha B'Av is the day when one hears Hashem, sees Hashem face to face."

"'Whoever mourns for Jerusalem merits and sees her joy' (Taanit 30b). The entire point of Tisha B'Av is to weep over the destruction."

"The entire month of Av is the Lion: 'The lion has roared, who will not fear?' (Amos 3:8). The lion from the Chariot accompanies us and protects us in all our ways, in every place. There are 30,000 myriads of lions that accompany every Jewish man and woman on Erev Shabbat before they enter for Kiddush. 'Who and who are the ones going?' (Exodus 10:8) that Pharaoh asked Moses and Aaron."

"When we eat the egg and dip it in ash, there is an elevation for all the wicked in the world, because the ash hints that they have no spark. There is an elevation for all the nations, for all the wicked, for all the heretics, for all the sinners, that everyone will recite Kinot until the morning. For they ascend to Adam Kadmon: 'To give to the mourners of Zion, to give them beauty instead of ashes' (Isaiah 61:3), for 'And to the crown of the head of the one set apart from his brothers' (Genesis 49). For Joseph danced for 22 years without stopping, just like Serach bat Asher who only danced."

"If a woman dances for Hashem, then she enters the Garden of Eden with her body, like Jezebel who killed 60 myriads of prophets. What, could Hashem not have sent one lightning bolt and killed her? Rather, it is because she was always dancing at weddings to gladden the bride, therefore it was impossible to kill her! 'And it shall come to pass, because you listen' (Deuteronomy 7:12)—that one raises and jumps with the heels in dances and sweetens the judgments. Then one performs the unification of the sun and the moon; all of Tisha B'Av is the connection of the sun with the moon, because the 'Nunim' (the letter Nun) were created."

"The tikkun of the Nunim, the fifty gates of understanding. Whoever is named Yinon can rectify the Nunim."

"Therefore, there is no 'Nun' in the psalm of 'Ashrei,' because in 'Ashrei' it is impossible to rectify the Nunim, only in 'And it came to pass when the Ark traveled' (Numbers 10:35), because the rectification is done only through the journeys that one travels to the tzaddikim, to Hebron; that is how one rectifies the Nunim. Today is the fiftieth gate where all the Nunim are rectified; one ascends to Adam Kadmon near the Rama, the rectification of the inverted Nunim of 'And it came to pass when the Ark traveled.'"

"On Tisha B'Av, we build Rosh Hashanah. Now we pray that we will be able to travel, that we will be able to be in the Kibbutz in Uman, 100,000 people. 4 million people will arrive in Uman; everyone will do teshuvah and believe in our Rebbe. This is the last opportunity to weep on Tisha B'Av; there will not be another Tisha B'Av, this is the last one. Tisha B'Av is over, this is the last, the last; one must utilize this Tisha B'Av to bring Mashiach, to rectify the Nunim. All day, just travel—to Hebron, to Meron, to Uman. On Rosh Hashanah, everyone is in Uman; there is no excuse not to arrive."

"Maybe because of the coronavirus, people will gather in a different place in Uman, ascend some mountain, but they will travel."

"Everyone must rise for prayer at four in the morning; whoever rises at ten, his prayer is not accepted, therefore his children..."