The daily chizuk from The Rav, Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a — “The only advice is Emunah and Bitachon”

Friday, 11 Sivan 5782 — “A person must learn Gemara every day.” These are his holy words:

It’s like with Rabbi Chanina ben Dosa, when there was an argument between the shepherd’s son and the owner.

The owner said to the shepherd: Why did you run away? Why are you fleeing? So what if there’s a lion—what happened? Are you afraid of the lion? What?

I’m praying—I’m doing Hisbodedus for you—that you should have courage, that you shouldn’t be afraid of lions!

It would have been much better if you had stayed there—then you would have had an eitzah: you’re not allowed to run away!!! You would have found some eitzah for how to subdue the lion!!! To throw a stone at it, something. But you ran—so that’s it, there’s nothing to do; it tore apart five sheep.

It is written regarding Yaakov Avinu that a lion would go out every day to tear apart five sheep—every morning and every evening.

Yaakov Avinu would give them bris milah—the lion, the sheep—he would circumcise them, because all those sheep were later reincarnated in the grandchildren of Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov—within the seventy souls; they were all reincarnated within the seventy souls.

That’s why Yaakov would learn Gemara and Shas with them; he would learn Ketzos HaChoshen with them.

A person must learn Ketzos HaChoshen every day—even with the sheep. Whoever has sheep should learn with them.