The Virtue of the First Wife and the Obligation to Vaccinate Children • The

Before you is a summary of the topics from the daily lesson as delivered by our teacher, the Rav, Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a (may he live long and good days) – yesterday after the Maariv (evening prayer), Sunday night, the 7th of Tishrei 5786, Parshas Haazinu:

1. The Baal Shem Tov said that if he had been with his first wife, he would have ascended to heaven in the middle of the marketplace, and not like Eliyahu (Elijah the Prophet) who ascended in the desert.
2. Tzom Gedaliah (the Fast of Gedaliah): he did not want to accept Lashon Hara (evil speech/gossip), and therefore they stabbed him.
3. Avner did not stab Yoav back, and therefore he was buried in Me'aras HaMachpelah (the Cave of the Patriarchs).
4. Zohar Tazria: "That it may be well with me for your sake, and that my soul may live because of you" (Genesis 12:13). Everything comes from the wife—both this world and the World to Come.
5. A woman discovered the atom. Only the Jews knew how to split it. Hitler threatened to kill them, so they fled to Switzerland; in this merit, Hitler did not have the bomb.
6. Rebbe Nachman says that every minute is comprised of combinations of [Divine] Names. One must know how to calculate the Sod Ha'ibur (the secret of the leap year/intercalation) in the Rambam (Maimonides).
7. Rebbe Nachman says that one is obligated to give vaccinations to children, and whoever does not give the vaccination is called a "shofech damim" (a shedder of blood/murderer). He cannot enter the World to Come. Even Aharon (Aaron the High Priest), whose two sons died, could not enter the World to Come until Moshe (Moses) sweetened it for him.
8. One must prepare for every trouble with weapons as much as necessary; we do not rely on miracles. The same applies to vaccinations—to confront the disease in advance with a "weapon."
9. Through the Torah, one merits to sweeten all the Dinim (harsh judgments).
10. "He sent darkness and it became dark" (Psalms 105:28)—this refers to not seeing the miracles that exist.
11. Although Rebbe Nachman says that one must prepare weapons, as long as there are girls in the army, it is forbidden to go to the army.