To Uman We Must Travel, There Is No Excuse

Shall we travel to our Rebbe for Rosh Hashanah or, Heaven forbid, not? This question occupies tens of thousands in Israel. As is known, the journey to Uman for Rosh Hashanah has long ceased to be a matter for one specific public or another. Tens of thousands from all corners of the globe arrive every year for the holy gathering in Uman, but this year, following the unique situation in which all countries closed their gates, a burning question arose regarding the trip to Uman.

On Thursday, the 35th day of the Counting of the Omer, our teacher, the Gaon and Tzaddik Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a, delivered a special lesson from Tzalmon, in which he addressed this question. He opened his holy words thus:

"Today is Malchut of Hod, today is the counting of Hod, today we are on the thirty-fifth day, concluding the counting of Hod, the feet of the feet, the smallness of smallness, (this is expressed by the fact) that a person cannot learn and cannot pray. Let him say Psalms, let him travel to Meron, let him travel to Hebron, let him travel to the grave of the Prophet Yitro, I was there. Is it possible to travel there, or is it now locked with locks? They have no right to close any graves of tzaddikim; it is against the law, it is against the Geneva Convention and the Oslo Accords!"

"Today we finished the counting of Hod, the feet of the feet, the smallness of smallness. Now it is 'between the times'—they said it would be until Tisha B'Av, Tisha B'Av is Thursday, July 30th, by July the Corona will end. In the meantime, there is a severe lockdown in England and Britain; Queen Elizabeth entered a bunker to hide from people, and they said it would continue until after Tishrei, but—one must travel to Uman, there is no excuse, Shuvu Banim must be in Uman, there is no such thing."

"Now we are beginning to count the counting of Yesod, Yesod of Yesod; everyone will be by Yosef HaTzaddik without exception. Hod of Hod is by Rabbi Shimon, Netzach of Netzach is to be by our Rebbe; next year in Netzach of Netzach, all of Shuvu Banim, ten thousand students, will be by our Rebbe in Netzach of Netzach, and after that, they will be there again on Rosh Hashanah."

"Now we are in Malchut of Hod; Hod of Hod was the feet of the feet, the smallness of smallness, where a person can no longer learn, cannot pray, cannot do anything, so let him say Psalms, let him go to a field, look for a forest or a grove—we were at Givat HaMivtar on Sheshet HaYamim Street, there are wonderful groves there."