Today, 1 Shevat, All the Gates of Wisdom Are Opened • The Daily Lesson from the

Here is the complete daily lesson as delivered by The Rav, Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a, on Sunday, Rosh Chodesh—night of 1 Shevat, after the Ma’ariv prayer:

So Serach bas Asher—Serach bas Asher—she simply danced for twenty-four hours without stopping for even a second, and in this way she entered Gan Eden with her body. And Bityah, the daughter of Pharaoh, rebelled against her father. A stubborn and rebellious daughter—her father ordered that all the children be strangled. All the girls in Egypt went around with jars; they seized babies and strangled them, drew their blood, filled the jars with blood, and brought it to Pharaoh. Pharaoh would bathe in one hundred and fifty babies in the morning and one hundred and fifty babies in the evening. He was completely white with leprosy, and only the blood of Jewish babies helped him. All the girls in Egypt would roam around in the Malach—the Jewish quarter—looking for baby boys who had stepped outside by mistake. They would grab them, strangle them, draw their blood, suck their blood. They filled jars and walked with jars full of blood, bringing Pharaoh a “gift.” Each one received a kilo of sugar for every Jewish baby—one baby, a kilo of sugar; two babies, two kilos of sugar. And so, blessed is Hashem, the Egyptians became wealthy, and the daughters had sweets. They also received a red rooster on a stick for every bit of Jewish blood.

And the young women suddenly see that Bityah—she is simply a very “bad girl.” She doesn’t fit at all to be her father’s daughter. Such a “bad girl”—she doesn’t want to strangle the child. They tell her: “This is a Jewish child—come on, strangle him already!” She says: “No. Maybe he’s an Ishmaelite; Ishmaelites are already circumcised…” This is eighty years before the Exodus from Egypt; it is three hundred and ten years from when Yitzchak was born. And another year when Ishmael was circumcised—three hundred and eleven years. By now, already two billion people circumcise themselves. Who said he’s Jewish at all? Maybe he’s an Ishmaelite. Ishmaelites also threw children into the Nile—someone who had nothing to eat, some poor girl who suddenly had a child—she threw him into the Nile; what could she do?

So she says: “He’s an Ishmaelite—who says otherwise?” And then she brought him to Pharaoh. Pharaoh wanted to kill her! “A stubborn and rebellious girl—such a ‘bad’ girl! Why didn’t you strangle him immediately?!” She says: “No, Father—he’s an Ishmaelite.” Fine. Suddenly he sees: the child pulls down his crown. “He pulled down my crown? Ah! This is the child! This is the child about whom all the astrologers, all the star-gazers, prophesied—that he would remove my crown. Here, he removed my crown!” She says: “No, no—that’s not proof. Maybe he desires the gold. Who said he wants the crown? Bring a plate of coals, and a plate of gold coins.” And then Moshe reached his hand toward the coins—anyone who reached for the coins would immediately be hanged, strangled, and they would take his blood. But the angel Gavriel came and moved his hand to the coals. He put the coals into his mouth, and all his lips were burned.

He couldn’t pronounce the letter “b”; he couldn’t say… Instead of saying “police” he said “bulis”; instead of “Banyas,” he said “Panyas.” Every word he would flip around; he couldn’t speak at all. Hashem said to him: “Now you can go on the mission! If you can’t speak, this is the most fitting moment.”

And so, in the merit of Serach bas Asher, who said: “I am among the faithful of Israel” (II Samuel 20:19)—no one wanted to believe Moshe. They said: “He’s a master of dreams,” and “we have a calculation of ‘and they will enslave them and afflict them four hundred years’” (Genesis 15:13), so it can’t be that this is the redeemer. “Go back to the desert—why did you come?” Serach said: “No! This is the emissary; this is the faithful one—only to him must we listen.” In the merit of this, she entered Gan Eden with her body. And everyone merits to enter Gan Eden with the body!

Before he entered his home, he spoke about the greatness of the day—1 Shevat

Today is 1 Shevat: “In the fortieth year, in the eleventh month, on the first of the month” (Deuteronomy 1:3). Today all the gates of wisdom are opened—all the gates of Torah—all the fifty gates, all the seventy. “Ho’il Moshe” (ibid. v. 5)—these are the letters of Eliyahu HaNavi. Today is the revelation of Eliyahu HaNavi; today all the gates of Torah are opened.

To watch the replay: the main lesson at 50:23:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZ66xozcVx4&t=3049s