Watch: Appreciation Evening for Donors of the Hebron Gatherings — Morinu HaRav Berland shlit"a in a Shiur on the Eve of Rosh Chodesh Elul: "Whoever has not seen Hashem face to face — has seen nothing"

On the eve of Rosh Chodesh Elul 5786, an appreciation evening for the dear donors of the prayer gatherings in Hebron with Morinu HaRav shlit"a took place in the prayer hall adjacent to the residence of Morinu HaRav Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a. Rabbis and students filled the hall, and Morinu HaRav shlit"a delivered a lengthy shiur (Torah class) that lasted for over an hour — after which he began singing for about fifteen minutes.

The shiur wove together Halacha (Jewish law), Aggadah (homiletic teachings), and memories, but one common thread ran through it from beginning to end: to see Hashem face to face. Again and again, Morinu HaRav shlit"a returned to the verse, "Face to face Hashem spoke with you," turning it into the ultimate test of an entire lifetime.

When There is Peace — Everything is Truth

Morinu HaRav shlit"a opened the shiur with the holy Rashi, who cites the Gemara in Yevamos that the Torah altered the truth for the sake of peace. "Chazal (our Sages) say, great is peace, for even Hashem altered the truth for it," he said, and immediately asked: But Hashem is truth, His Torah is truth, and His seal is truth — how could He alter it?

"But one must understand — Hashem is truth, His Torah is truth, His seal is truth. When there is peace, then everything is truth. When there is machlokes (dispute), then even if you say correct things — it is not the truth."

This is the novel insight: There is no compromising of the truth for the sake of peace here, but rather a different definition of truth itself. Correct statements made out of dispute are not truth at all. Hashem wants to connect people, He wants blessing to dwell in the home — and in a place where there is no peace, there is neither truth nor blessing.

"In Elul, We Do Not Sleep"

From here, Morinu HaRav shlit"a transitioned to the month of Elul, which entered that very night, and demanded in sharp terms:

"In Elul, we do not sleep. There is no such thing."

He described a study schedule of consecutive pages of Gemara, and even calculated it aloud: thirty days, such and such pages a day — "What is the problem?" He told a story about the Gaon and Kabbalist Rabbi Yitzchak Kaduri zt"l, who "every day would finish the entire Shas (Talmud), every single day," and when asked about a specific topic, he would answer exactly which page it was written on, on which line, and where Rashi was positioned up there.

But the ultimate goal is not the quantity. Morinu HaRav shlit"a returned to the opening of the book Mesillas Yesharim — "The foundation of piety and the root of perfect service is that a person comes to delight in Hashem" — and established: "This is the greatest delight there is." And he did not stop there, but connected the learning to the home: A person who sits and learns — has a home. "A wife feels that he is full; a wife feels that he is empty — then he has no home."

In the midst of this, Morinu HaRav shlit"a revealed a practice from his own home: Since the day of his marriage, he sits and learns with the Rebbetzin for three hours every day — the daily page of Talmud, the daily Rambam, and the daily Mishnah — "three hours of shalom bayis (marital harmony)."

Me'aras HaMachpelah: "I Paid Billions"

The heart of the evening was Hebron, and Morinu HaRav shlit"a approached it through Parashas Vayechi — the claim that Esav made at the time of Yaakov Avinu's burial, when he came to delay it and demanded a portion in the cave for himself: "I am a grandson of Yitzchak, why are you taking the cave?"

To this, Morinu HaRav shlit"a replied in his own words: "The Jews — just give them a finger, and they pull the whole hand. You received one part — sit quietly." Yaakov Avinu paid for the cave in full, and Morinu HaRav shlit"a emphasized the words of Rashi on the verse "my grave which I have dug (karisi) for myself" — "kari" means a pile, a pile of gold:

"I paid billions upon billions for Me'aras HaMachpelah (the Cave of the Patriarchs)."

These words were spoken before the public who bore the burden of the prayer gatherings at Me'aras HaMachpelah in Hebron — those very gatherings in honor of whose donors the evening was held.

The Archbishop Who Saved Fourteen Children

A lengthy part of the shiur was dedicated to stories of the Holocaust, and Morinu HaRav shlit"a told them as a testimony of overt Divine Providence. First, about a Rebbe who gathered his chassidim thirty years prior, on Motzaei Shabbos at three o'clock in the morning, and told them that there would be a Holocaust — and that whoever clung to Emunas Tzaddikim (faith in the Tzaddikim) would survive it:

"Whoever clings to faith in the tzaddik — he will live, he will make it through the entire Holocaust."

He described the death march, and someone who had already passed from group to group until the very last one, leaning on the bridge railing and "waiting for the gunshot" — and then he saw his Rebbe alive and well.

And from there to a story that is perhaps the most powerful in the entire shiur: An archbishop who hid fourteen Jewish children in his monastery. So that they would not be identified, they cleaned the well — "because by the face one can immediately recognize that these are Jews." After five years, someone informed on them, and he was notified that the next day they would come to kill him and take the children. He called his deputy and ordered him to take the children on foot from Krakow to Paris — half a year of walking through the forests. The archbishop was hanged in the center of the city, and Morinu HaRav shlit"a added that he would always say:

"I saved fourteen Jewish children. I walked with them on foot from Krakow to Paris, in the forests, without food."

And at the conclusion of these words: "A person sees Hashem face to face."

Seeing Hashem Face to Face

This was the axis to which Morinu HaRav shlit"a returned again and again — in the Six-Day War, where hundreds of modern airplanes stood against nothing, "you see Hashem, fire in the air"; in the journeys to the gravesite of Rebbe Nachman during the days of Communist rule; and in every single miracle. And from here to the decisive conclusion:

"If one does not see Hashem face to face — then he has seen nothing. He lived a hundred and twenty years and saw nothing."

And what is the key? "If a person does not walk with Rebbe Nachman — he does not see Hashem."

"Whatever a Person Asks for on Their Birthday — It All Comes True"

Toward the end, while mentioning that Rosh Chodesh was entering that night and one must recite "Ya'aleh V'Yavo," Morinu HaRav shlit"a revealed a great concept regarding the power of a birthday:

"On a birthday, one always wins. Whatever a person asks for on their birthday — complete healing, children, shidduchim (marriage matches) — it all comes true."

And he concluded the shiur with a call that is entirely Elul:

"A person must now, in Elul, know all the stories."

And Singing at the Conclusion of the Shiur

At the end of the shiur, Morinu HaRav shlit"a began singing, and the entire congregation joined him with clapping. The singing lasted for about fifteen continuous minutes.