When King David Rose at Midnight, All of Jerusalem Rose with Him

A new letter from our teacher, the holy Rav Eliezer Berland shlit"a, to a famous professor who treated him

With the help of Hashem, may He be blessed.

To the... famous throughout the world, peace, blessing, and all the best.

To the... dear and beloved, in this Torah portion we learned: "If Hashem delights in us, then He will bring us into this land, and give it to us; a land which is flowing with milk and honey" (Numbers 14:8). And you have merited all of this, for there is no one like you in all the land, and in all the things that you do, you will always see blessing in all the work of your hands.

And people ask about the wood-gatherer (mekoshesh): where were there plants and grasses in the desert from which he gathered wood?

Rather, it is written in the Midrash (Song of Songs 4:13) that the Well of Miriam would raise up gardens and orchards for them, and in the portion of Chukat, when the well disappeared, all the gardens and orchards immediately withered.

And you, your name is..., and you have merited gardens and orchards, and immense wealth.

And this is what is written in the Targum Yonatan (Ki Tavo 28), that even when our own merit is exhausted, the merit of the forefathers never ends. For Rav Safra, who spoke truth in his heart, the lion did not eat his donkey, and he also did not want to eat from the tongue, and Rava ate (Chullin 133a).

For Rava is an acronym for: "Lot and his possessions, the son of Abram's brother" (Genesis 14:12), and therefore Rava was in Babylonia, and there he opened a yeshiva for all the people of Babylonia, for by Rabbah there was scarcity, and by Rav Chisda they would give fine flour to the dogs (Moed Katan 28a).

For Elijah the Prophet is the gematria of 'kelev' (dog) (Sefer Etz Chaim - Sha'ar 48, Chapter 4), he came to rectify the 'kelipah' (husk) of the dog, and therefore when Elijah the Prophet is in a city, the dogs bark (Bava Kamma 60b). And therefore Rebbe Nachman says that one who eats [from the produce of the Sabbatical year] without permission, we do not take from him (Bava Metzia 66b). For the standard 'Rav Nachman' is Rav Nachman the son-in-law of the Nasi, who was the wealthiest man in the city.

For a person comes into the world to unify the sun and the moon, just as King Hezekiah did when he unified the sun and the moon, and all night they all studied Torah, and just as King David did when he arose at midnight, and through this, all of Jerusalem arose at midnight, for they heard that David had arisen - immediately they all arose.

And the Chazon Ish writes that the matter of the blessing of the Sabbatical year continued even after the destruction, and the blessing that Hashem promises for 3 years is also after the destruction when the Holy Temple is not standing, when one keeps the commandments of the Sabbatical year: "And it shall come to pass in that day, that a man shall rear a young cow, and two sheep; And it shall come to pass, for the abundance of milk that they shall give he shall eat butter; for butter and honey shall every one eat that is left in the midst of the land" (Isaiah 7:21-22), "And it shall come to pass in that day, that every place, where there were a thousand vines at a thousand silverlings, shall even be for briers and thorns. With arrows and with bows shall men come thither; because all the land shall become briers and thorns" (Isaiah 7:23-24).

With love and the blessing of the Torah,

Eliezer Berland

Courtesy of the holy pamphlet 'Shevivi Or' for Parshat Balak 5781 - 0583-289-318