Why Was Serach Bat Asher Placed Under a Ban? • The Daily Lesson from the Gaon

Here is the complete daily lesson as delivered by The Rav, Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a, on Wednesday night, the eve of the 14th of Elul, Parshas Ki Savo, after the Ma’ariv prayer:

“So Serach bat Asher was under a ban—they placed a very severe ban upon her. Because she revealed the secret, and it is forbidden to reveal such a thing. You do not reveal this to anyone—that they sold Yosef. That is not something to be disclosed.

And her father—they said her father was guilty for everything. Because all the Kohanim Gedolim came from Asher, because all the mothers [of the Kohanim Gedolim] were from Asher. It comes out that all the Kohanim Gedolim—‘Happy am I, for daughters will call me fortunate’ (Bereishis 30:13)—Leah saw that all the Kohanim Gedolim would be only from Asher. Even though they are Kohanim [from the tribe of Levi], still, the mothers were all from Asher. All the generations—throughout the entire First Temple period, four hundred and ten years—were all from Asher.

And Asher himself was under a ban for two hundred and fifty years—two hundred and ten plus another forty.

And according to the calculation that they [the brothers] did—one plus one equals two—so from where does Serach know that Yosef is alive? Who knows this? Yehudah knows it; Yissachar, Zevulun [and all the brothers who participated in the sale know]. But from where does Serach know? Dan also knows; Naftali…

Fine—Naftali knows how to ‘jump.’ From Chevron he jumps straight to Mitzrayim, to Alexandria, and after that he jumps back. He jumps from London to New York, from New York to London. Everywhere he jumps.

So they traveled to Dosan to sell him as a slave. The Rambam says, in Chapter 9 of Hilchos Avadim: if the child was born from the maidservant—Bilhah was the maidservant—then it is possible to sell him for the best price in the world. Even a billion dollars, two billion—cover it in twenty days; you can cover it.

A million people stand in London, a million people in New York—immediately they jump twenty-four times a day, times two million—that is exactly forty-eight.

And then, in the merit of the dancing—the singing and the dancing—we will merit the complete Geulah speedily in our days, Amen!””.

To watch the replay of last night’s Ma’ariv prayer with singing and niggunim—the lesson begins at 1:09:12

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tm99PC1YbfQ&ab_channel=%D7%A9%D7%95%D7%91%D7%95%D7%91%D7%A0%D7%99%D7%9D