Yahrzeit of the Or HaChaim HaKadosh – Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a (5782)

At the conclusion of the Maariv prayer and before the large crowd, our teacher, the Gaon and Tzaddik Rav Eliezer Berland shlit"a, spoke in honor of the soul of the divine Tanna whose yahrtzeit is today - the holy Ohr HaChaim.

These are his holy words:

Today is the yahrtzeit of the holy Ohr HaChaim (Rabbi Chaim ben Attar, known as the 'Ohr HaChaim HaKadosh' after his book. He was born on August 2, 1696, 4 Av 5456; Salé, Morocco, and passed away on July 7, 1743, 15 Tammuz 5503, in Jerusalem). Everyone should go to his gravesite.

A lion escaped from the zoo because they opened the door and didn't guard it. They went to look for it all over the city of Casablanca and found it by the holy Ohr HaChaim, listening to his lesson like some cat. The lion was listening to how the Ohr HaChaim was reading the Zohar, and he was petting it, thinking it was a cat—that is how the holy Ohr HaChaim had endless miracles.

The Baal Shem Tov said about him that he was Mashiach ben David and that he was supposed to bring the Geulah.

[ The Baal Shem Tov said: When I ascend to the Upper Chamber, he has already ascended and is descending from there. They asked him: If so, he is greater than you. He answered: Certainly, he is swifter than me! Therefore, when I am still climbing, he has already been there and is returning below. ]

The Baal Shem Tov wanted to meet him in Eretz Yisrael, but the Baal Shem Tov said: Everywhere I go, he is no longer there. I am searching for him in all the worlds in Heaven and I cannot find him. I try to find him, but he has already been in all the chambers, so I am traveling to Eretz Yisrael to find him. But the Baal Shem Tov had to go barefoot (in order to succeed in reaching Eretz Yisrael), only with a shirt and trousers (as our Rebbe explained that he had to diminish himself, and only through this did he succeed in reaching Eretz Yisrael), and then he would be able to reach Eretz Yisrael and meet the holy Ohr HaChaim there.

So the Baal Shem Tov received the secret of the general Pidyon; it was exactly on Motzaei Shabbat, because the 15th (of the month) cannot be on Shabbat, only on Sunday. It was on the night of the 15th, and in Poland it was two hours earlier, therefore it occurred in the Holy Land exactly at the time of washing hands for the Third Meal.

[ In those days, the Baal Shem Tov, may his merit protect us, stood on holy Shabbat before the Third Meal, Rava D'Ravin, the desire of all desires, in his study hall in the city of Medzhybizh, and went to wash his hands. While he was raising his holy hands for the blessing of the washing, his face darkened and he remained standing, his hands in the air for some time. After the blessing, he sat at his table surrounded by many students, but he did not sing or speak at all and sat gathered within himself, as if he were not in this world at all. And so it was for the entire Third Meal, and there was great wonder among the congregation. Only at the Fourth Meal did they ask him why his face was sad. He said: The Western Lamp has been extinguished. When he saw that the congregation did not understand his words, he spread his hands in praise of the great one of the generation, the Western Lamp, our teacher Chaim ben Attar, the holy Ohr HaChaim, and said that before the Third Meal he had passed away in Jerusalem:

They asked him: And how did they inform you?

He answered: It is known that in the washing of hands there is one great secret that is transmitted only to one tzaddik in the generation, because from Heaven they reveal this secret only to the great one of the generation. And I did not know this unification all my days until today at the time of washing my hands for the Third Meal, then it was revealed to me suddenly, and through this I understood that the holy Ohr HaChaim had passed away to his eternal home, because he was the great one of the generation and this unification which belongs to the Geulah—it was fitting for him. And when this secret was revealed to me—I immediately knew that the Western Lamp had departed and it was transmitted to me. ]

Therefore, Jezebel just dances all day (the Gemara relates that she would gladden the bride and groom), she would sing: Yosef is still alive, he is king in Egypt, he has two sons, Menashe and Ephraim.