The first full shiur of our Rebbe, the Tzaddik Rav Eliezer Berland shlit”a, immediately after his release – Wednesday, 11 Tevet 5782 (Dec. 15), delivered from the balcony of his holy dwelling – the day of redemption.
“Add days upon the days of the king, his years like every generation.”
“The tenth of Tevet is in essence Yom Kippur, now after Yom Kippur. The [fast of the] tenth of Tevet puts off [the mitzvah of eating on] Shabbat. Therefore, Shabbat never falls on the Yahrzeit of Rabbi Natan – because Rabbi Natan is the Rebbe [Nachman] in himself. These are the miracles of Rabbi Natan and the Rebbe, because he is the Rabbi and the student who were waited for from the creation of the world.
“Adam HaRishon, before he sinned, before he thought to sin, the souls of the Rebbe and Rabbi Natan flew away. And they perform all the miracles [the intention is that they work miracles by Hashem] that will be until the end of all generations – they perform them, and they worked the release! Turned over… ‘and it was turned over, that the Jews prevailed over their enemies!’ [The Tzaddik breaks out in song along with the crowd of thousands].
“Now, Yechezkel chapter 24, verse 2, ‘This very day’ [‘Son of man, write for yourself the name of this day, this very day; the King of Babylonia has reached Jerusalem on this very day’]. What is ‘this very day’? What is unique about this day from all other days. That on this day the Holy Temple began to be destroyed, and the Third Temple needs to be built. Then it’s written, ‘On this very day Avraham and his son Yishmael were circumcised’ (Breisheit 17:26). That in Hevron they said that they won’t allow there to be a brit – they won’t allow [it]! Like today, may their names be erased, on television they have begun to incite, to say, ‘what is this, cutting an 8-day-old child!?’ Because already for 2,000 years there hadn’t been anything in the world like this, because Yitzchak was born in 2048, in 1948 Avraham was born. For 2,000 years, they hadn’t seen britot! Noach was born circumcised, Chanoch was [born] circumcised, but a brit!? Cut an 8-day-old child? Pieces, pieces??! This is only a revelation of the holy Torah! According to logic and nature, there’s no such thing as cutting an 8-day-old child.
“Now the scientists revealed that only at the this age does the blood congeal immediately! Specifically at 8 days the baby doesn’t feel any pain. The babies don’t cry at all [if they do cry, it’s because they are frightened by the Mohel – the Rav in shiurim]. On the contrary – they are happy, content! He only waits for this moment!”
Video of the full shiur on the day of the Rav’s release (in Hebrew—beginning at timecode 8:50)
“’From the womb, for Your name, they are circumcised.’ From the womb, from the pregnancy, he’s already waiting for this moment, that they’ll take away this terrible husk! Only the Tzaddik can remove it, only Rabbeinu can remove it! Then they said that if Avraham performs a brit here, they’ll immediately slaughter him, put him up on the stake! Then Aner and Eshkol said, ‘We will be the first, because why doesn’t he travel to Rachel’s tomb?’
“There is a terrible question. A brit – to do it at Rachel’s tomb or Shuvu Banim; to do a brit at Ma’arat HaMachpelah, in Meron. Why by Mamrei? Who is this Mamrei? A rebellious [‘mamrei’] elder? There they make the festive meal? What’s with him and Mamrei? Why is he a friend of Mamrei? Rather, what does Rashi say? ‘Mamrei gave him counsel about the brit.’ Counsel? Now does Avraham need advice from someone?? Whether to do it or not? Hashem told him to do a brit – he does it immediately! Hashem told him to bind Yitzchak – he binds Yitzchak! Yishmael said to Yitzchak, ‘I’m greater than you! They did my brit at the age of 13. I already have awareness, I felt terrible suffering! Because at the age of 13, this is the most terrible suffering in the world. At 8 [days], you didn’t feel pain at all!’ Yitzchak said to him: Me, if Hashem says to bind me, and to slaughter me, I’ll happily go! [and immediately Hashem commanded the binding].
“Yaakov Galinsky was in a house with a Mohel [in Russia when it was forbidden to perform a brit], and suddenly a KGB agent entered and said that he wants to circumcise his son, that [the Mohel] should come to such-and-such an address, he’ll see a woman with a purse leave, he should go into the apartment, and the baby will be in a cradle. The Mohel immediately fled from the door outside – there was another door there. In Russia, [one] must have two doors in every apartment. Like today, [one] must have two doors in every apartment, [so that] if they come from this door, you already flee from the second door. Anyone who has one door is lost.
“The Mohel returned and told him [Rabbi Galinsky] that this is an entrapment! Why did you tell him that I’m a Mohel?! He [Rav Galinsky] said, ‘I promised that we would come. We’re obligated! He told me, “Go up to the third floor, a woman with a purse will come out. Go into the apartment, the child will be in a cradle.”’ Well, they went. Went up three floors, saw a women with a purse come out, went into the apartment, found the baby in a cradle. They circumcised him. Yaakov Galinsky was the Sandak. He has a will that at every brit to tell this story.
“There were 12 loaves of bread and 12 eggs there [payment for the toil of performing the Brit – in those days, this was considered a considerable fortune]. He [the Mohel] told the assistant: Give me coupons! You KGB have no problem, [but] how can I go around in the street [with this]? They’ll think that I held up a bank! I help up a supermarket. A person walks with something like this in Russia…?
“One day he’s walking in the street and suddenly the KGB agent passed by and recognized him. He said to him: “Thank you for circumcising my son for me! Today the Jews are below, but I know that the Jews will return to being above one day! It will be good for the Jews. In a little while, everything will turn around! The darkness will turn to light!! Then we will see the light! I want to have a circumcised son already!
“Now we’re talking about the first Brit in human history. To cut children?! So now they’re saying on television, may their names be erased, Yair Lapid and his whole gang. They now want to uproot the brit! They don’t know that people will jump off the roofs in order to circumcise their sons! The Jewish people will never relent on the Brit!!
“And Avraham Avinu needs to circumcise his son in Hevron. Everyone hates him with deathly hatred, waiting for some little mistake and they’ll slaughter him! Parashat Vayera, the first verse – everyone read this at home [‘Hashem appeared to him in Eloney Mamrei, and he was sitting at the entrance to the tent in the heat of the day’]. Aner arrives, and they do on him the first Brit – boom!; he immediately passes out and dies! They pour three buckets of water on him, and he doesn’t wake up! Then Eshkol says, ‘Now circumcise me.’ They circumcise him – baruch Hashem, he dies! He ascends to the Garden of Eden. Two ascend to the Garden of Eden. Policemen arrive, KGB – ‘Avraham is slaughtering people, slaughtering children!’ Two already died. Why? Because they didn’t really want the Brit. They did it because of social pressure. Then this Mamrei arrives. What does he say? Circumcise me now! I’m the third one. Now is my turn! They circumcise him, and everything goes happily. All the angels arrive! Now they circumcise 100,000 converts. A river of blood flows in Hevron. All the Land of Israel converted.
“And now in the merit of this release, all the Land of Israel converts! They will be Breslov, they will be Shuvu Banim! May we merit to the complete redemption and to the Third Temple speedily in our days, Amen!”
Beautiful