“Give me Yavne and its Sages,” Rabban Yochanan ben Zakai requested. Today also in Yavne are found talmidim of the Tzaddik, who instill in the city of sages the great light, with a group of over fifty men who gather every Shabbat for prayers with niggunim. Despite not having a steady place for the prayers, with the minyan changing location from Shabbat to Shabbat, they don’t relent on praying with niggunim in the way of our Rebbe Rav Eliezer Berland shlit”a.
Likewise, every Friday, Breslovers of Yavne and its surroundings gather together for a minyan with niggunim at the grave of Rabban Gamliel in Yavne, with a morning meal over bread after the prayers. Many times, Rav Ofer Erez shlit”a also participates in the prayers, giving over awesome chizzuk from the Torah of Rabbeinu Nachman of Breslov.
On Monday, the night of 2 Shevat, the group from Yavne merited to come to a special shiur at the home of Rav Berland shlit”a.
The Rav began the shiur with the Talmudic section of “Mustard and bees,” speaking about the great obligation to learn Gemara in depth specifically, and to bind one’s learning to the Tzaddik. While opening up Likutey Moharan 101 which speaks about learning Gemara in depth, he spoke about the necessity for caution with regard to guarding one’s speech (against lashon hara and other forbidden speech), bringing the accounting of the Chafetz Chaim of how much a person speaks in a minute, and how much this comes out a day. And so the opposite — how much a person can merit to by making the most of all those words for words of holiness, Torah, and prayer, which create angels.
Afterwards, he went back to speak about learning Gemara, saying that man was created only in order to delight in Hashem. Afterwards, he spoke about the significance of the day Alef Shevat, in which all the gates of wisdom are opened up, speaking about the bounty which will be in the times of Mashiach, as is brought in Midrashim. At the end of the shiur the Rav gave additional chizzuk to learning Gemara in depth, saying that a person doesn’t know why the evil inclination doesn’t become weaker after going to a grave, after he was by the Tzaddik. The answer to this is that the only thing which saves a person from the evil inclination is learning Gemara, and that even Esav, who saw miracles in the tent of his mother Rivka, didn’t repent, because one’s desires are stronger than all the miracles in the world, and the only thing which weakens the evil inclination is learning Gemara in depth.
After more than a half-hour of chizzuk, the Rav said Kaddish and went out to pray Maariv with the community.
