The capital of the Negev, Be’er Sheva, merited because of several synagogues of the Tzaddik’s followers located in the city, in particular the Talmidim of Moreinu HaRav Eliezer Berland shlit”a who pray in the “Breslov – Shuvu Banim” synagogue in the Ramot neighborhood of Be’er Sheva. On Monday night, 8 Kislev, they merited to come to the Rav’s house to hear a special shiur.
Here is a brief summary of some of the topics which the Rav shlit”a spoke about:
The Rav shlit”a began the shiur with the weekly Parashah which speaks about “And Yaakov left Beer Sheva,” and the significance of the city of Beer Sheva which was the city of the our forefathers. There Yaakov had his dream about the ladder with angels ascending and descending. The Rav said about the verse “Its head/top reached the heavens,” that we need to know that the head of Yaakov [of the Tzaddik] is not in this world at all, and the Tzaddik is not bound to this world at all! Afterwards, he spoke about the redemption process and the Midrashim which speak about it, mentioning the Chesed L’Avraham who said that in the end, only 7,000 will remain who merit to hold their faith, and that these are the ones who will receive the face of our righteous Mashiach soon speedily in our days, Amen.
In the majority of the shiur, he focused on the dispute between the Rambam and the Ramban, including the law surround the killing of the people of Shechem and whether fowl is considered meat. Within these discussions, he also touched on other topics, such as dancing, stating that we had needed to continue the Hakafot after Simchat Torah, as dancing sweetens all the judgments, and that the Hakafot are against the Hatkafot (attacks), and if there are no Hakafot, then there are Hatkafot.
The Rav shlit”a spoke about the many miracles which took place in the Kibbutzim during Simchat Torah, about the woman who was saved because she held ChiTaT[1], about a young man from the nature party who said over the course of many hours “Na Nach.” Likewise, the Rav shlit”a spoke about one of his own Talmidim who lives in Yakhini who merited to be saved through listening to the instructions of the Rav shlit”a to come to Simchat Torah. He also spoke about the miraculous rescue of “Rachel of Ofakim.”[2] Amidst these stories, he mentioned the elevated level of those who fall in the sanctification of God’s Name, that no creature can stand in their presence.
After these words, he returned to the question of the Ramban, that if it was correct to kill the residents of Shechem, why didn’t Yaakov Avinu himself go to fight? In order to free his daughter Dinah? The Rav answered that because the brothers took onto themselves qualifications and already accepted the opinion of Yaakov Avinu, it was forbidden to kill them.
Towards the end of the shiur, he discussed domestic tranquility and said that outside of committing transgressions such as travelling on Shabbat, a man is obligated to listen to everything that his wife requests. A man needs to know how to appease his wife. With this chizzuk, he concluded the shiur after forty minutes of words of Torah, Agadah, chizzukim and holy arousal.
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[1] Chitat or Chitas is the acronym for Chumash, Tehillim, and Tanya. Chitas is a book in which the three are grouped together and studied in a yearly cycle by Chabad Chassidim.
[2] Rachel Edry along with her husband David, an elderly couple, were held captive in their home in Ofakim by five Hamas terrorists for nearly 20 hours. She remained calm and offered the terrorists food and drink to buy time. They were eventually rescued by security forces and the terrorists were killed. The story was widely covered in the media afterwards.
