Below is the full translated text of the daily shiur of our Rebbe Rav Eliezer Berland shlit”a, given on Monday night, 2 Shevat, Parashat Bo, after Maariv:
So, “In the fortieth year, on the eleventh month, on the first of the month” (Devarim 1:3) – today is 1 Shevat, “Moshe began to explain” (ibid 5), in seventy languages, “explain thoroughly – be’er HeYTeV” – HeYTeV [whose numerical value in rebua] is 70: Heh is 5, heh yud is 15, heh yud tet – 24, yeh yud tet vet – 26, exactly 70 [when all these sums are added together]. Seventy languages are alluded to in the word HeYTeV – heh, heh yud, heh yud tet, heh yud tet vet – together is 70 languages. The Ba’al HaTurim says all of this, that this is seventy languages.
He managed to say in one day, he managed to say all…this, the entire book, the entire parasha of Devarim, after the next parasha, after Devarim and VaEtchanan, after this — VaEtchanan, he managed to say all parashat Ekev, and Re’eh and Shoftim. Everything he said in one day, in seventy languages. Then all the gates of heaven opened up. And “Ho’il — began” is the letters of Eliyahu. “Ho’il” – heh, vav, alef, lamed, yud – these are the letters of “Eliyahu” HaNavi, that now is the revelation of Eliyahu. Today is the revelation of Eliyahu HaNavi.
He murdered, and he was simply a murderer – he has on him 850 bills of indictment, which is 22,000 years of imprisonment. Therefore, he will live for many years, [because he killed] 450 prophets of Ba’al, 400 prophets of Asheira – together 850 innocent men. He murdered them in cold blood in Nachal Kishon. He went down from Stella Maris – from the Carmel, from above he descended. Were you in the Carmel? But going up, in twenty minutes you reach the peak. In fifteen minutes, we would go to the bottom, gather darts and thorns there. All the girls would do hitbodedut there. Over the course of two months, we were always in the Carmel. There everyone would do hitbodedut, everyone, all the children. You were in yeshiva, but you would come like this on Shabbat. Then we would go up the Carmel, do hitbodedut there in the groves, the forests. This is the most beautiful place in the world.
There, on the Carmel, is the grave of Elisha. The “Stella Maris” church is on the grave of Elisha. Elisha would live on Mount Carmel. It’s written – also now we read in the parasha – that they sent to Mount Carmel, to visit Elisha. A woman went to Elisha, the woman whose child had died. She ran to Elisha. He says, “Why didn’t Hashem not inform me?” Hashem always informs him. Because Hashem wanted him to see the miracle, that everyone would see the miracle.
That Gehazi went with the cane, with the staff. Yesterday they brought the staff, on Shabbat we revealed Elisha’s staff, we managed to get it, and we began to revive the dead with it. Several dead already were revived with it. But Gehazi laughed. He said: “What’s with this staff? It’s possible to revive the dead?” Then he put the staff on the boy, and this didn’t help. Then Elisha came. Then Elisha lied down on him three times. Three times he lied down on him and breathed on him. He performed for him resuscitation. On the spot, the child arose and woke up seven times.
So after Eliyahu HaNavi already murdered 850 men – 850 bills of indictment, then now the Chidushei HaRim asks why he didn’t kill Izevel? Why does he need to flee? Rather, the Zohar says, Rabbi Chiyya asked Rabbi Yossi why he fled. He says that he didn’t flee – he walked. He didn’t flee. He walked to Mount Sinai, forty days and forty nights – didn’t eat and didn’t drink. The angel told him to eat from the cake a little bit more – eat a little bit. What would another bit help? A person fasts for forty days – would another bit help? Rather, Hashem wanted to remind him that you’re only a person.
You… because he said, “I want to be Moshe. [That] I’ll be ‘mouth-to-mouth do I speak to him.’”
“What are you doing here Eliyahu?” (I Melachim 19:9-13)
“I want the mouth [of Moshe].”
“[To be] like Moshe is impossible. Even if you fast a billion times, you can’t be Moshe. Moshe – every letter, every word, every crownlet – there’s nothing like this. How to make Tefilin, how are Tzitzit.”
But the question here is why he didn’t kill Izevel. Then I saw, that the Chidushei HaRim writes, that every day [Izevel would] dance. Whoever dances all day enters the Garden of Eden with their bodies [intact].
The shiur begins at timecode 22:13
Let Me Merit to Do Hitbodedut on Mount Carmel Every Day — New Prayer by R’ Berland Shlit”a
