The importance of reading the Akeida every day
Excerpt of a shiur given by Rabbi Eliezer Berland, shlita, on Tuesday, Parshat Va’etchanan 5779
The main thing is to also say Parshat Akeida (the Torah portion that describes the binding of Yitzhak), to say it. People don’t pay attention. I don’t know if there’s a ‘Tefillah Kol Peh’ here?
Now, let’s read what’s written. Before the Akeida, a person should always read the introduction. This is only to be found in the [siddur called] Tefillah Kol Peh. It’s not to be found in Makor Bracha, or in the Clalit Yofi [siddur] either, because Shuvu Banim prints all of these, so it’s not found there.
So, when a person says the Akeida, he is sweetening all of the dinim (harsh judgments) in the world, until the end of time. The harsh decrees of 579, everything is sweetened. After the harsh decrees of 579, it’s already necessary to move to the Aretz (Israel).
When a person says the Akeida, the harsh decrees of 579 are already all sweetened.
Now, it’s d’orayta (a mitzvah derived directly from the Torah) to live in Eretz Yisrael.
It’s d’orayta. To live in Jerusalem is d’orayta. We should know that other than Jerusalem, it’s forbidden to live in another place. Even if we leave in order to raise money, we need to immediately return to Jerusalem.
It’s forbidden to spend even a night outside of Jerusalem. And thus, everything is sweetened, all the harsh judgments. It’s written that the tamid (daily offering) of the shachar (dawn) atones for the sins of the night. [And the tamid of] aravit (dusk) atones for the sins of the day.
So, the Akeida sweetens everything.
There is nothing that the Akeida doesn’t sweeten. Say the Akeida every day. [As it’s written in the] Shulchan Aruch, to get out of all troubles, and from all machloket (strife). Whoever wants to get out of all the machloket, they should say the Akeida.
When we say the Akeida, a bat kol (voice from heaven) comes down. All this is only written in the Tefillah Kol Peh [siddur]. When we say: “Don’t stretch out your hand against the lad, and don’t do anything to him!” – a bat kol comes down. When we say:
“Don’t stretch out your hand against the lad, and don’t do anything to him!”
Everyone should read this, before the Akeida.
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