Excerpts from a lesson given by HaRav Eliezer Berland, shlit"a,
delivered on Rosh Hashanah, 5758.
Rav Nosson said in Likutei Halachot,
(Hoshanna Rabba 6:44) that Rosh Hashanah is the aspect of the digging
of wells by the Patriarchs. The Patriarchs would dig wells and, through
this, would open the heavenly gates for an abundance to flow down. The
year starts with an abundance of blessings; children, money,
shidduchim
etc. It is taught in the Gemara, (Moed Katan 18b) that forty days
prior to the formation of the embryo, a Divine voice calls out, "so–and–so’s
daughter to so–and–so, so–and–so’s field to so–and–so." Everything is prearranged
for each person. Whether it is a shidduch, an apartment or whatever.
It is just that there are obstacles that can only be sweetened through
prayer. The year arrives together with tremendous barriers, the gates are
locked with bars, and those gates have to be opened. And once they are,
one merits to receive an abundance of mental awareness, specific to the
new year, together with an abundance of money, etc. And the holy Patriarchs
who were occupied with this, the digging of wells to open up the gates,
brought down this abundance of mental awareness, material prosperity, etc.
to the entire community that was with them, the thousands of converts they
had converted. And how do we open the gates? Through these days of Rosh
Hashanah, that we have three days of prayer (since, this year, Shabbos
is also an aspect of Rosh Hashanah, as the Rav from Tcherin said, the Shabbos
after Rosh Hashanah, i.e. when Rosh Hashanah falls out on Thursday and
Friday and Shabbos is immediately after, is itself another Rosh Hashanah).
Through focused and devoted prayer, one merits to receive all the abundance.
Therefore, one must spend a long time over the prayers, particularly over
the Shmone Esrei, as the Rabbis teach-- the most important part of the
prayer is the words- G-D of Avraham, G-D of Itzchak etc. and that if one
does not concentrate when saying these words, he has not fulfilled his
obligation of saying the prayer. Rather than running from one place to
another, searching for any kind of salvation, if a person would instead
just stand and put his complete concentration into the Shmone Esrei, and
dwell on the blessing "Bless this year for us...", he would receive all
the money that he needs with ease. As we say in the evening prayer, “Who
opens the gates… Who arranges the stars in their set watches in the heavens
in accordance with His Will…’—that the evening prayer opens up the gates.
And this happens every day. That every day comes with its abundance as
well as its barriers, and the gates have to be opened. And the opening
of the gates is accomplished through the evening prayer, specifically when
it is recited in the proper time and with maximum concentration. The Rav
strongly encouraged everyone to recite the evening prayer in its proper
time (that it, as the stars come out), since, if a person delays, the gates
are then closed and he loses out on all the abundance with should have
come his way. And, rather than having to spend his time running around
looking for help, if he would instead stand and say the evening prayer
on time and with proper concentration, he would receive all his needs with
ease.
This is comparable
to what the Rambam said (Hilchos Lulav) regarding dancing—that if a person
sees others dancing and doesn't join in, he is a fool and a sinner. A fool,
that he loses out on all the abundance and sweetening of judgments that
he could have attained by dancing, and a sinner, that he is arrogant before
Hashem and acts as though he is unwilling to humble himself and dance for
Hashem’s honor. Delaying the evening prayer is just like that, that a person
can, in his foolishness, lose out on all the abundance that would
have been coming to him (how much more so, if he delays past midnight—for
then he is actually called a willful sinner). So too, he must recite the
evening prayer in its proper time and, through this, all the gates of the
new day are opened and he receives all his spiritual and physical needs.
If he needs children, or sustenance… Since Hashem “changes the periods,
exchanges the times, and arranges the stars…”, He arranges the constellations
so that if a person is under a certain astrological sign which would mean
that children or sustenance are not due to him, by reciting the evening
prayer in its proper time, with focused attention, Hashem shifts the star
that is part of his sign from one place to another. So it was with Avraham
Avinu—“Who awakened Jupiter from the east?” (Shabbos 156b)—Hashem
took Jupiter, which was part of Avraham Avinu’s astrological array, and
moved it from east to west. And so, the year comes with all types
of abundance (and it will be a shameful embarrassment if all the young
men don't find their true match during the coming year, or that all the
women who haven't yet had children will not have conceived, etc. For if
not, it's as if we've defrauded the words of Rebbe Nachman, since he promised
every kind of good to those who come to him for Rosh Hashanah.) Particularly
since we've come to such a Tzaddik who has all of the keys in his
hands, and he promised this, and a Tzaddik doesn't promise unless
he has the ability to uphold it. It's only that our Rebbe wants a little
regret from us, just a sincere thought of repentance, a tear. Because the
truth is, that even if we lived a million years, we would never be able
to repent completely for one sin (Chaye Moharan 304). It's just
that our Rebbe repents for us, but even so, we still need some regret,
a tear…Through this, we make a vessel to receive all the abundance of the
new year and open the gates to draw down all the flows of abundance.
The Rav spoke about
blemishing the Covenant, that one has to cry over this very much at Rebbe
Nachman’s grave site. Before the sin of Adam, Adam and Chava shone like
the sun. They were literally two suns, so much so that they could
not even look at each other. After the sin of Adam, the light that enclothed
them ran away and disappeared, and instead, they received a covering of
the skin of the snake. And so, when one looks at a woman, instead of seeing
the holy spark that is inside her, he sees only the skin of the snake.
It is permitted only to look at one's close relatives, that is, his wife,
sister, and daughter. It is permitted for a man to see the Diving spark
in them, that is, to hear words of Torah from them. A person has to know
that all his desires are from the serpent that is inside of him. At Rebbe
Nachman’s grave, a man can feel this and vomit everything out…And the Rav
said that that is how it will be until the Resurrection of the Dead, that
one will still have to flee from looking at any woman. The Rav brought
from the Maharal that the entire effort and desire of the yetzer hara is
to kill a person.
The Rav spoke about
the Maharal, that he was very great, that he appeared to Rebbe Simcha Bunim
of Peshischa as he was prostrate on the Maharal’s grave. Rebbe Simcha Bunim
then saw his greatness and chose him to be is Rebbe—the Maharal was the
“Rebbe without a body” of Rebbe Simcha Bunim. His physical Rebbe
was the Yehudi HaKadosh, and Reb Simcha Bunim said that every person must
have a Rebbe with a body, and one without a body.
The Rav also spoke
about the blessing to Yitzchak, that the Torah doesn't recount Avraham
Avinu blessing Yitzchak, only that Hashem blessed him. Avraham wanted to
bless Yitzchak but saw that Esav would come from him, and feared that the
blessing would fall to Esav. Even though Esav acted “for the sake of Heaven”
by killing Nimrod who had thrown his grandfather into the fiery furnace,
Avraham still did not want to see this at all, and died on the same day
(Bereishis 25:30, Rashi). Because, in truth, Esav simply burned
with blood lust, and was only seeking a way to let it out. The Rav said,
may Hashem have mercy, there is a type of person who burns with the desire
to beat someone, he just looks for the opportunity. After this he spoke
about the blessing of Yitzchak. That, in truth, Yitzchak certainly knew
that Yaakov was the tzaddik, and Esav the wicked one, and that he
certainly wanted to bless Yaakov. He just did not know how to bless him.
For Yaakov Avinu, the well would roll before him, the well of Miriam was
always with him. If so, what use would he have for the blessing of
“From the dew of Heaven…”? He had the well of Miriam, to which nothing
else could compare. Rav Chayim Vital merited to drink from it and, through
that, learned all of the wisdom from the Arizal—today, no matter how much
you learn his works, you cannot understand them properly. (He spoke further
about Miriam’s well, that it constantly moves through the Kinneret, that
a person who prays very much, can merit to immerse in it, and drink from
it.) Afterward, Yitzchak looked at Yaakov’s children—perhaps they might
need his blessing. At that point, Yitzchak saw Bilam who came to curse
Yisrael and said that maybe they might need his blessing to counteract
the curses of Bilam. He saw, though, that Bilam would ultimately bless
them with the most wondrous blessings—“They stretch out like streams,
like gardens by the river…”, that all of the Land of Israel would be streams
of water, etc. If so, there is no need to bless him, “From the dew of Heaven…”
Yitzchak looked further to the First Temple and saw again that there is
no need for his blessing. Zechariya the Prophet would bless them,
“In those days, living waters will go out from Yerushalayim—half to the
ancient sea, and half to the last sea.” That the well of Miriam would flow
from the Holy of Holies and wash over the Land in a river so mighty that
no boat could sail in it, and sweeten the Dead Sea (the “ancient sea”)
and the Mediterranean (the “last sea”). From there, it would spread out
and all the world's oceans would be sweetened. (The Rav said that today
we see that the need for water is greater than that which is available
on the planet, and no one knows where we will get water from in the future.
The answer is, that the well of Miriam will suffice for the whole world.)
So Yitzchak again saw that there is no need for his blessing.
Afterward, he looked further into the time of the
Second Temple and saw that, there too, his blessing was unneeded, since
there would be great warriors then who would fulfill, “…one will cause
a thousand to flee…”. He saw that a small number of people would kill Titus’
mercenaries by the thousands until the general despaired of ever conquering
Yerushalayim and decided to return home. It was only when Titus saw blood
seeping out from under the city's gates (there were three bands of zealots
who were fighting over who should lead—they killed each other, and innocent
civilians, by the thousands. The Rav said, regarding this, that a person
can want to be “the head” and fight for it, but the main thing is that
a person should have a head.) Once Titus saw this, he returned to the siege
and said, if so, certainly Hashem won't help you… Although Yitzchak Avinu
did not see a need to bless Yaakov, Rivka saw that Yaakov would stand in
need of this blessing. She saw that there would be later, weaker generations
like ours who aren't careful to guard their eyes, that don't guard their
thoughts, that don't merit to learn Torah properly. For them, the blessing
of Yitzchak is needed. And in the merit of opening the gates of the new
year through praying with devotion and sincere regret, let us merit the
complete redemption, speedily and in our days.
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