Shuvu Banim International - Rabbi Eliezer Berland

HOW DID HASHEM CHOOSE WHO GOES OUT TO WAR? HOW DID ELIYAHU HANAVI FIND MERIT IN THE JEWISH PEOPLE? These are his holy words: “Hashem said to Gidon, ‘The people are too numerous’” (Shoftim 7:2). There are too many people here. Today [at the time of the shiur] there are some 100,000 soldiers in Gaza. “SO NOW CALL OUT IN THE EARS OF THE PEOPLE, SAYING” -- GO HOME [ALL WHO ARE FEARFUL OF GOING TO WAR], EVERYONE GO HOME – “WHOEVER FEARS AND TREMBLES, LET HIM TURN BACK AND DEPART AT DAWN FROM MOUNT GILAD.” THEN 22,000 WENT HOME, “TWENTY-TWO THOUSAND OF THE PEOPLE WITHDREW” – 10,000 REMAINED OUT OF THE 32,000 THAT THERE WERE. “Then Hashem said to Gidon, ‘The people are still too numerous; bring them down to the water and I shall purge them for you there. And it shall be, that of whomever I say to you, “This one shall go with you,” he shall go with you, and of whomever I say to you, “This one shall not go with you,” he shall not go.’” (ibid. 4). “Then Hashem said to Gidon, ‘The people are still too numerous’” – these are too many for Me. He did not need so many people for the war. I will tell you who will go out to war, “Of whomever I say to you, ‘This one shall not go with you,’ he shall not go. He brought the people down to the water,” to the Harod stream [Nahal Harod], this is the well-known stream, Nahal Harod. So there at the Harod stream, a small portion drank from their hand; put their hand into the water and took out a tiny bit, drew it to their mouth with such humility, lowliness, without a lust for eating. THE REMAINDER PUT THEIR HEADS INTO THE WATER, WANTED TO ENTER THE WATER IN THEIR CLOTHES. THEN HE SAID [THAT] WHOEVER PUT HIS HEAD INTO THE WATER SHOULD STAND ASIDE, [AND] WHOEVER LICKED UP THE WATER FROM THEIR HAND SHOULD STAND ON THE OTHER SIDE. THERE WERE THREE HUNDRED WHO LICKED [THE WATER] AND 9700 WHO PUT THEIR HEADS INTO THE WATER. “And I will leave over in Israel seven thousand, all the knees which did not kneel to the Ba’al” (I Melachim 19:18). These were the 7,000 whom Eliyahu HaNavi succeeded in getting to repent. He brought them all to Mount Carmel and began to hide under the altar; because once, they had impure names, sorcery. On that day, all the sorcery became confused. “And they cut themselves…with spears,” from morning until the early afternoon, until blood oozed. All of them were oozing blood; blood came out of them, rivers of blood, streams of blood. Eliyahu said, “Scream loud, perhaps he [the Ba’al] fell asleep. The idol does not wake up – sleeps an eternal sleep. Suddenly, fire comes down. At the beginning, the two bulls did not want to go. Eliyahu said to the bull of idolatry, “Go – Hashem will be sanctified also through you.” Behold, they slaughtered the [first] one, and fire did not descend until Eliyahu repaired the destroyed altar of Hashem, the altar which Shaul had built when he went to war with the Philistines; then he built the altar, because you cannot fight a war without a sacrifice. You have to bring a sacrifice – you have to. Eliyahu poured water around the altar and said, “Master of the Universe, You have turned back their hearts.” Because Rachel is face-to-face, and the entire matter is that Rachel will be face-to-face; but then [at Mount Carmel], Rachel was back-to-back. ELIYAHU SAID, “MASTER OF THE UNIVERSE, THEY ARE NOT GUILTY. THEY ARE CAPTIVE CHILDREN [LIKE CHILDREN TAKEN CAPTIVE AND RAISED BY GENTILES, WHO SIN UNKNOWINGLY].” THE GREATEST TZADDIKIM ARE THOSE WHO WERE IN KIBBUTZ RE’IM. THESE ARE THE GREATEST TZADDIKIM THERE HAVE EVER BEEN. SUCH TZADDIKIM HAVE NOT BEEN SINCE THE CREATION OF THE WORLD, AND ALL OF THEM ARE IN THE GARDEN OF EDEN. ALSO THE 16 FALLEN SOLDIERS [AT THE TIME OF THE SHIUR] – ALL OF THEM ARE IN THE GARDEN OF EDEN, ALL OF THEM WERE KILLED FOR THE SANCTIFICATION OF GOD’S NAME. THEY ARE THE GREATEST TZADDIKIM THAT EVERY WERE IN ALL GENERATIONS. THEY ARE NOT GUILTY. THEY TAUGHT THEM THAT THERE IS NO GOD; THIS IS WHAT THEY TAUGHT THEM FROM THE DAY THEY WERE BORN. NOW THEY SEE GOD FACE-TO-FACE, “NO EYE HAS SEEN IT EXCEPT YOU GOD,” THAT THEY MERIT TO SEE HASHEM FACE-TO-FACE. ALL THE DIVINE SERVICE OF A PERSON IS TO SEE HASHEM FACE-TO-FACE – “FACE-TO-FACE HASHEM SPOKE WITH YOU” (DEVARIM 5:4). HASHEM WANTS TO SPEAK WITH THEM FACE-TO-FACE; THEY SEE HASHEM FACE-TO-FACE. [WHEN WE] PRAY WORD-FOR-WORD WITH MELODIES, THEN WE SEE HASHEM FACE-TO-FACE.