First, here’s a short piece from Shivivei Or, where the Rav is talking about his ancestors:

Excerpt of a shiur given over on Shabbat Shuvah, 5786, in Krakow

Yesterday we went to the Synagogue of the REMA.

Now, it was clarified that all the family Berland, all those who are called ‘Berland’, they are connected to the REMA, because the grandfather Strulovitz, Moshe ben Chaim, he was the grandson of the REMA.

So there is in Strulovitz, there, Moshe ben Chaim. Moshe ben Chaim, [back] until the REMA.

==

I had a cousin who was called Shmuel Strolovitz.

His father was called Moshe Chaim, and he had a bank. He used to live in Vienna, and once i went to visit him, and he gave me $100. He could have given me much more, he had a whole bank. But he gave me $100, and for this I went to him, but afterwards I jumped for joy.

He exploited people[1], so he needed to run away.

He travelled to Brazil for seven years. In any case, they were also connected to the REMA, by way of R’ Avraham of Buczacz, the Eshel Avraham.

He had a commentary on the Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim, and the family Strolovitz were his grandchildren.

==

Translated and excerpted from Shivivei Or 429.

FOOTNOTE:

[1] It’s not clear what the Rav is referring to here. The original Hebrew says: הוא עשק אנשיםץ

==

I started tootling around trying to find this ‘Moshe Chaim’, the grandson of the REMA, that apparently these Strulovitzs and the Rav descend from…

Let’s just say, I have tens of tabs open again, and some of them overlap with that interesting family tree stuff I wrote about yesterday…

There is a lot to unpack here.

And so far, I haven’t been able to make the links with what the Rav is setting out above.

==

In the meantime, me and my husband went down to the prayers with the Rav yesterday, and he gave some comments yesterday about the ‘Atzeret’ (the Rav’s words) today.

It’s very hard to understand what the Rav is saying first-hand, out in the crowd, but even so, he made it clear that Shuvu Banim is participating in the ‘Million Man March’ today.

Which is kind of surprising, as the Rav has never gone in for this sort of stuff.

Prayer gatherings at the Me’arat HaMachpela, at the Kotel, outside the prison in Ramla – yes, and lots of them.

But not ‘demonstrations’, per se.

However, things appear to be changing.

Also, I believe the Rav said that he wants Shuvu to congregate by the Iriya tomorrow – Jerusalem City Hall – at 2.30 pm and to recite 10 Tikkun Haklalis.

But I could be wrong about these details, as it’s very hard to make out what he’s saying clearly and I might have missed a crucial word or two.

==

B’kitzur – it seems to me that the ‘Million Man March’ is something quite unusual, this time around.

The Rav, and Shuvu, have never participated in these things before, to my knowledge.

The Rav was saying yesterday how the persecution of the Torah world by the ‘secular’ and the ‘leftists’ (let me add in here, including those ‘leftists’ who actually run ‘right-wing’ parties and work for the CIA…) in Israel has become very cruel.

He also said that all these persecutors have a mental disorder, some sort of disabling syndrome, like Downs.

In any case – Shuvu is turning out today.

And there is an increasing, palpable, feeling in the air that our puppet-leaders are fast approaching the last act in this grotesque ‘theatre’ – the part where the worm finally turns, the little guys start standing up to the bullies, and the evil in the world finally gets challenged.

I really hope so.

Bezrat Hashem.