RAV MEIR SHMUELI SPEAKS OUT
Rav Meir Shmueli, shlita, recently gave over a frightening drasha at the Moussaeif Synagogue, where he spoke about the severity of getting involved in machloket (strife, scandal-mongering) against Talmidei Chacham (Torah scholars).
(Click the video to hear Rav Shmueli speaking – Hebrew).
Rav Shmueli said: “Today, there are many people who are busying themselves by commenting on affairs involving Rabbonim (rabbis). The late Rav Elyashiv, ztl, said that at least a third of the cancers affecting the Jewish community are being caused because people are disgracing Talmidei Chacham.
“For a while, these gossipmongers belonged to the community of Torah learners, and to different chassiduts, and for a while, even to the same branch of chassidut [that they are now disparaging]. But now, they have switched sides to become critics of the Torah. If they were the ones who were being talked against, I have no idea how many sins they would be doing as a result. And they are still speaking against the Rabbanim.”
ANYONE WHO SPEAKS AGAINST A TORAH SCHOLAR HAS NO REMEDY FOR HIS AFFLICTION
Rav Shmueli continued: “Someone said to me: ‘But the Rav admitted it!’ It’s written that: ‘If you see someone committing a forbidden act with your own eyes, it’s forbidden to continue to suspect him of doing wrongdoings the next day, because for sure he made teshuva.’ And here, you didn’t even see anything at all with your own eyes! And if you spoke against him, then you take on all of his sins.
“It’s written about King David that anyone who says that he sinned has no share in the world to come, because anyone who speaks against a Talmid Chacham has no remedy for his affliction.
“There was one Jew who came to my father and told him that his wife had got cancer. After he’d finished speaking with my father, I said to him that he should accept upon himself not to speak against the Rabbonim, because the reason his wife had been stricken is because he’d already spoken against the Rabbonim. These things are written in the Shulchan Aruch (section Yoreh Deah, chapter 245), where it covers the laws pertaining to respecting Torah scholars. This man accepted my words, stopped speaking against Torah scholars, and his wife’s illness disappeared.
DON’T SPEAK!
“Throw away your own ideas (seichel) and tell yourself: ‘What do I know, anyway, about the actions of the Gedolei Israel? Why do I need to speak about these things?’
But he admitted it!!! And it was written up all over the media!!!
“It’s all nonsense and futility! There was once a person called Burns, who spent 30 years in prison on murder charges until they finally admitted that he hadn’t done anything wrong. [In the case of Rav Berland], they told him: ‘if you don’t go along with us, you’re going to stay in prison for a long time, so it would be wise for you to say that you did these things, so you don’t end up in an even worse situation.’
“I’ve seen amazing things,” continued Rav Shmueli. “I had a good friend who was by nature a troublemaker. He made trouble for his friend, who was a Talmid Chacham, and then the troublemaker’s health situation became very difficult, and he needed surgery. I told him that he should ask his friend to forgive him. Within a week of doing that, he was cured.
“More than 25 years’ ago, I was with another individual who got cancer of the throat after his father threatened Rav Sharabi, ztl, that he would burn down Rav Sharabi’s shul! That man died. After a couple of months, his father also died.
“Don’t speak! Is your life really so dull that you want to play with this sort of fire?!”
