A Letter from the Gaon and Tzaddik Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a from the

As testified by Natan Bezanson, the Gabbai of our Teacher, the Gaon and Tzaddik Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a, reporting from the hospital regarding the letter presented before you: "The Rav wrote the following letter with great mesirus nefesh (self-sacrifice)."

B"H, for the sake of His Name, for the sake of His Creation, 76, on Rosh Hashanah

27 Shevat 5777, the year of the coming of Mashiach 777

To all students of Yeshivat Shuvu Banim

The Rav requests from all students of Yeshivat Shuvu Banim in every single location

To strengthen and encourage all those who dispute, persecute, and libel [us].

To strengthen them with every kind of strengthening and encouragement, to raise their prestige, to encourage them, and to support them spiritually and materially, with Nefesh, Ruach, and Neshama, Chaya, and Yechida [all levels of the soul].

And to supply them with as much material for slander and humiliation as possible. Because the merit that has fallen to Shuvu Banim—that everyone slanders and humiliates them—is a merit that all the tzaddikim in the world would pay full price for, giving all their property just to merit such humiliations. And all those who cannot withstand the humiliations and slanders should leave "Shuvu Banim" today, and Heaven forbid, should not return fire [fight back].

Therefore, anyone who considers himself a student of Rabbi Berland is forbidden to wake up later than 12:00 at night. Maariv can be prayed as early as 6:30 until the 26th of Adar, and there are 5 hours to sleep at home for those who want or need it. Then, one should say Tikkun Chatzos (the Midnight Lamentation) for an hour or two, with terrible weeping over the destruction of the Temple, and only pray and ask for as many humiliations and slanders as possible. Afterwards, he should go to the field [for Hisbodedus], and be there for an hour or two, and request and scream with all his powers until his soul expires that the Rav should merit as many humiliations and slanders as possible.

Afterwards, he should study Ketzos HaChoshen until the Shacharis prayer, as Rebbe Nachman writes in Torah 62 that it is a great mitzvah to sharpen the intellect. This is actually the first and most important mitzvah, because only by sharpening the intellect—the holy and awesome Rebbe explains—can you fulfill the mitzvah of "Know what to answer an Apikores (heretic)," the acronym of which is Shalom (peace). Only then will there be peace within yourself and peace in your prayer, and you will be able to connect the body with the soul in prayer, to disconnect from all bodily matters, and cling only to the soul, which is the essence of the human being, a portion of God from above. [Then] you will be able to cling to eternal life, to Hashem, blessed be He, Who is the source of life, joy, gladness, and success.

In Torah 277, the holy and awesome Rebbe explains that all those who dispute a person are his true lovers. They dig huge tunnels under his house to bring him trucks full of diamonds, precious stones, and gems. But if, Heaven forbid, he answers them even one word, he immediately throws all the diamonds, precious stones, and gems back, Heaven forbid.

And in Torah 12 [it mentions] "Hormiz the son of Lilith, who leaped upon the wall, and leaped from this one to that one, and not even a single drop fell to the earth; and on that day, they ascended to the heavens and descended to the depths." Even now, Shuvu Banim are in a state of "they ascended to the heavens and descended to the depths," inside a tornado, hurricane, monsoons, and other stormy winds—they ascend to heaven and descend to the depths—but one must be careful that not even a single drop of the words of the disputers falls to the ground [i.e., is lost or reacted to negatively].

Through this, the holy and awesome Rebbe explains that all the Torah of the disputers, and everything they learned from the day of their birth until now, from all their reincarnations, and from the time of Adam HaRishon, and what the angel taught them in their mother's womb—everything passes to the one they are disputing against. Suddenly, all the wellsprings of wisdom and knowledge open up for him, just like for the holy Rabbi Chaim Vital when he drank from Miriam's Well. And all the secrets in the world are revealed, just like to Rabbi Akiva. The Midrash Rabbah (Chukat 19) says that things not revealed to Moses were revealed to Rabbi Akiva and his colleagues, as it is said, "And his eye saw every precious thing"—this refers to Rabbi Akiva and his colleagues. The Megaleh Amukos explains in Torah 72 that this is the secret of the letter Shin of the Tefillin, which was not revealed to Moshe Rabbeinu but was revealed to Rabbi Akiva and his colleagues. Regarding this, the holy and awesome Rebbe explains in Hilchos Tefillin 4 that this is the secret of the Tefillin with three heads and the Tefillin with four heads. This is the secret of the disputes (machlokos), which only the true Tzaddikim merit. This is like the iron combs of Rabbi Akiva [used in his martyrdom], through which the secrets of the two Shins were revealed, which were not revealed to any Tzaddik in the world until the coming of King Mashiach.

For no person in the world can reach any spiritual level, even the smallest of the small, except through disputes, humiliations, and slanders. When Reb Chaikel asked Rebbe Nachman: "Rebbe, I have a question, but I am afraid you will say, 'Reb Chaikel, shtarb [die].'" The Rebbe said to him: "Ask." Then he asked: "Rebbe, why do you draw disputes upon yourself?" Then the Rebbe said to him: "Reb Chaikel, gut az du zach bavorent [[it is good] that you secured yourself], regarding me, even me'abrizbe le'abrizbe (from bench to bench / step to step), for I cannot accomplish my matters except through disputes."

And anyone who is willing to join the disputes against me, we need only to strengthen and encourage him with every kind of encouragement and support, and to obtain money and donations for them in every possible way, to increase their power and increase their efforts, and to help them succeed in all their ways. And anyone who cannot withstand the humiliations should leave "Shuvu Banim" today.

Even to Elijah the Prophet, Obadiah said, "There is no nation or kingdom where the king has not sent to seek you... and if I tell him you are here... he will kill me." For Ahab was one of three kings who ruled the entire world, and he had 273 princes as hostages, all of whom returned and converted with complete teshuvah (repentance) when Elijah the Prophet was wanted all over the world. They called him "Troubler of Israel" and every derogatory name in the world, yet he did not abandon his path, the path of holiness. He slaughtered the 450 prophets of Baal and the 400 prophets of Asherah before the eyes of all. And although Jezebel said to him, "By tomorrow I will make your life like the life of one of them," it says "And he saw" (vayar). Rabbi Chama asked Rabbi Yossi: Why "And he saw"? The Chiddushei HaRim asks: A man who burned 102 men is afraid of Jezebel? Rabbi Yossi answers: It is not written vayira (and he feared), but vayar (and he saw)—that he went "to his soul," for in the merit of this, he merited to reach his soul.

[caption id="attachment_45912" align="alignnone" width="259"] A letter that Rabbi Berland wrote in the hospital regarding the acceptance of humiliations[/caption]