Enough, Isn't It a Shame About All the Suffering and Losses in Body and Soul?

Throughout the country, prayer gatherings were held today, including the acceptance of the yoke of the Kingdom of Heaven, the recitation of the Pitum HaKetoret, the Parashat HaMenorah, and more. May it be the will of Hashem that the prayers of Your people Israel be accepted with favor, and may our prayers join with the entire House of Israel. Just as our teacher, the holy Gaon Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a, has instructed all these years - not to separate from the community, but always to be included with Anash, with the entire House of Israel.

However, we must repeat and sound the warning of the Torah, the warning of the great Kabbalists and tzaddikim who have said again and again - as long as Rav Berland shlit"a is in detention, the entire House of Israel will be in detention with him. We wish all of Israel in the Holy Land and the world only good and a complete healing, but here is a small fraction of the things we have repeatedly warned about, together with the words of the great figures of Israel from the generations.

It is a pity that we continue to suffer for no reason; whoever has the power to protest and warn should rise up and do so already. It is a pity for more G-d-fearing Jews who are falling victim to this difficult situation.

Reb Noson already warned in his holy book Likutey Halachot (Orach Chaim - Hilchot Shabbat, Halacha 6), and he also revealed there the remedy for the coronavirus:

"For the true tzaddikim are able to perform a tikkun and heal every person in the world, even if he is very ill in body and soul. For just as one who humiliates a Torah scholar has no cure for his wound, as our Sages of blessed memory have said, and as the matter is explained well in this Torah, likewise to the contrary, the measure of good is greater for one who believes in the tzaddikim and their students, who are the true Torah scholars; there is no wound in the world, in body or soul, that does not have a cure through them, in the aspect of 'and for all his flesh, healing,' which is said regarding the Torah."

What could be clearer and more illuminated than the words of Rebbe Nachman's student, Reb Noson? They humiliate the Torah scholar and there is no cure for his wound, and it is simply seen that there is no cure for the coronavirus, and none is being found. But, Hashem is good and does good to all, and He established that the measure of good is greater than the measure of judgment; therefore, if we rise up and protest the humiliation of the Torah scholar, Rav Berland shlit"a, surely the judgments will be sweetened from upon the House of Israel.

Words of the Kabbalist who brings merit to the masses

And as we have brought several times the words of the Kabbalist Rabbi Menashe Amon, who said that anyone who humiliates a Torah scholar has no cure for his wound, as long as Rav Berland is in detention, more cities and more places will enter into the danger of the coronavirus, and to our great sorrow, these things have already materialized, and our eyes are failing.

I sat with prominent Torah scholars and tried to understand the meaning of this scandal. Are the things not clear and painful enough? Perhaps the attempt to understand the connection between the humiliation of Rav Berland—a prominent Torah scholar by all accounts and according to all methods, a famous G-d-fearing tzaddik (and this is not according to his students who hold him as an actual angel of Hashem)—was difficult until now. But now that Rav Berland is in detention, and from that very moment the coronavirus arrived in the country and has not stopped wreaking havoc in the world—and the whole world has entered into detention along with the tzaddik—what more is needed for us to open our eyes? So it seems that people do not understand that this is not about some Divine insight of this or that hidden Kabbalist (and G-d forbid we do not disparage any tzaddik), but rather it is about an explicit Halacha that is being trampled upon almost without anyone saying a word.

Shulchan Aruch, Yoreh De'ah 243

6) It is a great sin to humiliate the Sages or to hate them (Jerusalem was not destroyed until they humiliated the Torah scholars therein - Rambam). And anyone who humiliates the Sages has no share in the World to Come, and he is included in the category of 'because he has despised the word of Hashem'.

"On the same day they arrested Rav Berland, the coronavirus disease was discovered in the country, and the Rav said, 'When the tzaddik is in quarantine, the whole world is in quarantine'," shared the Gaon Rabbi Ofer Erez shlit"a in his lesson from his home following the coronavirus situation. "All we know is that Rav Berland is performing immense and wonderful tikkunim in the world, and happy is he who merits to be saved from the controversy regarding the Rav. On the contrary, one must hold on to Rav Berland, to be connected with the Rav, to be in contact with him."

"There is no doubt that all the actions of Rav Berland now are the final clarifications leading up to the Geulah." Thus far his words.

How will the gates open?

When King Solomon finished building the Holy Temple, the holy vessels were brought into their places (Babylonian Talmud, Shabbat 30a). At the dedication of the Temple, when Solomon wanted to bring the Ark of the Covenant into its place in the Holy of Holies, he encountered a problem. The gates stuck to one another and refused to open. King Solomon tried with twenty-four songs and praises, but was not answered. King Solomon continued to try and open the gates, but to no avail.

King Solomon remained helpless and did not know what to do. Until Solomon said: "Hashem G-d, do not turn away the face of Your anointed, remember the kindnesses of David Your servant," and he was answered. Only when King Solomon mentioned David his father, who so anticipated seeing the building of the Temple and did everything possible to hasten its construction, was his prayer answered.

The Torah warns against "Do not stand idly by the blood of your neighbor"; you see that your brothers are being harmed or are about to be harmed, it is your duty to warn them. This is not the time to be silent!

Enough. They tried and are trying everything, but to no avail. And just as the gates of the Temple did not open even before the King of Israel until the humiliation of King David was removed, the gates of Heaven are waiting to open for our prayers by our rising up and protesting the detention and humiliation of the holy Gaon Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a.

Words of Rabbi Ofer Erez courtesy of the Netzach Netzachim channel and edited from the full lesson that Rabbi Ofer gave from his home following the coronavirus situation.