Wonderful holy words, with many life-guiding counsels, from the lessons of our master, the Gaon HaTzaddik Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a

“And Chana prayed to Hashem” — Chana has the same letters as Chanukah, and Chanukah has the same letters as Chana, etc. The holy Arizal says that through Chana’s prayers, the miracle of Chanukah came about (Rabbi Berland shlit"a is precise in his words from the verses). Chana prayed for Chanukah and for Gog and Magog.

On the parshiyos of Chayei Sarah, Toldos, and Vayeitzei there are a million questions. One must learn these parshiyos with the commentary of the Ben Ish Chai. The entire parshah of Vayeitzei deals with thefts: Rachel stole the terafim from Lavan. “And Yaakov stole Lavan’s heart, for he fled.” Yaakov says to Lavan: “I was stolen by day and I was stolen by night.” Lavan deceives Yaakov endlessly. Leah cries out to Rachel: Why are you stealing Yaakov from me? All the secrets and all the questions come from the fact that Parshas Vayeitzei speaks of the secret of the joining of the Partzufim of Rachel and Leah.

Eliezer, Avraham’s servant, had many questions about Avraham. Every second, more and more questions came to him—until the word macharish, “And he was silent” (“And he was silent”). There, all his questions were answered. Because he saw that from Yitzchak must come forth Yaakov and Eisav. The word macharish has the gematria 558—exactly like “Yaakov and Eisav.” Then it was revealed to Eliezer who Yaakov Avinu is, whose image is engraved upon the Throne of Glory. Yaakov Avinu is wholeness. Eliezer understood that Avraham Avinu makes no mistakes in life—truth itself was revealed to him. If a person is silent, and nullifies himself to the Tzaddik, and does not raise questions, he merits that all his questions are answered.

All bachelors and single women who want their zivug should say, for forty days after Birkos HaShachar, Chapter 24 in Sefer Bereishis. Ideally one should say it twice a day, and if not, once a day. There the Torah speaks about the match of Rivkah and Yitzchak through Eliezer.

In every generation, Moshiach needs to come, and Hashem delays it. Hashem is waiting for people to do teshuvah out of free choice. Hashem waits for an awakening from below, and then Moshiach will come. If people do not do teshuvah, Moshiach will not come.

From today (8 Kislev—and each person should begin from the moment he hears this), everyone should say before sleep Michah 4:8 (we have attached this for the merit of the public) for 40 days. Whoever says this for 40 days will merit to bring Moshiach.

There is only one verse in the Torah (Parshas Ki Sisa) about the cleft of the rock, and it has a connection to the month of Teves, and it is good to say this verse because it is the strongest in the Torah: “And it shall be, as My glory passes by, that I will place you in the cleft of the rock, and I will cover you with My hand until I have passed” (Shemos 33:22). There, all the secrets were revealed to Moshe Rabbeinu—the Thirteen Attributes of Mercy; there, the skin of his face shone.

Only one who prays with kavanah merits truth. One who does not pray with kavanah has no truth and has no siyata d’Shmaya.

When a person is a man of truth, they shoot arrows at him from every direction. And the more a person is a man of truth, the more arrows they send at him; they create more disputes against him and speak more lashon hara about him. Chizkiyahu was fit to be Moshiach; therefore Sancheriv came upon him with 2 billion and 600 million soldiers to fight him. This is exactly corresponding to one hundred million Havayos (one hundred million times 26). Because when the Name Havayah is damaged, destructive forces arrive. The arrows were aimed at the man of truth (Chizkiyahu), because the more a person is in truth, the more Hashem tests him—to see whether he breaks, Heaven forbid, and falls into despair, or whether he strengthens himself in Emunah. The more a person is a man of truth, the more they fight him.

Sancheriv comes with all his armies to Jerusalem on Erev Pesach, and Chizkiyahu says: I will make the Seder night as usual (he goes to sleep). Sancheriv does not exist at all—there is nothing; there is only Hashem, may He be blessed. Just as Miriam said to her father Amram when he divorced Yocheved: Father, Pharaoh does not exist at all; Pharaoh was not created. If Amram had withstood the test and had not divorced his wife, the complete tikkun would have been accomplished.

Hashem swore that the decree of Sancheriv would be, and that he would reach Jerusalem with his armies—but then Hashem would destroy him. So too regarding the Tzaddik: it is not relevant to pray that the machlokes and the lashon hara against the Tzaddik should stop. It will come in enormous quantities, like Sancheriv who came upon Jerusalem. One must pray that the light of the Tzaddik be revealed. Chizkiyahu was certain that everything was emptiness, and that Sancheriv with his armies did not exist at all. In order to magnify the miracle, Hashem brought them all the way to Jerusalem, and there He turned them all into dead corpses. When a person is a man of truth, Hashem swore that there will be wars against him.

One must be fluent in the entire order of the 21 kings of Yehudah: David, Shlomo, Rechavam son of Shlomo, Aviyam, Asa, Yehoshafat, Yehoram, Achazyah, Yoash, Amatzyah, Uziyahu, Yosam (the Rav said: King Yosam is the 12th, and whoever mentions his name has all his sins forgiven), Achaz, Chizkiyahu, Menashe, Amon, Yoshiyahu, Achav the second, Yehoyakim, Yehoyachin, and Tzidkiyahu.

All disasters and catastrophes come because people see that they are persecuting the Tzaddik and everyone remains silent. If they had protested, there would not have been disasters. Everyone saw that they were persecuting King David and everyone was silent. David had only 600 men (400 families), with babies in their arms. They ran from forest to forest and from hill to hill. They had no airplanes and no cars. They walked barefoot.

Everything they argued against David, and the fact that he had to wander with six hundred men and babies, is happening until today. Everyone who was there is here until today: people are born today, and thousands of years ago they were among those who persecuted King David—or they did not protest. They let David and his men run barefoot with babies in their arms. Hashem does not forgive.

If during the Holocaust they had attached themselves to the Tzaddik and said, “In the merit of the Tzaddik,” they would have sweetened all the judgments. When one holds onto Tzaddikim, all judgments are sweetened. The true “Neturei Karta” (guardians of the city) are those who are close to the Tzaddik. The Tzaddik is the one who guards everyone— the entire world. The Tzaddik is the morning; he is the yechidah (the singular soul-root); he is the true light; he has 600,000 lights. And did we find the Tzaddik? People despair! But a person must say that he does not despair, and he continues to search for the Tzaddik. It is not enough to search for the Tzaddik—one must search more and more. To wait, not to be frightened by lashon hara, to wait until Hashem reveals the true light.

A person who lives outside Eretz Yisrael and can make aliyah to Eretz Yisrael but does not—this is a disaster. Every second that one does not go up to the Land is a disaster.

One must leave the well-known blemish, the spirit of folly. If one does not learn Ketzos HaChoshen, it is very difficult. The Ketzos holds the mind steady.

Thousands of people in the world have passed the age of one hundred; there are those who reached 140. One can pass one hundred easily: not to eat a lot. Food clogs the capillaries, the veins, the arteries.