Hearing the Voices - Words of the Holy Tzaddik Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a for

The holiday of Shavuot is not merely a historical memory of the Revelation at Mount Sinai – it is a living and ongoing occurrence. Each year, the event of the Giving of the Torah is renewed in the souls of Israel, and every person is required to prepare themselves to receive the Torah as if they are standing at the foot of the mountain right now. This preparation requires purity, humility, and detachment from the noises of the world – so that the ear may return and hear those same voices and lightnings, that same Divine utterance that awakens the entire soul.

The Ear That Heard – And Will Hear Again

The Giving of the Torah arrives, the holiday of Shavuot arrives, we go to hear the Ten Commandments, we go to hear all the voices! There were tzaddikim who heard the Ten Commandments every minute, especially at the Giving of the Torah, especially on the holiday of Shavuot. The Rebbe heard all the voices of the Giving of the Torah! On the holiday of Shavuot, the Rebbe went to the mikvah in the morning and he heard all the Ten Commandments! He heard all the voices! He was certain that everyone else was hearing them too! He was certain that everyone was hearing the Ten Commandments, all the voices, lightnings, and thunders of the Giving of the Torah. He asked his attendant every time, 'Do you hear? Do you hear the voices? Do you hear voices? What, you don't hear!? How is it possible not to hear? What do you mean you don't hear? Behold! The Ten Commandments! Voices! Lightnings! The worlds are exploding! Listen to the explosions, the lightnings, the thunders in all the worlds! You don't hear?' The Rebbe was in such lowliness, in such humility, that he felt he was less than any Jew in the world! And so, if he hears the voices of the Giving of the Torah, then surely everyone hears!

We are now before the Giving of the Torah, and one needs to prepare vessels for the Giving of the Torah. A person must prepare himself to attain the Higher Wisdom, the Lower Wisdom, the Higher Eden, the Lower Eden. A person must prepare himself to start understanding the holy Gemara, so that he will merit to know that apart from the Gemara, apart from the Torah and the holy books, he knows nothing in the world. Not to know politics, not to know how much weaponry Egypt has, not to know anything! An ear that heard the Ten Commandments at Mount Sinai, an ear that is going to hear the Ten Commandments on the holiday of Shavuot, an ear that hears 'I am Hashem your God... who brought you out of the house of slaves,' from the house of slaves! Are you going to be a slave of slaves?! Are you going to listen to the radio! Are you going to listen to what is happening in the newspapers! All the great tzaddikim never took their heads out of the Gemara! They never stood up straight! This is 'We will do and we will hear'!! This is the Giving of the Torah!!

"Who Really Runs the World?"

Studying Torah is greater than the service of the Holy Temple, as it is written, 'It is more precious than pearls' (Proverbs 3:15) – it is greater than a High Priest who enters the Holy of Holies. A mamzer who is a Torah scholar is greater than a High Priest who is an ignoramus, even if he is a mamzer! Even if he was born in forbidden circumstances! In terrible flaws! If he studies Torah day and night, he is greater than a High Priest! Because it is impossible to escape the evil inclination except through studying Torah in-depth, and this is specifically when a person labors himself! To the point of death! To the point that he wants to die! 'A man who dies in a tent' – one must toil in Torah! To kill oneself over it! Not to study Torah out of laziness, out of comfort; studying Torah is not comfort! A person has all kinds of desires, and he also has a desire for comfort. All desires are hinted at by the 'chiefs of Esau,' and one of them is 'Chief Nachat' (comfort). A person likes to be in comfort, to study in comfort, but in truth, the true comfort, the true rest, is only the Torah! 'And he saw that rest was good... and he inclined his shoulder to bear' – the yoke of Torah (Rashi). The true rest is the rest of the soul – through studying Torah, one polishes the soul, cleans it, scrapes off all the filth, throws all the filth outside, and merits the rest of the soul.

A person must know that he is responsible for the acts of Creation; every day one must create the world anew. The world is managed according to those who study Torah. Through studying Torah, one creates the world. 'For all the innovations of the act of Creation that Hashem renews every day constantly, everything is through the Torah... that on this day there is much rain, and on this day there is dry land, and at this time it is cold and humid, etc., and likewise other changes' (Likutey Halachot, Yibum 3). Reb Noson explains that you are the one creating the world! You slept – a disaster occurred! You dreamed, you spoke with someone during study – a disaster occurred! A person must know that there is no reason to read newspapers and no reason to know what is happening in the world. You just take interest for one second in the world, and a disaster happens. A person must believe that the moment he is idle from Torah, a disaster occurs! You must know that all the changes in the world go according to your Torah study. When a Jew studies, then the whole world starts to love us, because all the nations sometimes love us, and sometimes they hate us. Anyone who has studied history knows that one year they love us, and another year they hate us and want to annihilate all the Jews, because everything depends on our Torah study, not on politicians and not on anything else.

Every Letter – A Soul. Every Word – A Tikkun (Rectification) of Worlds

The Gemara says in Nedarim 81a, 'Why are the children of Torah scholars not Torah scholars?... Because they did not make a blessing over the Torah first.' A person goes to study Torah and says, 'What is there... why not study Torah?! After all, it's fun! What am I losing? They are giving me 500 dollars, what could happen? What did I lose? I also earned 500 dollars, I also studied a little, I also passed the time, what is bad about that? What? Should I go now to work in some carpentry shop, in some printing press?' From such thoughts, from such intentions, nothing will come! Because a person must study Torah with intention, with fear and love, for the sake of Heaven, to believe that with every single letter he says, he is shaking tens of thousands of souls!! Through every letter he says, people are awakened and return in teshuvah.

The Rebbe says in Torah 14, why are the children of Torah scholars not Torah scholars? 'Because they did not make a blessing over the Torah first. For every person, and especially a Torah scholar, must bless and illuminate the study of his Torah in the root of the souls, for there our root is found... but when he does not illuminate and bless the beginning through his study... because of this, his son will not be a Torah scholar.' A person must know that all the letters he says are against souls! And in his study, he must illuminate the root of the souls, and this he must intend during his Torah study! Before he opens the Gemara, the Shulchan Aruch, the Yoreh Deah, he must say, 'I intend that through every letter that I will now bring out of my mouth, those same letters! That same letter that I will say! Will go to that soul that is connected to that letter, and will awaken it in teshuvah! That soul that is connected to that letter will receive an illumination' – and this is called making a blessing over the Torah first, that he intends in his study to bless and illuminate all the souls.

If a person merits to listen to the voice of the tzaddikim and to believe the Sages who say that through every single letter people return in teshuvah, and he studies Torah not because it is fun, not because there is nothing to do, not because it is instead of working, not because it is to pass the time, not because he is Charedi and must study Torah, not because he has sidelocks and a beard and it is a respectable thing – today a religious person is more respected than a secular person, that is the situation today in the physical realm – but rather he truly studies Torah for the sake of Heaven to awaken the roots of the souls, then through every letter he brings out of his mouth, he will intend to illuminate the roots of the souls, he will shake the roots of the souls! He will shake all the souls that have not yet become apostates and will return them in teshuvah.

Through every letter he will awaken neglected and lost souls, through every letter he will literally draw a new soul to those lost souls and return them in teshuvah.

Where did your son receive a soul? From the letters you studied!

Why do the secular not keep Shabbat? Why do the [anti-religious] not return in teshuvah? Why does a person not keep Shabbat? It is all because he has no soul! He is now living like a gentile! He is living like an animal! Like a sheep! Tell him to keep Shabbat, he doesn't understand what you are talking to him about! He doesn't understand what you want from him! He lost his soul! From too many flaws of the covenant, he lost his soul! And now we need to draw a new soul for him, we need to draw new souls for all the wicked! And this is done by us intending during our Torah study that every letter we say will go and illuminate that lost soul that is connected to that letter and awaken it in teshuvah. And this is what our Rebbe says: why are the children of Torah scholars not Torah scholars? Because they did not make a blessing over the Torah first! Because they do not have intention!! They do not intend to illuminate the roots of the souls!! They do not study with fear and love! They do not believe that through every letter they are shaking souls!! They do not believe that through every letter they say, people are now awakening and returning in teshuvah!

And therefore the punishment is very great, 'Their children are not Torah scholars.' They receive children who do not want to study, do not want to pray, do not want to go to cheder, do not want to go to yeshiva, they run away from the yeshiva! They pass the time. The Rebbe says in Torah 14, these children receive old souls, in the aspect of 'I am asleep.' The son wants to sleep a lot, to eat a lot, he is sluggish, he cannot get up early in the morning, he does a favor by keeping Shabbat. The father has to suffer until he brings him to the chuppah, a thousand sufferings! A thousand experts! Endless suffering! And all this happens to the father who did not make a blessing over the Torah first, who did not intend with every single letter he studied to illuminate the roots of the souls, especially Torah scholars who must be more careful to illuminate the roots of the souls. And conversely, the one who intends in the letters of the Torah.

He who intends to illuminate the roots of the souls, he surely merits to draw a pure and bright soul to his son. It is measure for measure! Just as he intended in the letters of the Torah to draw a soul to all the wicked, to all the lost souls, so Hashem gives him a gift, a bright and pure soul for his son that will only want to study, that will only want to get up early in the morning, and will even get up before the father! The father will get up at five in the morning – this soul will get up at three in the morning! His son will receive a pure and bright soul that is drawn only to holiness.

When you toil in Torah – it toils for you

The Rebbe says in Torah 101, if a person does not study Torah in-depth, does not study Gemara, then it is called a potion of death, it is 'dark faces,' 'In darkness He has set me, like the dead of the world' – he walks with dark faces, his smile is just a smile, just a smile like a gentile's, it is not the smile of a Jew – the smile of a Jew is that he is full of Torah and prayer, as it is written, 'A man's wisdom illuminates his face.' A person arrives home, immediately opens a book! Takes the Gemara, takes the Rambam, takes the Shulchan Aruch, the Tur, then the wife sees that he is toiling, she sees that he is studying! She will stand on the side, amazed, she will not approach him and will not demand anything from him. But when she sees that he is speaking nonsense, eating pizzas, eating cakes, drinking cola, and he even tells her, 'Make another cake and another cake,' then she fattens him and he sinks into desires more and more. But if she sees that he is holy of holies, that he is studying Torah, that he is a burning flame, that he is studying Gemara, that he is toiling, that he is all illuminated faces and the Shechinah rests upon him, then she will stand on the side! She will just be satisfied from looking at him! She will see the holy Shechinah resting upon him.

The Rebbe says that the hardest work in spirituality, which is the toil of Torah, is easier than the easiest work in the physical realm! People do not understand, they are mistaken, they do not know that studying Torah and toiling in Torah is easier than the easiest work in the physical realm. It is so hard for them to study that they go to carry loads and shipments and crates, they run from one end of the country to the other, from Metula to Eilat, they travel for hours, the main thing is not to study! If a person would sit and study, all the abundance would come to him! Because every letter is a gold mine! Every letter is an oil well of millions of barrels! Sit and study, see what abundance you will have! You also won't need to work! But the evil inclination is so great that it makes a person literally crazy, he becomes simply crazy, it is like he is banging his head against the wall! Why are you banging your head against the wall? Carrying loads, crates, why are you torturing yourself? What are you carrying? Sit in the kollel, study Torah, enjoy life, sit next to some spring, next to some field, see the beautiful flowers, why are you carrying loads on yourself? When a person studies Torah in-depth, studies Gemara, and he inserts his intellect into the Torah, then he creates new worlds! He creates a new reality! Suddenly he has new laws! He has money to travel to Uman! Suddenly he has abundance in spirituality, abundance in the physical! And all this why? Because through the study he created a new world! Before that, he was in a world that has no abundance, that has no money, and now he is in a new world that already has money! Because a completely new world has already been created! Because every moment a person creates new worlds; if a person studies Torah, then he creates new worlds every second.

A person must know that Breslov and Gemara are one thing! The point in Breslov is that one goes according to what is written! And not according to feelings and opinions and not according to what is convenient. 'Go your way in the footsteps of the flock, and graze your kids by the shepherds' dwellings' – one must listen to the voice of the shepherds! One must listen to the voice of the tzaddikim! One must listen to the voice of Likutey Moharan! In the first Torah in Likutey Moharan, it is written that a person must have intellect! A person must study Gemara! And only this is called sincerity. One must know that the Breslov Chassidut did not come to abolish, Heaven forbid, even a jot! Not a single custom of the people of Israel! Nothing that is accepted among the people of Israel! It only came to add! To add more fear of Heaven, more prayer with intention, even more guarding of the eyes.

The Rebbe said, 'I wanted my matter to spread in the hearts of people (those who are persistent in their work) like the Jews of Lithuania' (Siach Sarfei Kodesh B-257). The Rebbe says, 'Be Litvaks! Start studying!' With the Rebbe, there is no news! The Rebbe said, 'I walk in an old path that is all new.' In Torah 101, the Rebbe says, 'Whoever takes upon himself the yoke of Torah... this is Torah in-depth. The yoke of Torah is Gemara and Poskim!! We have nothing except our Rebbe! If a person wants new things, a new Likutey Moharan, then okay... let him write a new Likutey Moharan! Let him make a new Breslov! We go with the old Breslov, with what is written! The old Breslov is to study Torah in-depth, to study Gemara and Poskim. The Rebbe says the yoke of Torah is study in-depth! If there is someone who has a new Likutey Moharan or a different method, then all the more so, maybe he discovered new things! But the Rebbe says that he has no new things! The Rebbe is all old and yet completely new! People come! Here they distribute coins as a segulah, here they distribute blessed matzot, all kinds of innovations! May the innovations increase! But this has no connection to Breslov! The Rebbe said, 'I have no news! I walk in a path that is all old!' We must walk in the footsteps of the flock! See how the Chazon Ish studied! See how the Steipler studied! Be Breslov – there is nothing new here.

A person has heresy in his heart, he does not believe that Hashem is standing before him every moment. What a person does not intend in prayer, what a person does not feel that Hashem is standing before him, is because he has heresy in his heart, he does not believe that Hashem is present. When a person speaks with a friend, he is careful to think about every word he brings out of his mouth, especially if it is a king, he is more careful! That he shouldn't be caught in some mistake, Heaven forbid, in some illogical thing that he might say. When he speaks with a friend, he doesn't speak for nothing, he can speak for 10 hours because he sees before him a 'person' with a face, hands, feet. And Hashem is living and existing! He is present before us! And we do not feel Him, this shows that we have no intellect! We have no brain! When a person does not feel Hashem, and does not intend in prayer, it is only because he lacks intellect! Just as there are diseases where people lose their intellect and do not recognize their parents, so too a person, if he has no intellect, he has no Torah, he does not recognize his Father and Mother, which is Hashem. If a person could, he would transplant intellect for himself, but they still haven't found how to transplant a brain.

And to receive intellect, to receive a brain, says our holy Rebbe, is only through studying the Shas, it is only through studying the Torah.