"If Rabbi Akiva Had Attended All the Lessons

Words of the Gaon and Tzaddik, Rav Eliezer Berland shlit"a, delivered on Motzaei Shabbat Parshat Pinchas 5778.

"The Rebbe said that all the worlds depend on every single letter in Likutey Moharan. In the letter Aleph, the Throne of Glory depends on the yud of the Aleph, the firmament depends on the vav of the Aleph, and the lower yud is the world of Asiyah. Together, this is Atzilut, Beriah, Yetzirah, and Asiyah. The Aleph Zeira together with the Hei equals the gematria of Rabbi Akiva."

"Rabbi Akiva was combed with iron combs, but if he had attended all the lessons, he would not have needed iron combs. Rabbi Akiva had the spark that was the most difficult to rectify, because the greater a person is, the more difficult their spark is to rectify."

"With every letter one says in Likutey Moharan, one creates all the worlds, all the heavens, and all the firmaments until the end of all generations. Rebbe Nachman said that until now he had concealed all his writings, and afterwards he gave them to R' Nathan to go and obtain approbations for them. The Chozeh of Lublin writes that Likutey Moharan is truly a writing from Heaven; it is not a writing from human beings at all. 'And the tablets were the work of Hashem, and the writing was the writing of Hashem' (Exodus 32:16). The tablets are the work of Hashem."

"It is written in Tikkun 40 of the Tikkunei Zohar regarding what Rabbi Akiva said to his students Elisha ben Abuyah, Ben Azzai, and Ben Zoma: 'You speakers of falsehoods, when you reach the stones of pure marble, do not say water, water.' 'Marble' (shayish) refers to the tablets; do not say that the tablets were broken, and whoever says so is liable for death."

"For the tablets are straight, the tablets are whole, no tablet was ever broken. And furthermore, the Sages discussed the interpretation of the words 'water, water' that incur the death penalty. The Saba d'Savin, Rabbi Hamnuna, appeared and asked, 'What are you occupied with?' Rabbi Hamnuna said that this is a secret that is forbidden to reveal to human beings. Because the stones of pure marble are the two yuds of the Aleph, where the upper yud is the first tablets and the lower yud is the second tablets. Whoever grasps the tablets lives forever; the Torah is the Tree of Life."

"Whoever knows that the tablets were not broken will live forever and can revive the dead and heal the sick. All those who were buried in the Land of Israel will be revived first, and those who were born abroad will be revived last, until they receive a new soul."

Thus far are the words of the Gaon and Tzaddik, Rav Eliezer Berland shlit"a, as delivered on Motzaei Shabbat Parshat Pinchas 5778.