It Is Forbidden to Fear Anyone

"And the spirit of Hashem began to stir him" • The main thing in the world is to reveal the Kingdom of Hashem! There is nothing else besides Him, and there is nothing to fear but Him, may He be blessed. All fears are a lie; all the wicked are mere illusions. Whoever merits to cleave to the true tzaddik becomes filled with living faith and courage of the heart, such that he is not deterred by any person and is not broken by any trial. For when the spirit of Hashem stirs within the heart, no fear can penetrate.

These are the holy words of our teacher, the great tzaddik, Rav Eliezer Berland shlit"a:

Without Fear – Only Fear of Hashem

The primary purpose of the creation of the world was to reveal His fear and His kingdom, "The fear of Hashem is pure, enduring forever." One must know that there is only the fear of Hashem; one must only fear Hashem, only be afraid of Hashem. Do not fear anyone, not any person, not Haman, not Pharaoh, not the Nazis. One must only have the fear of Hashem; it is forbidden to have any fear of a minister, of a master, of a thief, of a robber, or of a terrorist. The entire creation is in the aspect of kingship that reveals the Kingdom of Hashem in the world. The entire creation says, "Hashem is King, Hashem was King, Hashem will be King forever and ever" – except for Hashem, nothing exists. There are no terrorists, no murderers, nothing.

Rebbe Nachman says the first thing for the service of Hashem is that there should be no fear! The main thing you should receive from me is that you should have no fear. The Rebbe does not need cowards; the Rebbe does not tolerate the faint-hearted. Why are you afraid? There is a Hashem in the world, Hashem is alive and existing. There are tzaddikim, there is Moshe Rabbeinu, there is Yehoshua bin Nun; they rule here in the world, they are the true leaders. If a person wants to succeed in the service of Hashem, if a person wants to succeed in anything, then the first thing is that he must have no fear, not even a spark of fear. Reb Noson Shapira (Megaleh Amukot) says that fear is the greatest impurity in the world. When a person is afraid, it means he has no faith; therefore, when a person has fear, he must uproot it from the source.

Courage of the Heart is the True Weapon

Rebbe Nachman says in Torah 249, "The essence of courage is in the heart, for whoever has a strong heart and does not fear any person or any thing can perform awesome acts of courage and conquer wars through the strength and force of his heart" – a person must be a mighty warrior, a person must have endless courage of heart, he must be brave-hearted, and then he will be able to conquer all his wars. This is the aspect of "Who is a hero? He who conquers his inclination," for the first thing is to overcome evil thoughts, to overcome evil gazes. This is what is written about Samson the Hero: "And the spirit of Hashem began to stir him in the camp of Dan, between Tzor'ah and Eshtaol," for from those places the spirit of Hashem rested upon him, and he donned courage, and strength and force came to his heart. There, in that place, he tore the lion apart and performed awesome acts of courage.

Reb Noson says that when they threw Daniel into the lions' den, the king, who loved Daniel and did not want him to be killed, prayed that there would be a miracle, that the pit where Daniel was would be covered and not exposed, because if the pit were exposed, there was a chance they would shoot arrows at him. The king knew that the lions would not harm him, they would not rule over him; he was certain that the lions would not devour him, but he was afraid that a person would shoot an arrow at him. But Daniel was not confused by anything; he guarded his faith. Daniel said, "If Hashem protects me from a lion, He will also protect me from an arrow." The king said, "From an arrow I am afraid; of a lion I am not afraid!"

And on this, Reb Noson asks: What is the difference between an arrow and a lion?

Reb Noson explains that when a person sees a beast, he can guard his faith. Even if a lion attacks him, he will shout "Shema Yisrael" with all his faith, with all his strength, and he will nullify the fear of the lion, for a lion cannot cause a person to fall from his faith. On the contrary, when he sees the lion, he receives even more faith in Hashem; he cries out to Hashem more strongly, and Hashem saves him from the lion. But if a human being comes and aims an arrow at him, and this person is a murderer, a heretic, a person without faith, a wicked person, then he is worse than a lion because he can cause him to fall from his faith. Reb Noson explains: this murderer is a demon; he is not a human being at all. He is full of heresy, and his heresy radiates onto the person he is going to murder and clings to him. The person becomes confused by the heresy, by this radiation, and says, "Why are they killing me? What did I do?" He becomes filled with questions about faith, and that is what causes the person to fall from his faith, from crying out to Hashem. But if a person overcomes these thoughts, these fears, then even if a Nazi murderer comes to him with a gun against his chest and shouts at him, "I am shooting you!" and that person remains firm in his faith, pure in his faith, then nothing can be done to him.

When the Heart is Courageous – Even a Nazi Arrow Will Not Strike

Just as they tell a true story from the Holocaust, that a Nazi stood to shoot a Jew, stood him against the wall, and said to him, "Now I am killing you!" That Jew said to him, "You cannot kill me! Only Hashem can kill me!" That Nazi became angry and said, "I am killing you! Here, I am shooting you!" That Jew said to him, "It is Hashem shooting me; it is not you." The Nazi said to him, "I am shooting! I decide!" The Jew said to him, "No! It is only Hashem; only Hashem can shoot me." A Jew went through the entire war, went through everything, and knows everything: it is Hashem, there is nothing besides Hashem. That Nazi fell silent; he fled as fast as he could. He thought, "If everything is Hashem, then I am not willing to be the messenger of Hashem," and that Jew was saved.

Everything we go through in our 120 years is only trials. Trials with Nazis, with terrorists, with murderers, with harsh decrees – and one must reveal the faith hidden in the heart, to reveal the faith so that we do not fall in our minds because of any minister, any person, any enemy. One must strengthen oneself in the truth that there is only Hashem, and stand firm on the faith that Hashem is One and everything is an illusion; everything is null and void. The main thing is to believe in the true tzaddik, to believe in such a tzaddik who can influence such faith that there is only Hashem, who can illuminate such faith, who can reveal the point of faith – because alone it is difficult to reach such faith. Only he who is attached to a truly true tzaddik can be awakened by the tzaddik to this faith and develop it so that he can truly use this point of faith. For the tzaddik is entirely nullified to Hashem; he has no existence, he has no selfhood; he exists in nullification to Hashem, may He be blessed. He has no fear of anything. And whoever merits to reach such a tzaddik and receive from the tzaddik this nullification, this faith – which is a very high and awesome level – then everyone will bow and fall before him; all the enemies, all the Nazis, all the terrorists, everyone will bow and fall, they and those like them.