Listen: Fresh and Hot

Baruch Hashem, we here in the Holy Land are striving to awaken ourselves with prayers and cries for the salvation of the Gaon HaTzaddik Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a, our salvation. After the days of the Passover holiday, a blessed initiative was even raised to make the decree of the ancients regarding the fasts of Monday, Thursday, and Monday a common practice, and to awaken together with the feeling of pain caused by the desecration of the honor of the Torah and holiness. The situation of the Gaon HaTzaddik Rabbi Eliezer Berland is not a private or personal situation. Not of Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a, who bears the sins of us all upon himself. Not of the holy Shuvu Banim community, and not of the Breslov Chassidut in general. For those who have not yet understood, there is a total war against every trace or scent of Torah and holiness.

How is it possible to pass a moment in the day without feeling the heart ache with the suffering of Job as we think of the holy Torah scroll that is in distress. This is the sorrow of the Shechinah and we must take part in it. This is not the place to detail the magnitude of the self-sacrifice of the Gaon HaTzaddik Rabbi Eliezer Berland for every single Jew. For decades, the Rav shlit"a has made himself a trampled threshold for the people of Israel, and people who would have been thrown out anywhere else received from him the treatment of a father as if they were his only child.

With all the pain, we are still standing together and trying to strengthen ourselves on each other's shoulders, but there are those who remained in Johannesburg and with self-sacrifice are still waiting with longing for the return of the Rav shlit"a. Here are the words of Yosef Cohen, one of the members of the holy community who is there with them.

"We do not have Jerusalem, the Western Wall, or Rachel our Mother, but we are trying to do everything in our power through prayers and the service of Hashem for the success of the Rav shlit"a. On Friday after the morning prayer, a rumor reached our ears that it was possible to visit our teacher, the Gaon HaTzaddik Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a," Yosef Cohen begins his words. "It was hard for us to believe it, but we still had to try. And indeed, after we arrived there, our teacher the Rav shlit"a came out to us. The Rav shlit"a sat down and immediately began to speak words of Torah with very great strength, as if this were his most natural state; nothing had changed in him. The Rav shlit"a did not speak any words in the form of 'help me,' but rather distributed holy tasks and missions for each one of us.

"While anyone else would have asked for the help of a lawyer or some public figure or another, not the Gaon HaTzaddik Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a. The Rav asked us to study Choshen Mishpat (laws of damages), to finish the entire Book of Psalms every day, and to study five verses every day from the Scroll of Ruth with the 'Sulam' commentary. The Rav spoke and swayed in his chair with tremendous strength. One of the friends who was there and saw this amazing sight asked the Rav shlit"a to get us out of prison. The Rav answered him: 'Whoever has Choshen Mishpat in his heart is not in prison; whoever has a room full of books is not in prison.' When one sees the tzaddik, one immediately does teshuvah (repentance), so we were all with tears in our eyes. We asked the Rav if it was possible to recite the 'Shehecheyanu' blessing, and we all recited it together."

"The guard stands on the side, astonished, and does not understand what is happening here. In other cases, family and visitors come in the role of encouragers, hear complaints, and cry together. And here he is left waiting to see the Rav shlit"a swaying with strength and giving a Torah lesson. The Rav shlit"a misses the connection with the souls of Israel; the Rav told us that he does not speak with anyone there. Beyond that, one sees that the tzaddik is in great vitality and is attached all day to Hashem Yitbarach and to the Torah. There is no change in the Rav shlit"a; he gives life to people and does not stop for a moment from meditating on the holy Torah. The Rav shlit"a told us:

'One moment being with the tzaddik is worth the entire world. It does not matter if a person finishes the entire Shas, if he knows the entire Torah, if he cannot be with the tzaddik, it is worth nothing.'"

"The Rav shlit"a has many books there and he asked us for a few more books; those were all his material desires. The Rav shlit"a is with great strength, with tremendous power, to the point that it seems to me (I did not hear this from anyone and certainly not from the Rav) that the Rav shlit"a has made a move where he can sit alone and study without ceasing. Happy are we and how good is our portion that we have merited to know this holy tzaddik who, wherever he is, is only interested in Hashem Yitbarach, His Torah, and the people of Israel."

Courtesy of the information line 02-587-5777