Presented here is a transcript from the shiur of The Rav, Rabbi Berland shlit"a, delivered after Sefiras HaOmer on 4 Iyar 5782, together with our community—“The moment the Tzaddik says a word, we must immediately run to fulfill it.” These are his holy words:

Now it is “Netzach sheb’Tiferes.” Every Wednesday corresponds to the sefirah of “Netzach.” Next week will already be “Netzach sheb’Netzach”—10 Iyar. That will be the central point, the twenty-fifth day of the Omer—that will be the center.

And regarding Yael and Devorah—both Yael and Devorah—it is written in Megaleh Amukos (parashah 87) that they were from Netzach sheb’Tiferes. Each person—there are forty-nine combinations of the Sefiros, and each person is connected to a particular sefirah. Yael and Devorah were both “Netzach sheb’Tiferes.” And that is why Devorah says, “Your glory will not be on the road” (Shoftim 4:9)—because the moment the Tzaddik says a word, we must immediately run to fulfill it. Barak hesitated—he was a person who wavered, a person who was torn with doubts. Why was he torn with doubts? Because he wanted to stand out; and when a person wants to stand out, he becomes full of doubts. He was the one who hesitated. He said, “I can’t go. ‘If you go with me, then I will go; and if you do not go, I will not go’” (ibid., verse 8)—he said, “You lost it. Now you’ve lost it. He told you to go—so go! Don’t make deals with me—conditions… He told you to go; at that very moment you should have gone. Then you would have had a complete victory—over Sisera, over all of them.”

Because “From Heaven the stars fought; from their paths they fought” (ibid. 5:20). All the stars came to wage war. The moment the Tzaddik arrives—even the stars come down! Stars come to fight for him! All the stars from Heaven descended to fight together with Devorah. One star did not descend—and it became a black star. There are black stars; anyone who learned a bit of astronomy knows there are black stars that swallow light. This is all a punishment because they did not come to help Devorah. The moment they did not come to help Devorah, Hashem turned them from shining stars into dark stars, because whoever does not come to help the Tzaddik becomes dark! All of his light grows dark!

And therefore only Yael merited to pierce Sisera, because she knew that Rabbi Akiva was “impregnated” within his temple. Rabbi Akiva was “impregnated” within the temple of Sisera—because there was something there, like Og king of Bashan: in “Ba’shan” is hinted “Shi’mon ben N’thanel”—the student of Rabbi Yochanan, buried in Tiberias. And he [Shimon ben Nethanel] was in the ankle [of Og]; therefore Moshe struck the ankle. In every wicked person there is some Tzaddik “impregnated” within him; if he returns in teshuvah, then that Tzaddik is revealed. If Sisera would have done teshuvah—just like Lavan, if he would have done teshuvah, he would have been the supernal whiteness from the World of Atzilus. The same is true with Esav: if he would have done teshuvah, he would have been… it is written in Heichal HaBerachah that he would have been a thousand times greater than Yaakov. The wicked person has more powers; the wicked person has within him—Rebbe Nachman says in Torah 17—the good that is suppressed, the good that is hidden. The more wicked a person is… why is he wicked? Because he overpowers the good within him. Why does he become wicked…? Because the good is constantly storming inside him: “And the wicked are like the driven sea” (Yeshayahu 57:20)—the good is storming; the good wants to come out from potential into action. But he does not allow it—so he becomes even more wicked, and even more wicked, and even more wicked. So the more wicked he is, it only shows how much good is inside him. In one second they can bring him back in teshuvah. The Rebbe says it is like a volcano—Torah 9, Likutei Moharan, Part II: a person is like a volcano. It erupts—everything suddenly erupts—lava bursts forth, and all the good comes out! The greater the wicked person, the greater the good that comes out! And this is what Devorah the prophetess did—she brought the entire generation back in teshuvah: “When breaches were breached…” (Shoftim 5:2)—because they had already stopped doing bris milah, so Devorah brought them back to bris milah. So now we have returned to bris milah; it is possible to be victorious over the whole world. The moment a person is in the state of “When breaches were breached in Israel, when the people volunteered,” then we defeat the whole world—and Moshiach ben David will come speedily in our days, Amen!