The public benefactor, the gaon Rabbi Yisrael Sharet shlit"a, delivered an especially stirring talk of chizuk about the recent parshiyos that speak of the severe sin of lashon hara—and he protested loudly against the terrible persecution being endured by our master, the holy gaon and Tzaddik Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a.

Below is his full talk, delivered on the Breslov Chassidim information and shiurim hotline 9148*:

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With Hashem’s help, and for His honor—for the Holy One, blessed be He, desires the honor of His servants; He desires the honor of His people, Israel. There are people who don’t even listen to the Torah reading—maybe they’re absorbed in other things during krias haTorah; I don’t know. But even if they do listen, they don’t connect it to themselves. For three consecutive parshiyos we have been learning about guarding one’s tongue: Parshas Beha’aloscha—“Miriam and Aharon spoke against Moshe”; then Parshas Shelach— the episode of the meraglim, who brought out an evil report about the Land; and then Parshas Korach—“They gathered against Moshe and against Aharon.” The Torah teaches us: you start small and you end big. At first, a person may merely compare Moshe’s honor to that of other prophets. After that, the meraglim aren’t satisfied with that—they speak the very opposite of Moshe, while Moshe falls on his face because of what they are saying. And it doesn’t interest them, rachmana litzlan. Still, they haven’t yet broken the record: they began with a tiny grain of truth—“We came to the land; it flows with milk and honey.” They began with a tiny grain of truth, and then continued with all the lies. But the third stage—Korach and his assembly—there, without even a grain of truth: it is all falsehood, lashon hara, mockery, and flattery from beginning to end, and the end was bitter.
There are people in our times as well who read these parshiyos—“and it was not known that they had come into its midst”—and their mouths are open to every evil thing in the world that could be. These wicked people saw and did not take mussar. Whoever sees the words of the Torah—how severely Hashem treated all this: Miriam the prophetess was punished with tzara’as; the meraglim—“leaders of the congregation, those called to the appointed time, men of renown”—died an unusual death; Korach, one of the bearers of the Aron, a man of ruach hakodesh, was swallowed into the earth; two hundred and fifty men who offered the ketores were burned by fire. A person sees all these things and does not take mussar—Rashi calls them “these wicked people.” Rashi says: “these wicked people,” who see all this and do not take mussar.
People say that you don’t repeat a joke twice—but the mockers of our day have been repeating the same joke for years. While the gaon and Tzaddik Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a gathers mitzvos day and night, they repeat their joke again and again—also day and night. If our holy sages revealed to us even a little of the ways of the World to Come, and they said that the group of hypocrites, the group of liars, the group of those who speak lashon hara, and the group of mockers do not receive the Divine Presence—then if a person has even one of these levels, he already does not receive the Divine Presence. How much more so this “group” that contains all four of these things! They may receive the faces of wicked callers and broadcasters like themselves—people who also see the entire creation and do not take mussar—but as for receiving the Divine Presence, they should forget it—not in this world and not in the next! Unless—since nothing stands in the way of teshuvah. The Rambam says: one who gives his fellow a derogatory nickname, one who calls his fellow by a humiliating epithet, one who whitens his fellow’s face in public, one who gains honor through his fellow’s disgrace, one who disgraces talmidei chachamim, and one who disgraces his teachers—have no share in the World to Come! And all these things together are found among these mockers and brazen people who speak evil about a talmid chacham and a Tzaddik. They go and make mockery on cursed viewing devices—devices that all the great ones of the world opposed—and there they go into… “sewage” would still be a respectful description of that place—and they speak about The Rav.
What happened? It angers them that autistic individuals—may Hashem grant them a complete healing—said great things about The Rav. It angers you? Then go check yourself. He goes and makes mockery. The gaon Rabbi Steinman zt"l would take their words very seriously. So even if you won’t take it with exactness as “from a Rebbe,” still—to confuse, by their definition, between a “rasha” and “Moshiach”—such a vast distance, they certainly would not confuse. So don’t take it with the precision of “Moshiach”; take it that he is not a rasha—that is also good.
We do not know who Moshiach is—only Hashem knows. But about a rasha they will not say this. Fine—if you learn from this that he is not as you think, and not as you cause others to think. What permission in the world is there to keep trampling on the matter of The Rav? What permission in the world? The Gemara says: even one who was sentenced by beis din to lashes—“and your brother shall be disgraced before your eyes”—once he has been lashed, he is your brother. Finished! He was lashed—he is your brother. And even before the lashes, he already underwent humiliation—“veniklah,” a term of disgrace—he was humiliated. Was he humiliated? He is exempt from lashes; he is as your brother. Is there anyone in this generation who has undergone “veniklah achicha l’einecha” like The Rav? So where is “he is as your brother”? And is there not—even according to their approach—is there not teshuvah in the world? Who permitted people to speak and speak and speak without finishing? Who permitted…? The Gemara reveals to us who: Rav Huna said—since a person transgressed and repeated it, it becomes to him as if it were permitted. That is the “permission” that exists: they transgressed this sin and repeated it—and repeated it for years. But a true permission—there is none!!
The Ramban in Sanhedrin, at the end of chapter 24, writes that even a judge who must contend with one who deserves contention, and curse him, and strike him, etc.—all these matters: let the honor of people not be light in his eyes, for he is pushing aside the honor of people by his words. And all the more so the honor of the children of Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov. The Ramban says: even when a judge goes out and judges according to Torah and not according to nonsense… even when you must administer lashes, even when you punish—do it with a heart for the other, for the one being punished; let human dignity be weighty in your eyes. Which is not present at all in this entire system [against Rabbi Berland shlit"a]. There is no one who can say he is acting for the sake of Heaven! For the sake of Heaven? Then finish the story. You said what you said… we’re done. The world already knows. Whom are you coming to “save” with your mockery? The secular Jews? What are you going to be interviewed there for—are you coming to save the secular, or are you coming to put a sword in their hands against Hashem and against the holy Torah, rachmana litzlan? For in their eyes there is no difference—this rabbi, that rabbi—they are all one group. This is the complete opposite of “And you shall love Hashem your G-d”—that the Name of Heaven should become beloved through you. This is the opposite! This is “And all who hate Me love death,” rachmana litzlan. They cause the mistaken, distant, poor people to hate Hashem’s people—to hate those who learn Torah and its sages. Who justified such actions? Were the meraglim not righteous? Was Korach and his assembly not righteous? And they erred! Even if you have a doubt—eyes of justice— it is not worth endangering your World to Come for “justice.” One who disgraces talmidei chachamim is called an apikores! One who disgraces talmidei chachamim—there is no cure for his wound. But these brazen people— they have no Emunah! And which “line” instills Emunah—the line of The Rav [the Breslov Chassidim information line 9148*], or their line? Meanwhile, on their line there is all the wickedness: idolatry, immorality, bloodshed—everything is on that other line, everything. Words of heresy, words of… everything! Curses, insults—everything is there. Whoever wants to sin has an open place, full of all the abominations in the world.
On The Rav’s line, all day and all night: Torah and tefillah—tefillah and good deeds. A shiur in Gemara, a shiur in halachah, a shiur in mussar, talks, derashos, chizuk, hillulos, stories of tzaddikim, holy niggunim. If they had Emunah, they would believe the words of the sages that one who disgraces a talmid chacham has no cure for his wound—and they would fear for their souls! All kinds of bochurim, all kinds of avreichim, find time to talk. It is obvious that as long as you have no practical relevance—meaning you never considered going to The Rav and you were never in doubt whether yes or no—you have nothing to talk about! There isn’t even the beginning here of “lashon hara for a constructive purpose.” There isn’t even that! And even “lashon hara for a constructive purpose” has seven conditions in order for it to be permitted to say it!
Another point: about whom are you speaking? Did you ever finish Tanach even once, even just by reading through? And this is certainly the case for most avreichim of the generation, because of our sins. About whom are you speaking?? About a man who can tell you Tanach with the chapters and verses! Did you ever finish Shas Mishnayos once? Shas Bavli? Shas Yerushalmi? The holy Zohar at least by reading through? If it weren’t “a thing,” you wouldn’t even read Tikkunei Zohar. Sifrei Chassidus? Sifrei Kabbalah? And you speak about someone who has finished all of this???
What are we better than anyone? Sefer Chassidim says: if you want to criticize—criticize yourself! And there is no shortage of what to criticize… Whoever truly wants to fix the world—there are many who truly cause the public to sin. There are places where you should finish the story: there are chareidi educational institutions that do not teach according to Torah as it must be. There are girls’ institutions where, if they find even one modest teacher, it would be like the splitting of the Sea. There are synagogues and batei midrash that do not know that one does not speak in such a holy place. There are public buses that travel with mixed seating. Is there a lack of what to fix in the generation?? If the energies and resources were invested in the right place, we could already merit Geulah. We know that a mitzvah draws another mitzvah and a sin draws another sin. If we see The Rav going from mitzvah to mitzvah—he goes from strength to strength. It is a sign that everything that came before was also mitzvah upon mitzvah upon mitzvah. It is clear to anyone who deals with youth, etc., that someone who is involved with sins becomes extinguished. But The Rav’s vitality burns! A sinner does not burn with mitzvos. In our generation, everyone rushes to go out and sit as much as possible—to sit in the synagogue: between aliyah and aliyah he sits, waiting; for Kaddish he sits; after “Oseh Shalom” he sits… And The Rav only stands and stands and stands—“serafim stand above him.” Who are you to speak about him? The vitality The Rav had in the old derashos—today we barely merit a few minutes, but in the derashos of the past you hear more than an hour and sometimes several hours—and everything with fiery passion. I have not seen any sinner who has such passion in Torah and mitzvos!
A person who reveals Emunah in the world—going behind the Iron Curtain with tallis and tefillin time after time, what is that if not Emunah? Entering forests—what is that if not Emunah? Establishing a yeshivah among Muslims—what is that if not Emunah? And with all this, I do not intend to speak to one who has no listening ear, because regarding them it is a mitzvah not to say something that will not be heard. For my entire intention is one: to walk in Hashem’s ways—He is a support for tzaddikim, “a support and refuge for tzaddikim.” The second thing is to protest. And the third is for their simple, sincere people—who do have a listening ear—so they will know to hear correct things and not hear things that someone hears, and the Gemara in Kesubos says: the ears are burned first among the limbs.
The prophet Amos says: “For three transgressions of Moav, and for four, I will not turn it back—because he burned the bones of the king of Edom into lime.” Moav—wicked. Edom? Wicked. And Hashem says: for what Moav did to the king of Edom, I will not let it go. Rashi explains: once the king of Edom fell into the hands of the king of Moav, and he burned his bones and ground them into the walls of the house. And Hashem demanded payment for the humiliation of the king, for they treated him with disgrace. And who is the king of Edom? “Quiet”—and even that is praise. Yet Hashem does not forgo that they treated him with cruelty. He fought you? Then you needed to kill him—what you needed, you needed. But why behave with corruption—burning him, burning his bones, putting it into lime? Hashem says: I am not willing; I do not want to see an act of corruption in the world. “And I will send fire upon Moav, and it shall consume the palaces of Keriot; and Moav shall die with tumult, with shouting, with the sound of the shofar. And I will cut off the judge from its midst, and all its princes I will slay with him, says Hashem.” A severe punishment! Fire will consume Moav; they will die with a great noise. It will not be quietly—it will be with a great uproar. No judge will remain; no princes are needed—there is no people. This is what Hashem demands from a nation: why do you behave with cruelty… So from a Jew, what does Hashem ask! All the more so—how can one behave with such cruelty, to pursue and pursue and pursue and pursue until destruction! Does anyone owe you something? Must they think like you? He thinks like you, he thinks like him… If he doesn’t think like you—be healthy! And does anyone listen to tzaddikim like the gaon and Tzaddik Rav Kook, whose name they use to publish lies and falsehoods? Baruch Hashem, I merited to be involved in publishing the writings of Rav Kook and to receive writings from him. Baruch Hashem, we know his view! Someone who relies on Rav Kook, who says that The Rav is a complete tzaddik—so he is mistaken?
Someone who relies on Rabbi David Chaim Stern, a man who had a revelation of Eliyahu, a man for whom angels were sent. Rabbi Yehuda Zev Leibovitz, one of the great tzaddikim, in one of his meetings with him, said to him: “Rabbi Chaim, is it true you fell a few days ago in the mikveh?” He said: “Yes.” He said: “And suddenly two men came and lifted you up?” He said: “Yes.” He said: “Know that these were two angels from Heaven—Hashem sent them to lift you.” A man whose word is taken into account in Heaven. When he wrote a note that whoever would help with the healing of Rabbi Yehuda Zev would enter Gan Eden—and he gave such a note to each of them. There was one who passed away before he managed to receive the note, yet he had donated. He came from Heaven and asked that he write it again—that he write for him and give him the note; he needs to enter Gan Eden, and they tell him: where is the note? Someone who believes him when he says that The Rav is a complete tzaddik—so he is mistaken?
Someone who believes the Admor of Kaliv, of blessed memory; someone who believes all the tzaddikim—“Many are with us more than with you.” So he is mistaken? So is it permitted to mock him? They say it is forbidden to buy from him. Who permitted this?? There is Torah—we go according to Torah!! Not according to heated agitation and wars! What—The Rav, who all day speaks about Shas b’iyun, Shas b’iyun—in letters, in sefarim, in derashos—who speaks about learning Torah in depth? They do?! Who speaks about tefillah with niggun? They do?! Who stands six hours for Shabbos davening? Who stands an hour for Ma’ariv? Who fulfills the words of the Torah with simplicity—that if it is written that dancing sweetens judgments, then he does it; if it is written that clapping hands sweetens judgments, then he does it even if it takes ten hours. But this is how it is in every generation: there were brazen people, and in every generation there were tzaddikim who were pursued. King David, peace be upon him, was not pursued by small people—he was pursued by great people! King Shaul, and Avner was with him; Achitofel, Doeg, Shimi, Avshalom. In terms of Torah, there was much in them. And David was alone—barely four hundred men were with him. Yet Shmuel the prophet stands and says: this is Hashem’s anointed. I anointed him by the word of Hashem. Who is right? We all know: “David, King of Israel, lives and endures!” And were there not mockers of the generation in David’s time? There were. They waited for him to die, and for at least seven years after his passing they continued to mock—until Shlomo came to bring the Aron HaKodesh into the Holy of Holies, and the gates clung to each other and would not open except in David’s merit. Then the faces of all those mockers turned like the bottom of a pot. Hashem has His time for revealing the truth. We do not need to be impressed—we need to pray. Fortunate is the one who merits that his face will not be turned like the bottom of a pot.
There are people who say all kinds of things: “We saw by The Rav miracles and wonders; we saw ruach hakodesh; we saw Torah and tefillah; we saw humility and patience, lowliness and self-nullification.” They are not telling you stories—anyone can see with his own eyes. A bochur from the yeshivah came to The Rav. The Rav told him that a certain bochur had gone missing. The Rav said to him: “Be here for Ma’ariv—I will bring him here to you. But he is not alone; he is with someone else, right? He is with someone else. I will bring him here for Ma’ariv. And you will also find your tefillin.” That bochur had lost his Rabbeinu Tam tefillin for a long time, and he searched for them—where didn’t he search? He made notices and did this… And The Rav told him: “You will also find your tefillin.” And so it was! So it was—both things were fulfilled.
One of the friends told me: many years ago, The Rav sent him to a distant city to bring Torah there, to bring Judaism there. He gathered bochurim from outside, from the street, and little by little, little by little… It is not easy to travel from Jerusalem to there—it is several hours—to be there for a few days and then return, each time. And so, until he merited that those who came from the street reached the point of learning Gemara and already understanding. Then one day, while he was giving the Gemara shiur, a thought passed through his mind: maybe that’s it—maybe we’ll finish now; maybe we’ll end this and finish the shiur and that’s it. They already know; they are already “alive and carrying themselves.” Each of them already knows what is before him; he can advance on his own to a yeshivah that is already established, and each can enter the place his heart desires. And why do I need all this difficulty of long trips and this…? We already made a foundation here; let them move on. Suddenly one of the bochurim there apologizes and says: “Excuse me, Rabbi, someone wants you on my phone.” They are both surprised. He brings the phone to the maggid shiur, and the maggid shiur hears The Rav—Rabbi Berland—saying to him: “Rabbi so-and-so, what do you mean to close the yeshivah, to leave the yeshivah? What do you mean? On the contrary—now add strength; open a Talmud Torah! You started with the older age—now begin with the younger age.”
These are two stories that are a drop from the great sea. There is a person who will tell you: “I’m not impressed by wonders.” Don’t be impressed by wonders of a person in whom you do not see avodas Hashem. But wonders that you see by a servant of Hashem—who has Torah and tefillah and mitzvos and bringing merit to the public, and bringing hundreds or thousands of people to teshuvah over decades—be impressed, and be impressed! Because for that Hashem made the wonders! So that people will be impressed—exactly for that! It is not “genius” to say, “I’m not impressed by wonders.” Hashem does not make miracles for free. The Gemara says: Hashem does not make miracles for nothing. Hashem makes miracles so that you will be impressed.
There is much more to say, but even this— for one who wants to hear—can also be enough. And may Hashem help us to do His will as His will, and may He say “enough” to the spiritual and physical troubles of the people of Israel, amen and amen!