A public benefactor Rabbi Yisrael Sharet shlit"a, who participated in the reception for the tzaddik, spoke with fiery, blazing words about the greatness of the tzaddik—our teacher, the honorable holy gaon and tzaddik Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a.

The interviewer from the Breslov information line (025875777) opens by introducing Rabbi Sharet shlit"a: “We met the public benefactor Rabbi Yisrael Sharet. We were happy to see you together with the thousands in prayer with our teacher Rav Berland.”

Kiddush Hashem with the release of our teacher Rav Berland shlit"a

Rabbi Yisrael Sharet: “Baruch Hashem, it was a joy for us as well to see everyone—everyone gathered and came to see. How many Jews came, Baruch Hashem. You can’t lie to the People of Israel. The People of Israel know who is a tzaddik; they don’t need the media to tell them who is a tzaddik and who isn’t. The People of Israel don’t need the media to tell them who is the Sar HaTorah! Who is the great one of the generation—the People of Israel know!”

“Baruch Hashem, it was an enormous, tremendous Kiddush Hashem, after many thought that this was it—who knows if it will ever return? There are those who thought about it out of longing, and there are those who thought about it with an agenda, rachmana litzlan. But Hashem showed who truly rules over everything. Yonah the prophet said: ‘And I said in my haste, I am cut off…’ Yonah the prophet, in the depths of the sea, thought that this was it, it was over. But: ‘From the belly of Sheol I cried out; You heard my voice’—Hashem hears and answers.”

“And this is an immense Kiddush Hashem—what was done here—when the holy community of Rav Berland went forward, not with might and not with power, but with My spirit, says Hashem Tzevakot. Hashem showed, before the eyes of all, that in order to prevail you don’t need any wars, quarrels, or slander. While others were busy with lashon hara, with defamation, with smears, with fabrications—the holy congregation sat and reviewed such-and-such pages of Gemara each day, such-and-such pages of Rambam each day, prayers with kavanah, endless Tehillim, endless Tikkun HaKlali.”

“The prayers, the Torah teachings, stood up and saved—and accomplished what, by the way of nature, people would think could not be. And Hashem showed: Hashem reigns, Hashem reigned, Hashem will reign forever and ever. We now have an opportunity to take this holy emunah (faith) that is burning before our eyes, and to implant it into the heart for an entire lifetime.”

The release gathering was like the standing at Mount Sinai

Interviewer: “Did you believe you would see so many people coming to pray with the Rav?”

Rabbi Sharet: “Certainly, certainly. It was simply obvious that it would be like this. It’s a delight to see that people see it differently, but it was clear it would be so—to see people on the rooftops. People standing—everyone, adults and children. And what a prayer—almost a nullification of free choice! Everyone roaring as one man with one heart: ‘There is none besides Him.’ What a Shema Yisrael, what a ‘Velo taturu,’ what a Kaddish: ‘Veyitnaseh…’ The entire world falls silent and listens, like at the standing at Sinai. What ‘Amens.’ The recordings do not lie at all about what it was in reality—whoever was there merited!”

“‘And emunah (faith)—all this—stands for us, for He is Hashem our God and there is none besides Him.’ None besides Him—not informers, not arrests, not legal experts—none besides Him. He rules over everything, and His kingship governs all.”

Hashem granted me the merit to draw close to the great tzaddik Rav Berland

The interviewer asks: “How did you merit drawing close to Rav Berland?”

Rabbi Sharet: “It is the kindness of Hashem. It is a merit for every Jew who does not deny the truth; it is a free gift. The Holy One, blessed be He, saw that tzaddikim are few, and He arose and planted them in every generation. The role of Israel is to be tzaddikim themselves—and also to draw close to tzaddikim. Every Jew must try… to draw close to those tzaddikim who will guide him on the path for which Hashem brought him into the world.”

“As we see in Likutei Tefillot how Rabbi Natan pours himself out in his prayers to merit reaching closeness to Hashem, and that the tzaddikim should draw him near and not push him away, and guide him on the straight path. The Rambam writes in Hilchot teshuvah (repentance) that the prayer of all the tzaddikim… is about this…”

“Today people walk through the world… and it’s clear to them what the way is, and they also know what is not the way—and that is a mistake. They prayed to Hashem not to err… to walk in the truth of Hashem. Hashem granted me the merit to know Rav Berland. One must see the wonder: any other tzaddik who would have gone through a third—or a tenth—of what the Rav went through, the world would have been roaring and raging; and here, people act as if they forgot there is a Chafetz Chaim in the world, forgot there are halacha laws in the world.”

“Because of one person who spoke from the thoughts of his own heart, everyone believes—and by that they lose a great loss: drawing close to great tzaddikim who were planted in this generation, especially at the levels where Rav Berland stands—his knowledge in his avodat Hashem (service of Hashem)”.

My revered father told me that decades ago he foresaw that Rav Berland would be among the great ones of the generation

“My revered father knew Rav Berland shlit"a from the time when the Rav was in Bnei Brak. He told me, after he heard what I had said in the past: I followed Rav Berland back then, when he was still young, and I saw prayers and Torah study the like of which I had never seen. Rav Berland would give a class for six hours, and he didn’t care whether people came in or went out, fell asleep or stayed awake—he teaches Torah to His people Israel. Already then I said he would be among the great ones of the generation.”

“It is something you can see with your own eyes. Whoever wants to see avodat Hashem can come and see. Do we need to live off rumors? You don’t need to belong to Breslov in order to know who Rav Berland is. This is not a tzaddik given only to Shuvu Banim—this is a tzaddik given to the entire generation! The generation only needs to merit absorbing from his light and not denying it. And for that, everyone who seeks the truth must pray—even if he is an opponent. They must know that they too are Jews who came into the world in order to do the will of our Father in Heaven, and without praying to Hashem to do His will as His will, they will remain far from it. They must pray to Hashem that they merit the truth in truth, and they must beg Hashem for it, and cry with tears—especially after they pained the tzaddik, foundation of the world, and his students.”

“Who knows how many tears they need to shed in order to merit that Hashem will have mercy on them and show them the truth. But His mercies have no limit. They must rely on His mercies and also plead—because anyone who seeks truth cannot live off rumors and news hotlines! You don’t know? Don’t speak!”

Rav Berland’s students are testimony to his greatness

“It is enough to see the honor for Torah sages that exists among Rav Berland’s students: despite all the signatures against them, they did not write any degrading letter in response. I saw a page—a cry of pain—that they issued against the signing, but everything was in a respectful manner toward those who signed. Where is there such a thing—if not among people who live only according to Torah and avodat Hashem! Even with all the storming emotions, they know how to restrain and besiege their tongue and their pen—only among people who serve Hashem with emunah (faith)!”

“And the additional point: it is enough to see—tell me who your friends are and I will tell you who you are. How do Chazal say: if we did not see the lion, we saw its lair. If one cannot recognize the Rav’s greatness, it is enough to see the students! While the opponents connect themselves with wicked people who cause Israel to sin—the entire media and its offshoots… while ‘tell me who your friends are’ tells you who you are—Rav Berland’s students connect themselves with tzaddikim: they go to Rav Kook, to Rav Golan from Almah.”

Those who oppose are drawn close to evil, and Rav Berland’s students to kedushah (holiness)

“Those who oppose go to wicked people, and Rav Berland’s students go to tzaddikim. Those who oppose engage in slander and smears, and the Rav’s students engage in Torah teachings and prayers. These speak words that are the opposite of kedushah (holiness) and emunah (faith), supposedly as ‘quotations,’ and those engage all the more in words of emunah (faith) and kedushah (holiness), and in commitments in modesty—indeed, Rav Berland issued two letters on the subject of modesty.”

“It is enough to see the product of these and those in order to know who stands at their head. The opponents who go in the path of sins—their head is the Sitra Achra. Rav Berland’s students go with Hashem at any price, at every step and stride—with ever more deveikut and ever more emunah (faith). This shows that the One at their head is Hashem, Who planted the tzaddikim of the generation.”

Interviewer: “Rabbi Sharet’s view is straight and true. If only everyone would see things this way. Still, there are so many smears against Rav Berland—they stitch up one case after another…?”

Rabbi Sharet: “Look—if there were even a shred of real proof, the last ones to release him would be the judges!”

Interviewer: “Exactly. You also see their great hypocrisy: all the media outlets don’t stop talking… they’re eating their hearts out—how did they release him? They told us such stories that he is this and that, and suddenly they release him so quickly—truly ‘venahafoch hu,’ like the Rav sang.”

Rabbi Sharet: “So it will be in the complete redemption, speedily in our days: they think, when will it end, and how far can we still fall—and suddenly everything turns over in a single moment… On the contrary: the release of Rav Berland should show us exactly how the redemption will be: ‘For a small moment I forsook you, but with great compassion I will gather you’ (Isaiah 54:7).”

“Also in Jerusalem at the destruction it was like this… in one moment all evil can end and Hashem’s goodness will be revealed in His world… in one moment everything can turn over. Woe to the person whom Mashiach finds speaking about tzaddikim, finds him listening to problem hotlines—is that your preparation for our righteous Mashiach? It is upon you to toil in Torah.”

Is it worth it for a person to miss everything because of speaking about the tzaddik?

“The Komarna writes in Heichal HaBerachah… whoever disgraces Torah scholars, and even if he sits in a gathering of evildoers and they are speaking and he rejoices… I guarantee him that he will not see the consolation of Zion. Is it worth it for a person to lose all the toil of his life just to speak words? After all, in every generation they spoke about tzaddikim—this is not new.”

“Did they not speak about Avraham Avinu? Was he thrown into the fiery furnace for nothing? Avraham Avinu was also in prison—there is a dispute in the Gemara—altogether he was in prison 23 years. They spoke about Yitzchak; they expelled him from Gerar, and afterward they came to appease him. Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu zt"l said that every leader must learn from what Yitzchak answered them. Yitzchak did not tell them, yes, you are right; rather he answered them: ‘And Yitzchak said to them: Why have you come to me, seeing that you hate me and have sent me away from you?’ (Genesis 26:27). Rather, you want to extract a blessing from me—because when Yitzchak left, the wells of water stopped.”

“Yitzchak told them: you want me to return for your water, not because you understand what I was for you…”

“They also spoke about Yaakov Avinu… Lavan’s sons were speaking. The holy Torah could have written much more about the holy Patriarchs… but it comes to teach instruction for generations—teach for all generations: people can speak about tzaddikim; they can sell the tzaddik like the sale of Yosef, and even rabbis signed! Are rabbis greater than the holy tribes?! And with all that, we paid dearly for the sale of Yosef!”

“Even though they were the greatest rabbis in the world—prophets—so why does the Torah tell it? The Torah could have concealed it and no one would have known about the sale of Yosef. The Torah tells it so that we will know that in every generation such a thing can happen! And you should know where the truth is, and not get confused.”

“Yaakov knew exactly who Yosef was; he did not mourn him for 22 years for nothing… The holy tribes, until the sale, did not know who Yosef was; they can speak… but Yosef is Yosef… the Shechinah was with Yosef. The holy Zohar writes that Yosef went down to Egypt in order to be a chariot for the Shechinah, to prepare the ground together for the People of Israel—so that when they would come to Egypt, they would be saved from immorality.”

“They spoke about Moshe Rabbeinu: ‘And they looked after Moshe’—they wanted to kill him when he came down from the mountain without Aharon… they suspected Moshe of murder; they wanted to kill him. Are they normal? הרי the Midrash in Shir HaShirim expounds on the verse ‘Who will give you as a brother to me’—like which brother? Like Moshe and Aharon; this is the example of true brothers. The People of Israel saw their brotherhood for forty years and still suspected that Moshe killed him.”

“The Torah teaches us that the yetzer hara has no limit and can invent anything. A covenant is made with lashon hara that it is accepted, but our work is not to accept it. And one must learn that just as there Moshe remained Moshe, and whoever opposed him to this day cries: ‘Moshe and his Torah are true, and they are liars’—you should be with Moshe’s side and not with the other.”

The controversy over the true tzaddik passes through every generation

“There was a great rabbi who opposed the holy Arizal. The Arizal zt"l said to him: you are still provoking me and opposing me? If I wanted, the earth would swallow you. Rabbi Chaim Vital asked him the meaning of the matter. He answered: know that I am the neshamah (soul) of Moshe Rabbeinu, and that sage is the neshamah (soul) of Korach, whom they brought to try to repair his dispute against Moshe. Therefore I said to him: you still oppose me… This shows that things repeat themselves…”

“Rabbi Natan writes in Likutei Halachot, Choshen Mishpat, Hilchot Gezeilah… I heard from Rebbe Nachman that this is a great yetzer hara—he speaks about forcing the hour. How many people, because of one thing that seems important to them, abandon everything and thereby come to many corruptions—and especially, they thereby come to controversy.”

“Rabbi Natan writes a frightening statement: through persecutions, controversy, and anger, one never comes to rectification; there are other ways to rectification… Baruch Hashem that our portion is with the tzaddikim, as they instituted to pray for this three times a day: ‘And place our portion with them…’ with those who truly trust in Your Name.”

“How can a person know? Baruch Hashem that in our generation He gave many tzaddikim of spiritual attainment, and all of them uphold Rav Berland—worlds! If we judge by proofs—there are no proofs. But if you truly want to know, you have those who see from above; they do not need proofs from here. If there were no concept of false testimony, then there would be no need for all the laws of testimony. הרי there is false testimony in the world, bribery, lashon hara, and defamation… Let those with ruach hakodesh, whom Hashem has graced in our generation, come and testify that Rav Berland is clean and a tzaddik.”

“May Hashem lengthen his days in goodness, his years in pleasantness, and save him from all his pursuers and accusers, and grant him to rise higher and higher in Torah and greatness in one place. And likewise, for the continuation of worthy students throughout the entire world…”

“And may we merit soon to see the building of the Holy Temple and the coming of our righteous Mashiach, with great compassion, with miracles and wonders.”