Saving Souls: Why It Is Crucial for Everyone to Pray for the Righteous Rav Eliezer Berland shlit"a and How It Relates to the Coronavirus

Our teacher, the esteemed tzaddik Rav Eliezer Berland shlit"a, endures great suffering for each of us and asks us to pray for him, and to recite at least seven Tikkun HaKlali each day on his behalf. We have all heard this, and it is challenging for all of us amidst the upheavals and tasks each one faces. However, it is worthwhile to read the following lines and understand what our teacher Rav Berland shlit"a truly wants from us in his request for prayers.

The holy Zohar writes (Tikkunei Zohar 69) that the neshamah (soul) of Moshe Rabbeinu extends and spreads in every generation. What the Zohar essentially says is that the neshamah of Moshe Rabbeinu is present and extends throughout all of Israel in every generation, "There is no generation without someone like Moshe" (Bereishit Rabbah 56:7).

The Gemara in Tractate Sotah (13b) writes that "Moshe did not die", meaning that Moshe's neshamah continues, is clothed, and revealed in every generation in additional bodies, with the peak of revelation being in the neshamah of the true tzaddik of the generation.

And since it is known that Moshe's neshamah is included in the six hundred thousand root souls of Israel, from here praying for the true tzaddik is a prayer for the entirety of the people of Israel.

Behold, our teacher, the esteemed tzaddik Rav Eliezer Berland shlit"a, repeatedly asks us to pray for him, and to say for his release and healing at least seven Tikkun HaKlali each day. Then there is the very important matter mentioned by the kabbalist Rav Menashe Amon shlit"a, who said, "Gentlemen, he atones for us, the tzaddik Rav Berland sits in prison, and we do not care – my teachers and gentlemen, this is a disgrace to a Torah scholar, do you know how difficult this is?" Our teacher Rav Berland shlit"a takes upon himself sufferings that no person would invite upon themselves, certainly not at his age and in his medical condition - and all this for us, so should we not at least awaken to pray for him?!

However, from the words we have brought above, it is understood that our teacher Rav Berland asks us to pray for him for a completely different reason, for the Rav shlit"a does not seek gratitude from us, the Rav indeed gives his all for us. Rather, the Rav wants us to pray for ourselves, for our true and eternal needs, for our brothers and family, for those close to us, that we may save ourselves from all that is happening and intensifying around us. And by praying for the tzaddik whose neshamah includes all the souls of Israel, we are indeed praying for what is truly precious and important to each of us.

And when we awaken to say these seven Tikkun HaKlali, as well as any prayer we pray for the true tzaddik, our teacher, the esteemed tzaddik Rav Eliezer Berland shlit"a, we are included in the highest level of prayer, in the level of the Shechinah (see Likutei Moharan II), and we give Moshe Rabbeinu of the generation the limbs of the Mishkan, the spiritual Mishkan that only Moshe Rabbeinu builds.