Saving Souls: Why It Is Crucial for Everyone to Pray for the Righteous Rav

Our teacher, the Gaon and Tzaddik, Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a, suffers great afflictions for each and every one 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 for all of us, it is difficult, along with all the upheavals and burdens that weigh upon each and every person. Nevertheless, it is worth reading the following lines to understand what our teacher, Rav Berland shlit"a, actually wants from us in his request to pray for him.

The holy Zohar writes (Tikkunei Zohar 69) that the soul of Moses our Teacher is drawn forth and spreads into every generation. What the Zohar is actually saying is that the soul of Moses our Teacher exists and is drawn into all of the Jewish people throughout their generations, for "there is no generation that does not have one like Moses" (Bereishit Rabbah 56:7).

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

And since it is known that the soul of Moses is included in the six hundred thousand root souls of Israel, it follows that prayer for the true tzaddik is a prayer for the entirety of the Jewish people.

And here, our teacher, the Gaon and Tzaddik, Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a, repeatedly asks that we pray for him, and that we recite at least seven Tikkun HaKlali every day for his release and his healing. There is the extremely important matter mentioned by the Kabbalist Rabbi Menashe Amon shlit"a; these are his words: "Gentlemen, he is atoning for us. The tzaddik, Rav Berland, is sitting in prison, and we do not care – my teachers and masters, this is a disgrace to a Torah scholar; do you know how difficult this is?" Our teacher, Rav Berland shlit"a, takes upon himself afflictions that no person would invite upon himself, and certainly not at his age and in his medical condition – and all of this is for us. Shall we not at least awaken to pray for him?!

However, from the things we brought above, it is understood that our teacher, Rav Berland, asks us to pray for him for an entirely different reason. After all, the Rav shlit"a is not looking for gratitude from us; the Rav is giving his entire self for us. Rather, the Rav wants us to pray for ourselves, for our true and eternal needs, for our brothers and our families, for those close to us, so that we may save ourselves from everything that is happening and intensifying all around. And by praying for the tzaddik whose soul is included in all the souls of Israel, we are, in effect, praying for that which is truly precious and important to each and every one of us.

And when we awaken to recite these seven Tikkun HaKlali, as well as any prayer that we offer for the true tzaddik, our teacher, the Gaon and Tzaddik, Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a, we are included in the highest level of prayer, in the level of the Shechinah (see Likutey Moharan 2), and we give to the Moses of the generation the components of the Tabernacle, the spiritual Tabernacle that only Moses our Teacher builds.