Daily Encouragement from our teacher, the holy Gaon and Tzaddik, Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a (may he live long and good days) – Greek Culture in the 21st Century: How Have Screens Become the Spiritual Challenge of Our Generation?

The holiday of Chanukah is not just a memory of past wars, but a piercing call to war against modern Greek culture – the culture of screens. Smartphones, media players, and licentious songs are the Greek culture of our generation, worse than the abominations in the days of the Flood and the destruction of the Holy Temple. The struggle against Greece is not just a matter of the past – it continues today in all areas of life, deep within the hearts.

Sunday, 19th of Teves 5785 – iPhones and Media Players: The Generation of the Flood in its Modern Manifestation

These are the holy words of our teacher, the Rav, Rabbi Berland shlit"a, from a lesson delivered to the young men of the community at the Chanukah 5785 (2024) conference: The whole of Chanukah is about fighting Greek culture—today, Greek culture is the smartphone, the iPhone, the Xiaomi, the internet, and media players. It is forbidden to hold any media player; it is forbidden to listen to any "Greek" singer (referring to secular/profane music). Rebbe Nachman brings down that one who listens to a Greek singer is unfortunate. One needs to know the entire Shas (Talmud). 90% of the Shas is just stories, but instead of stories, you see iPhones, nonsense, and abominations that did not even exist in the days of the Flood. Elisha ben Abuyah sang Greek songs (Chagigah 15b); of course, he became an apikorus (heretic) and was not allowed to enter the World to Come (ibid). He had an "iPhone," he heard Greek singing, so naturally, he became a heretic, and he became what he became.All of this is written in Torah 64 of Likutey Moharan—that one who listens to Greek singing, secular songs, licentious songs, songs of impurity... on media players today, one sees everything. The media player is like an iPhone; one can see all the abominations there that were not seen in the days of the Flood, nor in the days of the destruction of the First Temple, nor in the days of the destruction of the Second Temple. Why was the Temple destroyed? Because everyone became "Greeks" in the end! They fought the Greeks for 213 years. "The pig will not cease to be a pig"—the pig refers to Greece and Amalek. The Greeks ruled for 213 years. Greek culture managed to enter after the destruction. Elisha ben Abuyah lived after the destruction, after Rabbi Akiva—who was combed with iron combs—this was 130 years after the destruction. So Elisha ben Abuyah was at the end of Rabbi Akiva's time, 130 years after the destruction, and he was still singing Greek songs. Greek culture continues, even though they managed to subdue them and enter the Holy Temple. They did not manage to remove the culture—the Yetzer Hara (evil inclination) cannot be removed; the Yetzer Hara is Greek culture, songs, and melodies. Like the story in the Kolbo (a book of Jewish law written during the era of the Rishonim) that arrived in Algeria and Tunisia, a ship with a thousand infants, a thousand women, and a thousand men, and they wanted to let them off there. This was after the destruction; there was no Holy Temple. They burned the Holy Temple. The Holy Temple was already burned; what do we do with the Holy Temple when it is burned? Everyone fled. The Romans said that whoever does not kill [Jews] will be killed himself. In Gittin 55b it is written: whoever does not kill was killed. Learn there that there was a decree: whoever does not kill is killed, so they had to kill all the Jews. Study a bit of Likutey Moharan, that Elisha ben Abuyah would always listen to Greek singing. He had an "iPhone," he had a smartphone, he had a media player, he recorded songs—meanwhile, he became a heretic. So the Rebbe (Rebbe Nachman) speaks in Torah 64 against all the iPhones, against all the smartphones. Every young man must, at this very moment, break it, smash it! This is worse than the generation of the Flood, worse than the destruction of the Holy Temple. For Reb Noson says that Moshe (Moses) wanted to enter the Land of Israel. Why did he want to enter the Land of Israel? So that there would be no exile, so that the Holy Temple would remain! Hashem (God) said to him: Can you stop them from Avodah Zarah (idolatry)? Can you stop them from iPhones? Can you stop them from smartphones? Can you stop them from the internet? If you can cause them to break the iPhones, you will enter the Land of Israel—but if you cannot stop them, then you have nothing to do here!!!