The Kabbalist Rabbi Yehuda Sheinfeld - "Before the Redemption

The Gaon and Tzaddik Rabbi Yehuda Sheinfeld shlit"a, one of the greatest Kabbalists of our generation, and father-in-law of Yom Tov Chashin—who is the primary antagonist and persecutor of many rabbis and tzaddikim, including Rav Berland shlit"a—in a powerful interview about the difficult period we are in and the reasons for it.

The Gaon and Tzaddik Rabbi Yehuda Sheinfeld shlit"a joins the struggle against the persecutors of the holy Gaon and Tzaddik Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a, and issues a sharp protest against those instigators of conflict, the lowly informers who cruelly persecute the holy Gaon and Tzaddik Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a and the holy community of Shuvu Banim. As is known, Rabbi Sheinfeld has known those antagonists for many years and even has a family connection with them. This is how Rabbi Sheinfeld expresses it: "Even the Nazis were sure they were performing a great mitzvah; we are dealing with crazy, drunk people who decide for rabbis what to say. A rabbi who does not listen to them, they immediately slander him."

Rabbi Sheinfeld continues, "It is written in the holy books that at the time of the Geulah, there will be people who need to be purged from Israel, and this will happen by them becoming informers against Torah scholars and tzaddikim."

Following the list of rabbis and tzaddikim shlit"a who have understood, like tens of thousands in Israel, that the persecution of Rav Berland brought upon us the terrible disaster of the pandemic and its consequences, Rabbi Sheinfeld also adds his vigorous protest.

The interview and full transcript:

Courtesy of the Breslov Information Line 9148*

"The Rabbi knows that our teacher Rav Berland has been sitting in prison for over two months for no crime of his own, because wicked people informed on him with false accusations! How can the Rabbi strengthen us?" Rabbi Sheinfeld was asked.

"We spoke about what the tzaddikim say, that every tzaddik has taken upon himself the birth pangs of Mashiach, in order to save the people from war and to prevent difficult things in Eretz Yisrael."

"The Yismach Moshe in Parshat Vayeshev says regarding the Gemara in Sanhedrin: Before the Geulah, informers will multiply in Israel; there will be informers in Israel."

"The goal (the spiritual goal of Hashem) in having informers is to separate the kelipah (shell) from the holiness. People who need to be purged from the Jewish people before the Geulah will become informers—this is how they will be purged from Israel and will not need to wait for the Geulah."

"Like this, in the normal way, we wait for everyone to do teshuvah, but for someone who becomes an informer, we do not wait for him to do teshuvah."

How is it possible that people with beards and peyot are the ones informing on Torah scholars and tzaddikim, including Rav Berland?

"What shall we do with the persecutors? The tzaddikim already said this two hundred years ago, that in the generation of the Geulah there will be people with long beards and peyot, and I do not want to say the continuation regarding them."

We hear the Rabbi's words and do not understand how it is possible that those informers can think they are doing a great mitzvah?

"True, everyone thought (in their crimes) that they were doing a great mitzvah; even the Communists, even the Nazis were sure they were doing a great mitzvah. There is no person who thinks he is committing sins; everyone thinks he is doing good things."

"There is (among the persecutors of tzaddikim and those who disparage Torah scholars) a twisted head; that is the definition of a madman. What is a madman? That he acts in madness and thinks he is the most upright! He walks crooked and thinks he is straight. That is how the Sitra Achra (the Other Side) dresses itself in someone."

"What is a drunkard? That all sins are straight before him! What he does (disparaging Torah scholars) is straight; he is drunk, he dictates to rabbis what to say, and if the rabbis do not listen to him, he can slander them—because they do not listen to him. He (the persecutor) wants all the rabbis to listen to him, and whoever does not listen to him, it is permitted to slander him."

How can one strengthen oneself in such difficult days?

"In this period, one must strengthen oneself in innocence and distancing from lashon hara (evil speech). As Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky said, it is written in the Torah that one who speaks lashon hara is sent into isolation. People are entering quarantine, so one must do teshuvah for lashon hara and the flaws of speech."

What is our role in everything that is happening?

"The Klausenberger Rebbe said during the Holocaust that the great revenge for him was that if Hashem would help him and he would reach Eretz Yisrael, he would build a hospital, and there he would receive everyone without discrimination; that is the great revenge he would take. When he built the hospital in Netanya, he said that this was his revenge against the Germans."

"The revenge is that Hashem will give strength to Rav Berland to stand in everything he has taken upon himself; this is the revenge, that in the end, everyone will see the tikkunim that Rav Berland made by accepting the humiliations—and then their faces will turn like the bottom of a pot."

"They will see against whom they went; this will be the greatest revenge—even if they merit to live, they will not know where to put themselves out of shame."

Rabbi Sheinfeld, you were close to Rabbi Chaim Cohen zt"l, the 'Chalev' (Milkman); how did he relate to the persecution against Rav Berland?

"The Chalev told me at the beginning that when Rav Berland returns to the land, everything will pass and the persecution will end; but later (when the persecutions continued), he said to me, 'What can I do, the Rabbi wants the humiliations.'"

And how would the Chalev express himself about those persecutors and informers?

"The Chalev said about the persecutors of the tzaddikim and Rav Berland that they are truly crazy."

Many tzaddikim and rabbis share the opinion that all the troubles that Israel is going through are a result of the humiliations and persecutions against Rav Berland! Do you share this opinion?

"Certainly, all the persecutions they do to Rav Berland, such a thing does not pass in silence; such bloodshed against Rav Berland and the community is not something that passes in silence."

"I can certainly say that part of what people have been harmed by is because of the persecution of Rav Berland—I am afraid to see what the results will be from Above."