The Virtue of the Western Wall - From the Words of the Righteous Rav Eliezer Berland shlit"a

'The Virtue of the Western Wall' - From the Words of the Righteous Rav Eliezer Berland shlit"adrive.google.com/file/d/13OUP8NDZCly-ajSU4gMxP5ONBaUYjmuT-g/view?usp=drivesdk

The Holy Temple was destroyed twice, the sitra achra (evil inclination) rose twice to destroy the Holy Temple, but Hashem never abandoned the Even HaShetiyah, Hashem never abandoned the Wall, the Shechinah (Divine Presence) never departed from the Western Wall. A person should feel longing for the Even HaShetiyah, longing to reach the Wall, as it is written, "My soul yearns, indeed it faints for the courts of Hashem" (Psalms 84:3). The courts of Hashem are the Even HaShetiyah, the courts of Hashem are the Wall. When a person loves someone, they strive to be in their presence! The same is true if a person loves the Wall and feels it is their root, they will strive to be at the Wall as often as possible. Why does a person not feel the holiness of the Even HaShetiyah? Why does a person not feel the holiness of the Wall? There are people who, for years upon years, do not come to the Wall. In Jerusalem, half a million Jews live, yet they are hardly seen at the Wall. The "Chatam Sofer" says – by not coming to the Western Wall, to the Even HaShetiyah, we insult the Wall, where the place of the Shechinah is, it is an insult that has no forgiveness, for Hashem sees that Jerusalem is neglected, the Wall is neglected, and efforts are not made to reach it, this arouses anger and wrath, as it is written, "The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone" (Psalms 118:22) – "the stone rejected" is the Even HaShetiyah, the greater and more exalted something is, the more it is despised and hidden. The Satan knows what is good for a person, he knows exactly what benefits them, and therefore he acts to distance them as much as possible from this thing. Everyone despised the Even HaShetiyah, all the tzaddikim called "the builders" despised the Even HaShetiyah, except for King David, who was the only one who merited to know the secret of this stone, he merited to know that without this stone, without its holiness, no work can be completed in perfection, all of David's efforts were only for that stone. All his searches, all his longings "My soul yearns, indeed it faints for the courts of Hashem" were all for the Even HaShetiyah, the place of the Holy Temple.

Before Hashem created the earth, the world of action, He created the Even HaShetiyah, He created the Temple Mount, He created the Wall. Rabbi Natan explains that the Even HaShetiyah is the root of creation, from this stone the world was created (Yoma 54b), and there is the root of choice. By going to the Wall, a person can alone exit from their choice and choose the path of good, the Wall is the crown of creation, it is the tenth holiness, it is the sefirah of "Keter," and therefore there choice is completely nullified, there one receives only good choice.

When a person goes to the Wall, they are not standing in this world at all, they are not in this world at all, the Wall is the Holy of Holies, it is a completely different world, even if it seems to you that you are standing in this world, that you are here in this world, know! That as soon as you reached the Temple Mount, the Wall, you are already in the World of Atzilut! You have ascended straight to the World of Atzilut, and it only seems to you that you are here in this world because you are in such a fog, such an illusion, but in truth, you are now in the World of Atzilut, every time you reach the Wall and kiss the Wall, you immediately enter the World of Atzilut. When you come to the Wall, nature changes! Even the body changes, everything changes, a person receives a different nature, a holy body, every time a person comes to the Wall, they merit that all the lights from the World of Atzilut immediately shine upon them.

The Wall is truly the Holy of Holies, it is truly the Even HaShetiyah, when a person goes to the Wall, they are truly going to Gan Eden! Especially at midnight, in the morning watch, because the "river that flows from Eden" flows beneath the Temple Mount, beneath the Wall, and therefore when a person comes to the Wall, they truly feel the taste of Gan Eden, they see Gan Eden, they smell Gan Eden, they feel they are now in Gan Eden, just as Adam and Eve were in Gan Eden.

Rabbi Natan says (Hodaah 6:50) – "And therefore when they came out of Egypt with wondrous miracles and He split the sea for them with a wondrous and awe-inspiring miracle, they said in the song, 'You will bring them and plant them on the mountain of Your inheritance,' which is the Holy Temple, from where the main miracles of the Exodus from Egypt and the splitting of the Sea of Reeds originated, the main purpose was to come there as it is written, 'And He brought us out from there to bring us to...'" – We must know that the Wall is the root of all the miracles in the world, all the miracles from the beginning of time are drawn from the Western Wall. Abraham performed miracles, Moses performed miracles, even the miracles of the Exodus from Egypt were drawn from the Wall, all the miracles that were in Egypt, the ten plagues, the splitting of the Sea of Reeds, it all comes from the Holy of Holies, it all comes from the Wall, this is the innovation of Rabbi Natan "You will bring them and plant them on the mountain of Your inheritance" – that Moses our teacher connected himself "to the mountain of Your inheritance," to the Holy of Holies, connected himself to the Wall, to the Even HaShetiyah, and thus continued all the miracles and wonders. So how can a person not go to the Wall?! After all, it contains all the miracles! The miracles of the splitting of the Sea of Reeds, the miracles of the ten plagues, the miracles of the clouds of glory, the miracles of the pillar of fire. Miracles that flew in the air, the Wall is the root of all miracles, the root of all wonders, the root of all salvations, all healings, all deliverances, all livelihoods, everything comes from the Wall, if a person reaches the Wall, they can achieve any miracle in the world.