Watch: Rabbi Shmueli shlit"a on the Severity of Opposing Torah Scholars – Following the Harsh Persecution of the Gaon and Tzaddik Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a

Rabbi Meir Shmueli shlit"a (may he live long and good days) in a frightening talk at the Musayof Synagogue regarding the severity of machlokes (dispute/controversy) against Talmidei Chachamim (Torah scholars). "There are many people today who involve themselves with Rabbis. Rabbi Elyashiv zt"l (of blessed memory) said that at least a third of the 'malignant disease' (cancer) that strikes a person is caused by disparaging Torah scholars. It is written, 'If you saw a Torah scholar commit a sin at night, do not suspect him during the day, for he certainly did teshuvah (repentance).' This has a practical application for all those who speak against the Rabbis who have recently been placed in prison."

"Those who speak out often belong to the community of Torah students, to other Chassidic groups, and sometimes they are even from the same Chassidus (Chassidic sect). They have become 'critics of the Torah.' If they were in the position of those they speak against, I don't know what sins they would have committed—and yet they still speak against Rabbis!"

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"Someone said to me, 'But he confessed.' It is written, 'Even if you saw with your own eyes that he did [something wrong], you are forbidden to harbor thoughts against him the next day,' because he certainly did teshuvah (repentance). And here, you didn't see anything at all! If you spoke against him, you have taken all of his iniquities upon yourself. It is written regarding King David that anyone who says he sinned has no portion in the World to Come, because for one who speaks against a Chacham (wise scholar), there is no cure for his wound."

"There was a certain Jew who came to my father and told him that his wife had contracted the 'disease' (cancer) in her gallbladder. After he finished speaking with my father, I told him to take upon himself not to speak against Rabbis, because it was because he spoke against Rabbis that his wife contracted the disease in her gallbladder. After all, in Yoreh Deah, Section 245, it discusses the laws of honoring Torah scholars. He accepted my words and stopped speaking against Torah scholars, and his wife's malignant disease disappeared..."

"Cast aside your intellect; say to yourself, 'What do I understand about the ways of the Gedolei Yisrael (Great Leaders of Israel)? Why do I need to speak? But he confessed and they said so in the media (tishkoret - a play on 'shaker/lie')?' It's all nonsense and vanity. There was one man (Baranes) who sat in prison for thirty years, and in the end, it was revealed that he didn't commit murder. After all, they tell him, 'If you don't make a plea deal, you will sit in prison longer; therefore, it's better to say "I did it" rather than receive a worse punishment.'"

"I have seen terrible things. I had a good friend who was naturally a very strong man. He started up with his friend who was a Torah scholar, and his liver condition became complicated, requiring a catheter from the gallbladder. I told him to ask for forgiveness from his friend, and indeed he was healed. My brother and I had to intervene to bring peace between them, but within a week afterward, he was healed and returned to being as strong as a lion."

"Twenty-five years ago, I accompanied a man who contracted the disease in his throat after his father threatened Rabbi Sharabi zt"l (of blessed memory) that he would burn down his synagogue. He died, and a month or two later, his father also died—do not speak! Are you so bored with life that you are playing with fire?"

The talk was also broadcast on the World Breslov Line (02-800-8800, from the USA 1-845-640-0007, from England 44-203-807-3333)