We are all responsible for each other

YOUR CHANCE TO DONATE TO A VERY SPECIAL SEFER TORAH

Rav Berland once gave over a stunning, unforgettable shiur (Torah class) about Rabbi Chiya, where he explained how even in the upper world, people weren’t permitted to so much as glance in the direction of Rabbi Chiya’s canopy. This holy Tanna had dedicated his life to strengthening others and bring them back to Hashem.

The students who heard that shiur found it hard to understand a word of what the Rav was saying, he was speaking so quickly and so enthusiastically about Rabbi Chiya, who used to go from village to village, and from house to house, spreading Torah and teaching Torah.

And this happened then, so it’s also still happening today. It’s part of the concept of the tikkun (spiritual rectification) of the legs, which necessitates us to go once again from house to house, to try to connect so many of today’s broken and crushed neshamas (souls) back to Hashem, and to raise up God’s name in the world.

BRINGING OTHERS BACK WILL REBUILD THE TEMPLE

This is the way we’re going to rebuild the holy sanctuary (the Temple), as Rebbe Nachman wrote in Likutey Moharan, that by way of us committing ourselves to doing Hashem’s holy work in the world, this is how those who are distant from God will return to Him - and that this is the true honor of Hashem.

The Gemara in Tractate Succot teaches us that every single Jew is not only judged on their own personal situation, when it comes to keeping mitzvot, but is also judged according to the overall level of mitzvah observance across the whole of the nation of Israel. From here, we learn that each of us has an obligation to travel around to meet different Jews, and to encourage them to take upon themselves the yoke of Torah and mitzvot, or at the very least, a part of this ‘yoke’!

THERE ARE NO SHORT CUTS

There are no easy options, there are no short cuts, when it comes to the war we’re fighting to rescue Jewish souls. The people who go out to meet the public in this way face no end of obstacles. These individuals are the real ‘soldiers of holiness’, who are shining the light of Torah and the Tzaddik into those places where the dark side rules, and has tied up so many Jews in its web of fantasies, falsehood and lies.

For more than 50 years now, Rav Eliezer Berland, shlita, has been taking this message of outreach and teshuva out to the Jewish public. He’s sacrificed so much of his own time and energy to go out to every place in the country, to try to slake the spiritual thirst of so many Jewish neshamas with the true words of our holy, pure Torah.

And even today, when he’s not in the best of health, and at an advanced age, the Rav is still going out almost every single night to wake up those who are still slumbering, via his gatherings and home visits, on top of all the many other things he packs into every single day.

WHO CAN SEE WHAT THE TZADDIK IS DOING, AND NOT FEEL MOVED TO HELP HIM?

All of us need to be making kiruv, outreach, our top priority, spreading Rebbe Nachman’s teachings and encouraging Am Yisrael to make teshuva. Rav Berland recently wrote a letter, where he described the tremendous importance and greatness of going out to do outreach in this way, and encouraging Am Yisrael to make teshuva, and he said that by doing this, we will hasten the geula (redemption).

WE NEED TO HELP SHINE THE TZADDIK'S LIGHT INTO THE DARKNESS

It’s precisely in this period of tremendous confusion, when people have no idea what’s truly tamei (spiritually defiled) and what’s tahor (spiritually pure), and when even our Gadolim are struggling to straighten out everything that has become bent and twisted, that we need to shine more of the light of the true Tzaddik into this generation’s darkness.

Both the Shuvu Banim educational institutions, and the ‘Beit HaRav[1]’ have been working around the clock to strengthen Am Yisrael, but the financial situation has become very difficult, and the debts have mounted up to 8 million shekels.

> And each of us is responsible for the other.

So, after discussing the situation with Moranu Rav Berland, shlita, and getting his blessing, the communal institutions and the Beit HaRav have decided to join together to try to raise the necessary funds by organizing the writing of a very special Sefer Torah, that will be personally used by the Rav.

This endeavor is only going to succeed if every single one of us takes upon him and herself to contribute to this effort, and to help us sell each letter in the Rav’s Sefer Torah.

DETAILS OF THE SEFER TORAH

You can buy a letter of the Sefer Torah for: 36 shekels

You can buy a word for: 101 shekels

You can buy a passuk for: 360 shekels

You can buy a column for: 1800 shekels

You can buy a parsha for: 3600 shekels

AND THERE ARE OTHER SPONSORSHIP OPPORTUNITIES AVAILABLE TOO, IF YOU’D LIKE TO SPONSOR THE CROWN OR THE ‘ETZ CHAIM’ OF THE RAV’S SEFER TORAH.

HOW YOU CAN PARTICIPATE

This isn’t just a fundraising campaign, it’s also an opportunity to bring more Jewish souls back to Hashem by giving them the chance to participate in this enormous mitzvah.

Throughout many long years, Rav Berland sent out many groups of his students as ‘shadarim’ to engage Am Yisrael in words of Torah, and he told us that every single coin that was donated - even something as small as just 10 agarot - was connecting the donor’s soul back to the light of Hashem and His Torah.

So there are many ways you can participate in this holy endeavor:

* You can sponsor a letter, word or more yourself;
* You can ask your family and friends to sponsor part of the Sefer Torah, or to arrange a standing order, to help support Shuvu Banim’s institutions and the ‘Beit HaRav’.
* Or, you can volunteer to be part of the group of holy ‘shadrim’ that will go out collecting on behalf of the Sefer Torah across parts of the country.

> All of Am Yisrael are responsible for each other!

To get more details, or to donate to the Sefer Torah, please call the Shuvu Banim office on: 02-628-2885.

[1] Literally, ‘The Rav’s House’ - this is the name given to the makeshift synagogue that was set up on the ground floor of the Rav’s building while he was under house arrest, to enable the Rav to pray with members of the public. The Beit HaRav is still functioning today, and regularly organizes and funds a number of communal activities in and around the ‘Beit HaRav’, including brit milah celebrations, sheva brachot celebrations and refreshments for literally hundreds of visitors, on Shabbos and yom tov.