We Must Sweeten the Judgment So There Won’t Be a Holocaust in the Land

The Daily Chizuk from our teacher, the holy Tzaddik, Rav Eliezer Berland shlit"a – "The Holocaust was the preparation for Eretz Yisrael"

Monday, 18 Menachem Av 5782 – "Ukraine is being destroyed because of the tortures they inflicted upon the Jews there - they will not reach Uman," these are his holy words:

Reb Yeshaya of Kerestir (Rabbi Yeshaya Steiner, known as Reb Yeshayale of Kerestir, 1852–1925. He was the founder of the Kerestir Chassidut and served as Admor in the town of Kerestur near Miskolc, Hungary) promised 30 years before the Holocaust at 3:00 AM, it was Motzaei Shabbat Melaveh Malkah. He said, "Now I will reveal a secret to you—in another 30 years there is going to be a Holocaust such as has not been since the creation of the world, and not a single Jew will remain alive."

There will be hellish tortures; in Miropol, that is where there were the most tortures for Jews, so (the Russians) destroyed it to its foundations after 80 years. This was in 1942 and now it is 2022, they destroyed it to its foundations, the entire city—all the tortures they inflicted upon the Jews there, the Ukrainians did it all, now He is uprooting their cities.

They will not reach Uman.

But the Gemara relates (page 49b) that the question is, who can fight and stand against the Holocaust of Avraham Avinu?

Rabbi Yechiel Meir of Ostrovtza fasted for 40 years; he said that a Holocaust was coming, therefore they needed to fast.

Rav Avraham Elimelech of Karlin (Rabbi Avraham Elimelech Perlow of Karlin, 1891–1942. He was the eighth Admor in the dynasty of the Karlin Chassidut, who led it from 1921 until his murder in the Holocaust in 1942) said that if they had fasted on Rosh Hashanah like Mordechai did when they fasted on Pesach—they would have annulled the Holocaust.

Rav Elimelech of Karlin arrived in Meron on the 1st of Av, and was here until Erev Rosh Chodesh Elul. He went to all the graves of the Tzaddikim and he screamed such screams in Meron that they heard it almost as far as Tzfat. He would scream shouts that were heard several streets away—all his prayers were with screams, jumps, and dances.

Rabbi Avraham Elimelech was the Rebbe of Karlin for all of Europe; he had about a thousand yeshivot, in every city he had a yeshiva, people came from all corners of the world—he let out such screams that reached Meron, such screams that the shamash ran to him with boiling milk.

The Rebbe of Karlin felt that the prayer was not answered and this was the tikkun of 6,000 years, because they could not enter Gan Eden directly. The Holocaust was a River of Fire (Nahar Dinur), simply a River of Fire. One must pass through it before entering Gan Eden; it is less painful than the River of Fire.

Many Tzaddikim knew that a Holocaust was coming. The Rebbe in the cheder of this boy who was already 16 years old, he was the grandson of the Rebbe of Kerestir and he also knew of this prophecy (about the Holocaust). When he said, "In another 30 years there is going to be a Holocaust such as has not been since the creation of the world—and whoever serves me faithfully, his grandson will be saved."

"You will already be old, you will just see the Germans entering." He said to the head gabbai, "Your grandson will be saved, I will protect him." Thirty years before the Holocaust began he told them: "Know that in another 30 years there is going to be a Holocaust such as has not been since the creation of the world." Before the Jews would ascend to the Land, this was the preparation for Eretz Yisrael—the Holocaust.

There was such a Holocaust that all the nations agreed that Eretz Yisrael must be given to the Jews; it is impossible for them to undergo another such Holocaust. The entire Holocaust was because they did not have Eretz Yisrael. So before Hashem brings the people of Israel to Israel, the Holy Land, the Jews would have to undergo terrible and awful suffering, the most terrible suffering that has ever existed since the world was created, and all of Europe would be filled with Jewish blood.

Reb Naftali of Ropshitz said (Rabbi Naftali Tzvi Horowitz of Ropshitz, 1760–1827. He was an Admor in Galicia and founder of the Ropshitz Chassidut), the Geulah will be when they walk in blood up to their knees and then they will be able to come, to return to Eretz Yisrael.

And now in Eretz Yisrael we are already under the Erev Rav, but we are with the help of Hashem—Hashem will help that there will not be another Holocaust. Just as he said to his chassid, "You will undergo terrible and awful suffering such as has not been since the creation of the world and the whole world will be stained with Jewish blood. I will no longer be in the world, but you will see how it starts when the Nazis enter—your grandson, he will be saved, I will stand by your grandson's side."

"I owe you for being the closest to me of all, and I will protect your grandson for you."

The grandson relates that he lay in the snow after the German shot him. The story was that he was traveling from Czukay to Kerestir, there is a ferry. The Germans were in control and it was forbidden for Jews to enter the ferry; some lawyer came and said, "They are my escorts."

"I don't believe you, where are the documents?"

"There are no documents, I left them at home!"

For 6 hours the lawyer argued, but they knew he was lying to them, so they waited for the children to get off the ferry. One child lived in Kerestir, and the other lived in Czukay; the German waited for the grandson to get off the ferry and then sniped at him. He shot him in the shoulder and he fell onto the snow, wallowing in his blood, and he lay like that for two days until the priest himself called the whole town with the bells, told them to go to the survivors of the Gestapo, that they must save this boy. Because the Germans wouldn't even let anyone approach the boy; he bled for two days, his hand was almost paralyzed.

The grandson, Yitzchak Schwartz, met someone on the bunks in Auschwitz, a Breslover who explained to him that everything is gilgulim (reincarnations). He told him: "Know that this is all a matter of gilgulim, everyone has to pay for 6,000 years (since the creation of the world), we are now 6,000 years minus 200, a hundred times we return in a gilgul."

If there is the true Tzaddik, then one can pass through the world, receive the tikkun without suffering—but if a person doesn't know of the Tzaddik, then he has to atone for all his gilgulim.

The one explaining in Auschwitz was a Breslov chassid, he passed away afterward; he knew the entire Zohar by heart, he would repeat the Zohar by heart. He says to him, "Know that this is all gilgulim and everyone according to his gilgul has to undergo what we are undergoing now."

He asks (the figure that appeared to him), "How did you get here?"

"I cannot tell you how I got here!"

"Who commanded you to reveal yourself to me?"

"The One who makes the sun shine every morning! A person comes to Shacharit prayer, he makes the sun shine; those who pray Shacharit at sunrise make the sun shine."

"Who will take me from here?"

"You are now in the hands of the Satan! The entire Holocaust is a revelation of the Satan, the Satan has now descended below and he is doing the entire Holocaust!"

And suddenly (the grandson relates) this glowing figure disappeared from me. After that he appeared to him again; this was exactly on the last day of the war, two days before the end of the war. It was the death march, he already weighed 35 kilos, he felt that he could no longer walk. They crossed a bridge, he stood there on the bridge, and the Germans—whoever stood still, they shoot him; he knew that now the German who was walking behind was coming and would shoot him.

He leaned on the bridge, feeling that he had no strength, and suddenly he appears to him again. Reb Yeshayale of Kerestir says to him: "Continue, you have another hour to walk and you will arrive at the camp, at the place, and the war will end within a day or two." This was the second revelation on the bridge inside Germany.