Which Side Do You Want to Be On When Mashiach Comes? A Radio Discussion with

"We have recently seen the affair of Rav Eliezer Berland circulating throughout the media. After seeing that the entire media was mobilized against Rav Eliezer Berland, a friend wanted to speak with me about him. I told him that I needed permission from a rabbi to do so, for Heaven forbid, I cannot speak lashon hara (evil speech) about a Jew. I went to a leader of the generation, whose name I will not publish, who told me, 'Beware, guard your mouth, guard your heart, guard your mind, and you will be saved.' I did not understand his intent, but I understood that there is no permission to speak lashon hara."

"I went to another rabbi who told me that there is a ruling from a Beit Din that it is forbidden to speak about Rav Eliezer Berland, Heaven forbid; he is holy of holies. I went to another rabbi, and then I understood that in the media, there is not a single reporter who speaks well of Rav Eliezer Berland. The entire media is one-sided; on one hand, they call Rav Eliezer Berland the greatest criminal, saying no such criminal has ever arisen. On the other hand, I go to the leaders of the generation, and they tell me—no such tzaddik has ever arisen who fights the wars of Hashem."

A fascinating conversation from one of the radio channels, published recently, which reflects a deep contemplation on the situation of the holy Rav Eliezer Berland shlit"a and everything happening around him.

"The situation is extreme. They will say there are differing opinions—no, there are no opinions. Someone explained to me that there is some mentally ill hooligan who spends all day on the internet, and he is the one who actually writes the articles against Rav Eliezer Berland and submits them to the media. Someone who opposes, just as it is written, 'And the sons of Korach did not die' (Numbers 26:11); there are always dissenters, there is always someone who speaks against tzaddikim."

"As I mentioned in the opening, thank God I circulate among many leaders of the generation. I do not know if I am permitted to tell you what one sage told me, but I am burning inside and cannot keep it to myself. He opened a Gemara (Sanhedrin 98b) for me and read, 'Ulla said: Let him [Mashiach] come, but let me not see him.' An Amora from the sages of the Gemara said that he does not want to be there when Mashiach comes because of the great amount of conflict that will exist in those days. The level of confusion will be terrible; it will be so easy for a person to seal his own life or death. Not here, but in the world of eternity—by a slight word against the tzaddik, he will lose his entire World to Come."

"He told me that it is also written that Mashiach only comes through 'heisach hada'at' (distraction/unawareness); people will not notice that all the signs are being fulfilled, and we do not see."

"It is also written about Mashiach that he is bound in prison. We are accustomed to Midrashim that tell of Mashiach as a poor man riding on a donkey, but the Gemara tells of Mashiach that he will be bound, bruised, and wounded by our sins, because we cannot rectify our own sins, and he will take everything upon himself. He will be in prison for our sake, and we will live good lives as if everything came from ourselves."

"Despised and degraded, the greatest criminal in prison—it reminds one of the decrees of Nebuchadnezzar and Antiochus, who took holy tzaddikim and turned them into criminals."

At this stage, the radio announcer continues to mention the words of the Lubavitcher Rebbe regarding the signs of the Geulah (Redemption) that are being fulfilled before our eyes, and the testimonies of the tzaddikim of our generation that Mashiach is walking and circulating among us and bringing people to teshuvah (repentance).

"The Amoraim would revive people with their speech, so did this Amora fear the missiles of Gog and Magog? No, he simply saw the magnitude of the confusion that would exist before the coming of Mashiach; he saw that there would be masses of people, there would be a partition of fire between the people, between those who fear Hashem and those who do not."

"The Midrash says that Mashiach will be the most despised in the world; they will call him a thief, they will call him a criminal, they will call him an adulterer, just as they called Moses our Teacher an adulterer, just as they did to the Baal Shem Tov, King David, all the tzaddikim—this is the sign of Mashiach."

"Rav Kaduri zt"l said that the first to go out against Mashiach would be the media, and we see what is happening, incessantly, at least three articles every day against Rav Eliezer Berland. There has never been such a rabbi who received such popularity, there has never been such a rabbi who threatened the secular character of the State of Israel so much. There has never been such a rabbi who brought thousands to teshuvah every day; apparently, they are afraid of him. When he comes to a Jew and says something to him, within five minutes that Jew wants to study Torah all day."

"Whoever is listening to me, know this: yesterday, after the investigators rotated during a 10-hour interrogation, Rav Eliezer Berland collapsed. They took him on a stretcher to Shaare Zedek Hospital in Jerusalem, and I ask, to what extent is this persecution? After they treated him there, they returned him immediately to prison—to be bound in the house of prisoners. We are talking about a faction of tzaddikim and entire groups of Chassidim and those who fear Hashem who say that Rav Eliezer Berland is the greatest tzaddik there is. Rebbe Nachman of Breslov says that the more money you give to a tzaddik, the better it will be for you; that is how it is possible to extract you from the filth, from the prison of desires in which you are trapped."

"You do not know where you are; this is exile. Pray for the Holy Temple; the tzaddikim take the destruction upon themselves, they destroy themselves. I saw his people, the Shuvu Banim community, which numbers thousands upon thousands of holy and pure tzaddikim who engage in Torah day and night, all day in hitbodedut (seclusion) and prayers. They did not go to hold a demonstration and block roads, but went to Rachel's Tomb, because that is not the way of Rav Eliezer Berland. They went to Rachel's Tomb to pray with cries; great tzaddikim arrived there to participate with them. I was at Rachel's Tomb and saw the cries and tears over the anguish of the persecution of the tzaddikim—if these are his students, I want to be like them, I want to be his, to be on this side."

"Dear Jew, open your eyes and see on which side you want to be. Rav Kook said, 'When will Rav Eliezer Berland come and redeem us?' After all, we do not know what they are doing to him in prison; they have frustration against the Haredim, and they take everything out against the head of the returnees to teshuvah, Rav Eliezer Berland."

"This is not a call for crime and violence, Heaven forbid; this is not the way of the Rav. We must cry out to the Heavens and ask the Father to help and redeem us with mercy."