Which Side Do You Want to Be On When Mashiach Comes? A Radio Discussion with Deep Contemplation on the Situation of Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a

"Recently, we have been seeing the issue of Rabbi Eliezer Berland circulating throughout the media. After I saw that the entire media is mobilized against Rabbi Berland, a friend came and wanted to talk to me about him. I told him that I need a rabbinic permission for that, as God forbid, I cannot speak lashon hara about a Jew. I went to a great sage of the generation, whose name I will not publish, who told me, 'Be careful, guard your mouth, guard your heart, guard your mind, and you will be saved.' I did not understand his intention, but I understood that there is no permission to speak lashon hara."

"I went to another rabbi who told me there is a ruling from a Beit Din that it is forbidden to speak about Rabbi Berland, God forbid, he is holy of holies. I went to another rabbi and then I understood that in the media there is not a single journalist who speaks well of Rabbi Berland. The entire media is one-sided, on one hand calling Rabbi Berland the greatest criminal, such a criminal never arose. On the other hand, I go to the great sages of the generation and they tell me - such a tzaddik who fights the battles of Hashem has never arisen."

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

"The situation is extreme, they will say there are opinions, no, there are no opinions. Someone explained to me that there is some mentally ill troublemaker who roams the internet all day, and he is the one actually writing the articles against Rabbi Berland and submitting them to the media. Like it is written "And the sons of Korach did not die" (Numbers 26:11), there are always dissenters, there are always those who speak against the tzaddikim."

"As I mentioned in the opening, I, Baruch Hashem, frequent many great sages of the generation. I don't know if I am allowed to tell you what one wise man told me, but I am burning inside and cannot keep it to myself. He opened a Gemara (Sanhedrin 98b) and read, "Ulla said, let him come [Mashiach] but may I not see him," an Amora from the sages of the Gemara said, let Mashiach come and I do not want to be there due to the disputes that will be in those days. The level of confusion will be terrible, it will be so easy for a person to decree life and death upon himself. Not here, in the eternal world - by a simple word against the tzaddik he will lose his entire World to Come."

"He told me it is also written that the son of David will not come except in a moment of distraction, they will not notice that all the signs are being fulfilled and we do not see".

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

"Despicable and despised, the greatest criminal in prison, reminiscent of the decrees of Nebuchadnezzar and Antiochus who took holy tzaddikim and turned them into criminals."

At this point, the radio announcer continues to mention the words of the Lubavitcher Rebbe about the signs of redemption being fulfilled before our eyes, and the testimonies of the tzaddikim of our generation that the Mashiach is walking among us and bringing people to teshuvah.

"The Amoraim would revive people with their words, so was this Amora afraid of the missiles of Gog and Magog? No, he simply saw the great confusion that would be before the coming of the Mashiach, he saw that there would be masses of people, there would be a wall of fire between the God-fearing and those who are not."

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"The Midrash says that the 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 Moshe Rabbeinu an adulterer, just as they called the Baal Shem Tov, King David, all the tzaddikim - this is the sign of the Mashiach."

"Rabbi Kaduri zt"l said that the first to come out against the Mashiach will be the media, and we see what is happening, relentlessly, at least three articles every day against Rabbi Berland. There has not been such a rabbi who received such popularity, there has not been such a rabbi who threatened the secular character of the State of Israel so much. There has not been such a rabbi who brought thousands to teshuvah every day, apparently they are afraid of him. When he comes to a Jew, says something to him, and within 5 minutes that Jew wants to study Torah all day."

"Whoever hears me should know, yesterday after the investigators changed shifts during a 10-hour investigation, Rabbi Berland collapsed. They took him on a stretcher to Shaare Zedek Hospital in Jerusalem, and I ask how far does the persecution go? After treating him there, they immediately returned him to prison - to be imprisoned. It is about a faction of tzaddikim and entire groups of chassidim and God-fearing people who say that Rabbi Berland is the greatest tzaddik. Rebbe Nachman of Breslov says that the more money you give to the tzaddik, the better it will be for you, so you can be taken out of the filth, out of the prison of desires you are in."

"You don't 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 numbering thousands upon thousands of holy and pure tzaddikim who engage in Torah day and night, all day in Hitbodedut and prayers. They did not go to protest and block roads, but went to the Tomb of Rachel, because this is not the way of Rabbi Berland. They went to the Tomb of Rachel to pray with cries, great tzaddikim came there to join them. I was at the Tomb of Rachel and saw the cries and tears over the anguish from 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 which side you want to be on. Rabbi Kook said when will Rabbi Berland come and redeem us. After all, we do not know what they are doing to him in prison, they have frustration against the religious and they take it all out against the head of the returnees to teshuvah, Rabbi Berland."

"This is not a call for crime and violence, God forbid, this is not the way of the rabbi. We need to cry out to the heavens and ask our Father to help and redeem us with mercy."

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