The righteous Rav Mordechai Soferin shlit"a in a special lesson from the Likutey Halachot of Moharanat for the holiday of Chanukah, explains how, although the tzaddik appears similar to a regular person, he is still distinct and elevated beyond measure. Rav Soferin spices the words of Moharanat with stories of tzaddikim from our generation, our teacher Rabbi Eliezer Berland and Rav Dov Kook shlit"a.

The Tzaddik Reveals a Little and Conceals a Lot

"Both Hashem and the tzaddik reveal a handbreadth and conceal a handbreadth, to know that the closer one gets, the further they still are. For, even though a handbreadth was revealed to me and I got a bit closer to Hashem, I must know that most is still concealed from me. This is true both with Hashem and with the tzaddik, because it seems to us that we know the tzaddik, we are around him, we see him, and we think we know him a little."

"But, in truth, this is just a tiny bit of what he reveals. His inner essence is very hidden and concealed. For the tzaddik is sealed, wondrous, and very hidden from us - a tzaddik is something entirely different, not a regular person, not the same person we know. As our Rebbe says at the end of Likutey Moharan in Torah 116, 'Even a righteous person who is close to a tzaddik compared to the rest of the world, if we compare the tzaddik and the righteous people to the rest of the world, they indeed resemble other humans in their movements, they eat the same things, they are the same and there is no difference between them in physicality, to all appearances of fleshly eyes.'"

"And yet, in absolute truth, we believe they are completely separate and distinct, something entirely different - a righteous person is a completely different matter, as are the true tzaddikim. The tzaddik is something entirely different, when you see him, you see he is a bit different from humans, he doesn't need to sleep like me. He eats, but he eats differently from me, you can see it."

Rav Berland Confuses the Wealthy at the Fundraising Dinner

"Now I heard a story. They held a dinner for Rav Berland to collect money for the yeshiva. They gathered all the wealthy, I think in New York, each one bought a ticket to the dinner for $15,000, and during the dinner, each one donated more, half a million, three hundred thousand dollars, whatever each wanted to donate. That's how it's done in the world, they bring the tzaddik and he speaks words of Torah. There's the most lavish meal, they bring the tray with all the food and he eats a tiny bit, and then they distribute to everyone from the leftovers."

"There's a segulah to eat from the leftovers that the tzaddik leaves. So, the Rav lectured them, and told them that the most terrible and disgusting thing in the world is money - one who has money should not be spoken to. Rav Berland spoke to them saying that one who has money is disgusting, and he stinks. They wanted him to finish speaking already, they brought him a tray of fish for all the attendees to eat a little and distribute to everyone."

"The Rav started eating the fish, and ate, and ate, and ate, ate all the fish, Yossi Druck who was there tells this on the line. Who can eat so much fish? It's impossible, it's fish for a hundred people, a portion for a hundred people - all so they wouldn't make him a Rebbe. Because, in Breslov we don't have a Rebbe, Rebbe Nachman is our Rebbe, but they make a person an Admor, make him a tzaddik, to eat and leave leftovers. Rav Berland laughs at them - there are no leftovers, I don't leave leftovers, I eat everything."

"The tzaddik, you see things different from other people, different behavior, he can earn several million at this dinner, and he only spoils it for everyone, only ruins what they are doing. This is just a small thing, a kind of curiosity, but in his behavior and in his life, how he is separate, how he can pray for hours upon hours, how he sings and can dance for hours, cleaving to Hashem, the Amidah prayer for six hours, 12 hours. Who can stand in the Amidah prayer for hours?"

Doesn't Stop Praying Until the Gate Above Closes

"Someone told me he saw Rav Kook standing for hours in prayer. He asked Rav Kook's son-in-law, what does he do for six hours in prayer?"

He answered: I also asked him this, and Rav Kook told me that he prays as long as the gate is open, when they close the gate then he stops. Rav Kook enters some gate, he wanders, I don't know what he does there, until they close the gate on him. Then he knows it's time to stop the prayer."

"Yes, these are different people, I can't pray for six hours, I have nothing to do for six hours in prayer. I don't see any gate, I don't see anything. You see that the tzaddik is something else, but just as the Torah and the tzaddik are very hidden and concealed from us, so too they are very close and near to us. But, the tzaddik is here, we are around him, and he speaks to us and teaches us, and enlightens us. And likewise, as they are revealed and very close to us. So too, they are distant and hidden, and exalted from us very much. Both are true, he is very close to us, because he is here, but he is also very hidden and not attainable at all. And so it repeats, because both are true - he is both close and distant."

"This is the aspect of what is explained in the aforementioned Torah, peace to the distant and the near. The verse in Isaiah says: 'Creator of the fruit of the lips, peace, peace to the distant and to the near, says Hashem, and I will heal him.' The simple meaning of the verse, peace to the distant and peace to the near, but our Rebbe says, peace - who can achieve peace? One who understands that he is both distant and near. This is one person, the close and the distant (the tzaddik), this is one person."

"Our teacher Rabbi Berland told us that one of the things that impressed him when he was a child. I don't know what grade it was, in elementary I think, maybe at the beginning of high school, the year started and a new educator came to the class, the first thing he told them: 'There is not a single child in this class who has not once had cleaving in prayer,' that's how he opened the year - and then each one looked at himself and saw that it was true."