Words of the Righteous Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a for Parshat Tzav

"And the fire on the altar shall be kept burning on it, it shall not go out" (Parshat Tzav, Leviticus 6:5)

Rabbi Natan says (Likutei Halachot, Yoreh De'ah), "The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination," if we do not bring the wicked to teshuvah (repentance) then the prayer is not accepted. If you do not bring the wicked to teshuvah, Hashem does not accept your prayer, what makes you special? Why do you pray because your father taught you to pray? Teach someone else to pray! Take another Jew and teach him to say Birkat Hamazon, tell him that there is Hashem in the world, tell him to pray and he will have all good things. Let's see you take another Jew and pray, and this is called "the sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination," his prayer is simply an abomination, because who are you to pray, what makes you more special than him because you had a father and he does not?

So Rabbi Natan brings on page one hundred and two, "Tov HaKavush," therefore if Yitro had not drawn near, there would not have been the receiving of the Torah, because all of you had fathers, there were three hundred and sixty million, that is three hundred and sixty billion people there, all descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, all already generations of tzaddikim, I want to see you bring one from the nations of the world closer. So exactly Yitro drew near, who was a pope, it is written that Yitro drew near, then everyone drew near. Everyone wanted Balaam, but Balaam did not find favor in their eyes, so they decided to follow Yitro, so says the Zohar in Yitro, at that moment the whole world returned in teshuvah, they heard the voices of the giving of the Torah, everyone returned in teshuvah.

Let's see you bring someone like Yitro closer, bring another neshamah (soul), says Rabbi Natan, without Yitro there could not have been the giving of the Torah. This is the language of Rabbi Natan 'and without converts and those who return in teshuvah the prayer is not accepted.' Baruch Hashem you are a tzaddik, your father is a tzaddik, you will have a son who is a tzaddik, a grandson who is a tzaddik, it does not ascend above, it is all mitzvot of people learned by rote, it is all because that is how you were educated. You are, Baruch Hashem, a good child, you are not rebellious, you have done nothing, you are not wicked but your prayer is not accepted, your prayer is simply an abomination.

Rabbi Natan says, "You have founded a great congregation," King David went in the path of 'You have founded a great congregation,' and through this the altar was rectified. Rebbe Nachman says in Torah 17, the rectification of the altar is only through making converts and those who return in teshuvah. I have written in the scroll of the book written about me to do Your will, the will of Hashem is that you pray and you prayed well, you prayed five hours, ten hours, it is nothing, Esau also prayed ten hours. You read in the books that you need to pray ten hours, but let's see you bring another new soul who does not know what prayer is at all, who even ate on Yom Kippur.

If you bring people to teshuvah then the intellect is completed, you receive a completely new intellect, the Rebbe says in Torah 53 that only when you bring people to teshuvah do you receive the aleph, the knowledge. You bring people to teshuvah then Hashem gives you in return intellect, like you complete their intellect. Because he does not know there is Shabbat because he lacks intellect, you complete his intellect, it turns out you also complete your own intellect, it is difficult for you to learn Gemara, difficult for you to learn Etz Chaim, difficult for you to learn Choshen Mishpat, bring people to teshuvah, go an hour or two to bring people to teshuvah and they will also complete your intellect. All this our Rebbe brings in Torah 17 and in Torah 53.

The Zohar says in Pinchas, when Solomon built the Temple, a Temple of fire descended for him, each time Hashem waited to bring down a Temple of fire, but each time it was postponed. King David had a lot of work, he would go out with a great congregation, and in his time it was said, "Our sons are like plants grown in their youth," because in the time of David there was no evil thought, until Rabbi Yochanan ben Yochanan there was no evil thought. Rabbi Yochanan says in Bava Batra 91b, that there was no evil thought, there were no thoughts at all. As long as the Holy Temple stood, they were in the aspect of "Our sons are like plants grown in their youth," they were like trees, like stones, there were no thoughts, there were no thoughts about such things at all, they did not know it existed at all.