Well-known outreach rabbi Rav Yisrael Sharet shlit”a, who came to the occasion of the release of the Rav, with fiery words about the greatness of our Rebbe, the Tzaddik Rav Eliezer Berland shlit”a.
The interviewer from the Breslov Information Line (02-587-5777) opens by introducing Rav Sharet shlit”a: “We met the well-known outreach rabbi Rav Yisrael Sharet. We were happy to see you with the thousands at the prayer with our Rebbe Rav Berland.”
Kiddish Hashem (sanctification of G-d’s name) with the release of Rav Berland shlit”a
Rav Yisrael Sharet: “Baruch Hashem, this also made us happy to see everyone. Everyone got together and came to see. How many Jews came! Baruch Hashem, it’s impossible to fool the Jewish people. The Jewish people know who is a Tzaddik. It doesn’t need to know from the media who is a Tzaddik and who isn’t. The Jewish people don’t need to know from the media who is the prince of Torah! Who is the great sage of the generation. The Jewish people know!
“Baruch Hashem, this was a great, awesome, and vast Kiddush Hashem. After many thought that that’s it – who knows if this will ever come back? There were those who thought about this with longing, and there are those who thought with [particular] goals, G-d help us. However, G-d showed who really controls everything. Yonah the prophet said, ‘I said in my panic, I am cut off.’ Yonah the prophet in the depths of the sea thought that that’s it – it’s over; but, ‘from the depths of the abyss I turned [to G-d], You heard my voice.’ G-d hears and answers.
“This is an awesome Kiddush Hashem that happened here, that the holy community of Rav Berland went, not with might, not with power, but with ‘My spirit, said Hashem Master of Legions.’ G-d showed to the people and the world that in order to win, one doesn’t need any war, argument, or mudslinging. At a time when others were involved in evil speech, in slander, in libels, and fabrications, the holy community sat and learned such-and-such pages of Gemara a day, such-and-such pages of Rambam a day, focused prayers, chapters of Tehilim without end, Tikkun Haklalli without end.
“The prayers, the Torah stood and rescued, and did what through natural means people would think couldn’t be. G-d showed: Hashem reigns, Hashem reigned, Hashem reigns forever and ever. We have an opportunity now to take this holy emunah (faith) which burns in front of the eyes, and to penetrate it into the heart for an entire lifetime.”
The occasion of the release was like Mount Sinai
The interviewer: “Did you believe that you would see so many people come to pray with the Rav?”
Rav Sharet: “Certainly, certainly. It was obvious that it would be like this. It’s a pleasure to see that [people] see it otherwise, but it was clear that it would be like this, to see people on the rooftops. People standing, and everyone, great and small – and what prayer! Almost nullification of [free[ choice! Everyone roaring as one man with one heart – there is no other besides Him. What a ‘Shema Yisrael,’ what a ‘do not stray,’ what a Kaddish – Vayitnasei (He shall be exulted)… The entire world is silent and hears like on the occasion of Sinai. What ‘Amen’s’! The recordings don’t at all misrepresent what really was; he who was [there] merited!
“’And all of this is faith and enduring upon us, because he is Hashem our G-d and there is no other besides Him’ [from the Maariv prayer]. There is no other besides Him – not slanderers, not arrests, not lawyers – there is no other besides Him. He controls everything and His Kingdom rules over everything.”
Hashem gave me the merit to draw close to the great Tzaddik Rav Berland
Interviewer: “How did you merit to get close to Rav Berland?”
Rav Sharet: “This is G-d’s kindness. This is a merit for any Jew who doesn’t deny the truth; it’s a free gift. G-d saw that Tzaddikim are few. He ‘stood up’ and planted them in every generation. The role of Israel is for themselves to be Tzaddikim, also to draw close to Tzaddikim. Every Jew needs to make the effort…to draw close to those Tzaddikim who will guide him on the path which Hashem brought him into the world for.
“Like we see in Likutey Tefilot, how much Rabbi Natan extends himself in his prayers in order to merit to achieve closeness to Hashem, that the Tzaddikim will draw him near and not distance him, and will guide him on the straight path. The Rambam writes in Hilchot Teshuva that the prayer of all the Tzaddikim…is about this.
“Today, people go about in the world…, and it’s clear to them what is the way and they know also what isn’t the way and that it’s mistaken. They prayed to Hashem not to err…to walk in the truth of Hashem. G-d gave me the merit to know Rav Berland. One needs to see the wonder – that any other Tzaddik who would go through a third or a tenth of what the Rav went through, the world would be in an uproar and rage, and here [with the Rav], it’s as if people forget that there’s [the book] Chafetz Chaim in the world, forgot that there’s laws [of evil speech] in the world.
“Because someone spoke his heart’s musings, everyone believes [it], and in so doing they lose the great loss of drawing close to great Tzaddikim who are planted in this generation, especially on the levels which Rav Berland is found on, the understanding of his Avodat Hashem.”
My father told me that decades ago he foresaw that Rav Berland would be one of the greats of the generation
“My father knew Rav Berland shlit”a already during the period that the Rav was in Bnei Brak. He told me after he heard what I had said in the past: ‘I followed after Rav Berland then when he was still young; I saw prayers and Torah learning which I have never seen before. Rav Berland would give a shiur for six hours, and it made no difference to him if [people] came in or left, [if they were] sleeping or awake. He teaches Torah to His people Israel. Already then I said that he would be one of the greats of the generation.
“This is something which is seen with one’s senses. Anyone who wants to see service to Hashem can come and see — does one have to live off of rumors? One doesn’t have to be identified with Breslov in order to know who Rav Berland is. This isn’t a Tzaddik who was only given to Shuvu Banim. This is a Tzaddik who was given to the entire generation. The generation only needs to merit to absorb his light and not to alienate itself from him.
About this, everyone who seeks the truth needs to pray, even those who are against [the Rav]. They need to know that they are also Jews who came to the world in order to do the will of our Father in Heaven, and without praying to Hashem to make one’s will like His will, they will remain distant from this. They need to pray to Hashem to merit the true truth. They need to beg Hashem for this, and to cry with tears, especially after having aggrieved the Tzaddik who is the foundation of the world and his students.
“Who knows how many tears they need to spill in order to merit that Hashem will have mercy on them and will show them the truth, but His mercy is without limitation. They need to rely on His mercy and so to beg, because anyone who seeks the truth can’t live off of rumors and ‘news lines’! You don’t know? [Then] don’t talk! You want to know? Then come see.”
Rav Berland’s students are testimony to his greatness
“It’s enough to see the honorability of the Torah scholars who are amongst the students of Rav Berland, that despite all the signatures against them, they didn’t write a single derogatory letter in response. I saw a page in which they put out a pained cry about the signatures, but everything was in a respectful manner to those who signed. Where is there anything like this? If not by people who live only according to the Torah and serving Hashem, that they respond, in spite of all the raging emotions, knowing to restrain and confine their speech and writing – this is only by people who serve Hashem with faith!
“Another thing: it’s enough to see. [As people say:] ‘Tell me who your friend is, and I’ll tell you who you are.’ How do the Sages say it: If we haven’t seen the lion, we have seen the place where it lies down. If we can’t know the greatness of the Rav, it’s enough to see his students! At a time when his antagonists are joining up with wicked people who cause Israel to sin – the entire media and its offshoots… you tell who is your friend, I will tell you who you are – at [the same] time, the students of Rav Berland are connecting to Tzaddikim, going to Rav Kook, to Rav Golan from Alma.”
The opposition are drawing close to evil and the students of Rav Berland to holiness
“The opposition are going to wicked people, and the students of Rav Berland are going to Tzaddikim. The opposition are involved in mudslinging and slanders, and the students of the Rav are involved in Torah and prayer. These are saying things which are the opposite of holiness and faith – as quotations, so to speak, [while] these are involved with greater strength in words of faith and holiness, and in accepting [on themselves greater] modesty, as, behold, Rav Berland put out two letters on the subject of modesty.
“It’s enough to see the product of these and these in order to know who stands by them at the top. The opposition who are going on the way of sin, their head is the Sitra Achra [the forces of evil]. The students of the Rav walk with Hashem at any price, in every step and pace, everything is with greater devotion and greater faith — this shows that who is at their head is Hashem, who plants Tzaddikim in every generation.”
Interviewer: “The vision that Rav Sharet has is straight and true. If only everyone would see things as such. In any case, there is so much mudslinging against Rav Berland. Falsifying another case and another…?”
Rav Sharet: “Behold, if there was a tiny bit of true evidence, then the last ones to let him free would be the judges!”
Interviewer: “Really that’s how it is. We also see their great hypocrisy. Since yesterday until now, all the communications mediums haven’t stopped talking: How could they have freed him… eating up the heart. They told us such stories that he’s such and such, and suddenly they free him so fast.
“Mamash ‘Nahafochu’ (overturned) like the Rav sang.
Rav Sharet: “So will be the complete redemption, speedily in our days. That they think: when will it be over, and how much further is it possible to descend? Suddenly everything turns over in a single moment… On the contrary, it shows that the release of Rav Berland needs to show us exactly how the redemption will be. ‘In a small moment I abandoned you, and with great mercy I will gather you.’
“Also in Jerusalem during the destruction it was like that… in one moment all the evil will be destroyed and the good of G-d will be revealed in His world. In one moment everything can turn over. Unfortunate is the person whom Mashiach finds speaking [evil] about Tzaddikim. He’ll find him listening to problematic [information] lines. This is your preparation for our righteous Mashiach? You have the obligation to learn Torah!”
Is it worthwhile for a person to lose everything for a word about the Tzaddik?
“The Kamarna [Rebbe] says in Heichal HaBracha… anyone who disgraces Torah scholars, even if he is sitting in the company of friends and they are speaking [badly about the Tzaddik] and he is happy…, I guarantee him that he won’t see the comforting of Zion. Is it worth it for a person to lose all his life’s toil in order to speak words? Behold, in every generation they spoke about Tzaddikim. This isn’t something new.
“They didn’t speak about Avraham Avinu? So they for no reason threw him into a fiery furnace? Avraham Avinu was also in prison. There is a dispute in the Gemara. Altogether, he was in prison for 23 years. About Yitzchak they spoke, expelled him from Gerar. Afterwards, they came to pacify him. Rav Mordechai Eliyahu zt”l said that every leader needs to learn from what Yitzchak answered them. Yitzchak didn’t say to them, ‘Yes, you are right.’ Rather, Yitzchak said to them, ‘Why did you come to me, and you hated me and sent me away from you.’ Rather, you want to extort from me a blessing, because when Yitzchak left, the wells ceased to give forth water.
“Yitzchak said to them: You want me to come back because of your water, not because you understand what I was for you…
“About Yaakov they also spoke… The sons of Lavan were speaking. The holy Torah could have written about the holy forefathers much more…, only that it came to relate lessons for the generations. Learn for all generations: people can talk about Tzaddikim, could sell a Tzaddik like with the sale of Yosef – and even rabbis signed! Are there greater rabbis than the holy tribes [Yosef’s brothers]? And even so the Jewish people paid a high price for the sale of Yosef!
“Even if they are the biggest rabbis in the world, prophets, then why does the Torah relate this? The Torah could have hidden it, and no one would have known about the sale of Yosef. The Torah relates this so that we should know that in every generation there could be something like this! And you will know where the truth is and not become confused.
“Yaakov knew very well who was Yosef. He didn’t mourn for him for 22 years for no reason. The holy tribes, until the sale, didn’t know who was Yosef. They can talk… but Yosef is Yosef. The Divine Presence was with Yosef. The holy Zohar writes that Yosef descended to Egypt in order to be a vehicle for the Divine Presence, to prepare together with the Divine Presence the ground for the Jewish people so that when they would come to Egypt, they would be saved from slavery.
“About Moshe Rabbeinu they spoke: ‘And they gazed after Moshe.’ They wanted to kill Moshe when he descended from Hor HaHar without Aharon…. They suspected Moshe of murder, wanted to kill him.
Are you sane? Behold, the Midrash in Shir HaShirim expounds the verse, ‘Who will make you like a brother to me’ – like which brother? Like Moshe and Aharon. This is an example of true brothers. The Jewish people see their brotherhood over forty years, and they still suspected that Moshe killed him.
“The Torah teaches us that the evil inclination has no borders. It can invent anything. A covenant is forged with evil speech that it will be believed, but our work is not to believe it. We need to learn that just as there, Moshe remained Moshe, and those who disputed him until today scream: ‘Moshe and his Torah are true, and [we] are the liars,’ you should be with the portion of Moshe and not with the other one.”
The controversy about the true Tzaddik happens in every generation
“There was a big rabbi who disputed the holy Ari. The Ari z”l said to him: ‘Are you still mocking and disputing me? If I wanted, the earth would swallow you up.’ Rav Chayim Vital asked him to explain the matter. He answered: ‘Know, that I am the soul of Moshe Rabbeinu and that rabbi is the soul of Korach who was brought back into the world in order to try and rectify his dispute with Moshe. Therefore, I said to him, “Are you still disputing me?”’ This shows that these things return on themselves.
“Rabbi Natan writes in Likutey Halachot, Choshen Mishpat, Halachot Gezila: I heard from Rebbe Nachman that this is a great evil urge. He is speaking about pressing the hour. How many people, regarding one thing which appears to them important, permit everything and come through this to much destruction, especially when through this they come to controversy.
“Rabbi Natan writes something terrifying: that persecution, controversy, and anger never reach rectification. If you want to rectify, there are others things… Baruch Hashem, Who put our portion with the Tzaddikim, as our Sages established for us to pray for this three times a day ‘place our portion with them,’ with those who trust in Him in truth.
“How can a person know? Baruch Hashem Who put in our generation many Tzaddikim who are on a high spiritual level, and some who have Divine inspiration, and all of them hold of Rav Berland worlds!
If you are discussing evidence — there is no evidence. However, if you want to know in truth, you have those who see from above – they don’t need evidence from here. If there was no concept of false testimony, then you wouldn’t need all the laws of testimony. Behold, there is in the world false testimony, bribery, evil speech, slander… Those who have Divine inspiration come, who Hashem graced our generation with, and testify that Rav Berland is innocent and a Tzaddik.
“Hashem should illuminate his days with good, his years with pleasantness, and rescue him from all his persecutors and denouncers, and give him higher, higher merit in Torah and greatness in one place. And likewise, to draw many fitting students to the entire world…
“And may we merit to see soon the building of the Holy Temple, and the coming of our righteous Mashiach, with great mercy, with miracles and wonders… Amen, may it be His will.”
