“The Jewish people are in a situation of a holocaust, and the ones who can save the Jewish people are only Shuvu Banim, only the girls of Shuvu Banim. They go in the highest level of modesty, the highest level of holiness, the highest level of purity, and only they can. The girls cause all the tragedies, and the redemption will only be through the girls” — It’s impossible to remain indifferent when hearing the harsh words of our Rebbe Rav Eliezer Berland shlit”a.
On the evening of 27 Tishrei 5784, Rav Berland shlit”a screamed with all his heart about the situation of the Jewish people. The Rav feels the pain of the suffering and the victims of the events of 5784 in the Simchat Torah massacre and gives the solution which will save the Jewish people.
[Translator’s note: Although the Rav uses the word “ben (boy)” and “bat (girl),” it is apparent from the context that the Rav intends also grown men and women, however, for brevity’s sake we have left it in its original literal translation.]
These are his holy words:
In the year 5742/1982, 600 young Hesder-niks [young religious men in a program which combines yeshiva learning with army service] — all young religious men — were killed by friendly fire, young yeshiva students. It was all because of some girl who lifted up her dress, and her knee was seen. Because the moment that a girl’s knee is seen, her entire body is seen. It already does not make a difference — at that moment, an entire battalion is killed.
600 young men were killed. This is all because of the girls who shorten their dresses, even one centimeter. The moment that they enter Gaza, then a thousand men are killed just from friendly fire, an entire company is killed, all of them killed from friendly fire. Already no distinction is made between terrorists and non-terrorists; everyone shoots in all directions. Everything is because of the girls who lift up their dress a little bit, shorten them, lift up their sleeve.
A see-through garment causes a complete regiment to immediately be killed, all of them killed from friendly fire, not from the Arabs. Now also, several were killed from friendly fire; soldiers accidently fired on other soldiers. The girls cause all the tragedies, and the redemption will only be through the girls. Rabbeinu brings that the redemption will only be through the girls who are strict about modesty. The knee that is here is the knee of the serpent; this is the skin of the serpent. “And Hashem God made for Adam and his wife garments of skin and dressed them” (Bereishit 3:21). “Garments of skin” are the skin of the serpent. The serpent shed its skin. The serpent had hands and legs. The serpent was more clever than all the beasts of the field; it was more clever than everyone. It merited to the highest level of wisdoms, all 50 Gates of Understanding were revealed to it.
“And the Children of Israel were armed (ChaMuShiM) [when they] ascended from the land of Egypt” (Shemot 13:18), for Miriam the prophetess had all 50 (ChaMiShiM) Gates of Understanding revealed to her. Miriam lives forever; all the waters in the world are Miriam. Now there is no water in supermarkets. Water cannot be found, because all the water supplies are needed for the army. They asked people to fill their bottles from the faucet, but the water in the faucets are poisoned. People are going crazy because there is no water. This is all because of the girls who do not go in modesty, shorten their skirts, lift up their sleeves, do not button all the buttons until the neck. They cause that the water is finished. They bring the most terrible tragedies to the Jewish people.
All the work is to cover and conceal the body. The girls make the body stand out instead of covering it, doing the exact opposite. They cause all the terrible tragedies, that there were there a thousand babies, children, young women, young men — cut them into tiny pieces. They said to the mothers to hold the children and fired on them together with the mothers. Terrible sights. There are people who do not stop crying, who cannot recover at all. This is all because of the girls who suddenly open up a button. Because of this, an entire battalion is killed. The girls are guilty of everything.
On the other hand, if the girl goes with modesty, she merits to defeat all the adversaries. “And he shall pierce the nobles (PaATeY) of Moab and undermine the children of Seth” (Bamidbar 24:17). This is the greatest blessing, to destroy the nobles of Moav. The Gaon says that if a person goes with Peot, then he pierces the nobles (PaATeY) of Moav. This is dependent on the modesty of the girls, and that the boys do not cut off the Peot. A child cuts off the Peot — at that moment, the enemy enters. The Peot shield us, through [the verse] “pierce the nobles of Moab” — from Moab, Amon, Edom.
A girl goes without modesty, travels to a party on the Chag. True, she does it for simcha (joy), for Heaven’s sake. She traveled to a nature party in the forest of Re’im — this is a very great thing. She wanted to feel the simchah of the Chag, but Hamas kidnapped her and 130 girls and young women. All of them are captives. We do not know what they are doing with them. All because in one moment they lift up the dress or go with pants, and bring tragedy to all the Jewish people. “There shall not be a man’s garment on a woman, nor shall a man wear a woman’s dress” (Devarim 22:5) — these are the most serious prohibitions.
All evil thoughts are only relevant to the serpent. This is not relevant to us. Every girl needs to know that every thought that they have comes from the serpent. This does not come from her nature. This is not senses; this is demons. Everything comes from the body of the serpent. They do not listen to the good inclination, to the inner soul within them, to the Godly soul; rather only to what the serpent tells them. It is written that the father of Avraham Sternhartz saw his son look at the bride at a Sheva Brachot, so he gave him a slap. In Breslov, they knew that you do not look at the bride — you do not blemish the eyes.
The moment that a person turns his wife into a source of his desires, then blemished children are born to him. They cut off the Peot, become secular, do not want to keep Shabbat, travel to a party in the middle of the Chag. They slaughtered everyone, and there was no response. Three months beforehand, they took the weapons from everyone, because it is forbidden to harm Arabs. And so 1,500 Hamas-niks entered and slaughtered everyone — the parents, the children. Not a single mother remained alive, and whoever remained, they took her captive. All of this is because some girl uncovered her knee, lifted up her dress. She did not know that the moment that they see her knee, they see her entire body. It makes no difference — this is the greatest sin, “So that He will not see a naked thing [ervat davar] among you and turn away from behind you” (Devarim 23:15).
Everyone is asking questions: Why did children and mothers die, such tzadikim, holy and pure ones, and ascend in a whirlwind to the heavens? But this is an explicit verse. The Torah is impossible to change — “So that He will not see a naked thing among you and turn away from behind you.” If a young woman goes about with pants, or exposes her knee, then from Heaven, they say, “Get by alone; in any case, you don’t believe in Hashem.” They bring professionals — rabbis, psychologists, the biggest in the world, but what do they want? There is an explicit verse, “So that He will not see a naked thing among you and turn away from behind you.” All of them walk around exposed. Then what do you want? That Hashem will shield rebellious sinners? The wicked? Today there already is no kosher woman. All of them lift up their dresses, all of them expose their bodies. In all the kibbutzim, they go about exposed. They educate them to perform transgressions. Then what do you want? Why do you ask questions?
This is what all the girls of Shuvu Banim need to know, that everything is dependent on them. The whole redemption is dependent on them. All the Jewish people are dependent on them, because there already is no one to speak to today. Rabbeinu says in Sichot HaRan already 200 years ago, that there is no one to speak to. People do not absorb, people do not understand. What remains in the world is only Shuvu Banim; this is the lone refuge, this is last nature reserve that remains on the entire planet earth. Outside of this, there is no one to talk to. All the girls are immodest like in Charan. There no girl was kosher. All were abominable, free, rebellious sinners — this is what is happening today.
Eliezer says to Avraham, “Where are you sending me? What, take the daughter of Saddam Hussein? What do you want from me? I have an exceptional daughter who was born and grew up in the shadow of your Torah, and you tell me to go to Betu’el?” Rashi says that Betu’el performed all the greatest abominations in the world, and his daughter Rivka is three years old, and needs to be freed.
Today, the Land of Israel is the most filthy land in the world. Bibi [Netanyahu, the Prime Minister] gave a whole lecture, and people did not understand his lecture. He spoke to Breslovers and said, “You are travelling to Uman; know, that there are missiles there, there is a war there, everyone will be killed there.” Women Knesset members from the Religious Nationalists spoke: “How can we allow travelling to the most dangerous place in the world? A million missiles fly there everyday. No one will return alive from there. How will we defend them? How do we at all allow them to leave Israel?” The whole Knesset and media was in outrage: How do we allow such reckless people to leave? This is “You shall guard your souls.” This is against Halachah, against the Shulchan Aruch.
All in all, he needed to say, during the Holocaust, there were no miracles; in Ukraine, there were no miracles and a million and a half Jews died there. Also now, there will not be miracles for you Breslovers. He, all in all, had mercy on the Breslovers. He had a daughter from a previous marriage who is a Chasidah Breslov, and also a grandson. Hashem showed to Bibi the exact opposite. Everything is the exact opposite. The most dangerous place is here in the Land of Israel. A mother with two daughters from the Dee family was murdered on the Jordan Valley Road. Every day, Jews are killed here, and now within two hours a thousand Jews were killed. Rav Shach said that it is forbidden to live here.. During the Yom Kippur War, Rav Shach poskened to immediately leave Israel. He said, “Whoever can flee should flee.” They absorbed that now they were going to annihilate all the Jewish people, to exterminate the Jewish people. The terrorists could have reached Tel Aviv, could have eliminated the entire Jewish people in one second — there’s no army, there’s nothing, because the secular are running the country. There are no soldiers; they took from the soldiers their weapons, so that, chas v’shalom, someone would not harm a poor Arab.
Everything is the exact opposite [of what it should be]. It is impossible to reveal. This is a failure. This is a holocaust — the Jewish people are in a situation of a holocaust, and only Shuvu Banim can save the Jewish people. Only the girls of Shuvu Banim. They go with the highest level of modesty, the highest level of holiness, the highest level of purity — only they can. Therefore, everyone needs to accept onto themselves to say the book of Tehilim, because now they want to enter Gaza. They are afraid; therefore, they are putting this off. They are afraid that a thousand soldiers will die. They die from friendly fire. When they go in, they don’t distinguish between who is a terrorist and who is a soldier. They shoot at each other. A thousand soldiers can die just from friendly fire. Already four days of war [at the time of the shiur], and they still have not entered Gaza. It is mortal fear to enter Gaza — who knows who will live and who will die.
Now there was Yom Kippur. We said, “Who shall live and who shall die.” People did not fast on Yom Kippur. Whoever fasted on Yom Kippur received a severe beating, whoever prayed on Yom Kippur. They cancelled the Hakafot Shniyot in Tel Aviv. Hakafot Shniyot are what save the Jewish people. They do everything the exact opposite. The secular want to uproot the whole Torah, the whole religion. So they received the response now — 12 days after Yom Kippur, Hashem answered them.
Now the entire rescue of this generation is only through Shuvu Banim. Only they guard the holiness and purity, and everything is dependent on them. Every girl should accept upon herself to say the book of Tehilim every day over a course of thirty days. And every boy three books of Tehilim and ten folio pages of Gemara every day until the end of the war.
