Rav Berland gave over this shiur on the hilulah of Rebbe Nachman this year, 2024.

I got overloaded with projects, so my husband kindly agreed to translate it – his style is a little different from mine, but he’s sticking to the text.

After the Rav’s shiur, I’m also sticking up her English translations of the Chessed L’Avraham, that are related to what the Rav is saying here.

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I can’t make the point often enough, that ‘bloggers’ and ‘influencers’ have driven everyone crazy with their uninformed speculations and personal agendas.

Even when they are 100% sincere.

That’s why I am mostly just ignoring all the ‘noise’ online, and trying to stick to bringing you words from the Rav, translations of solid Jewish sources, and more background ‘historical’ information that I’m researching myself, usually based on the Rav’s hints.

No-one knows what happens next, except our very biggest Tzaddikim.

And they either aren’t saying anything – or are speaking in terms of hints and allusions, that require a huge amount of effort and siyatta dishmeya to even start to unravel.

And with that intro, here is the Rav’s shiur on ‘the secret’ of living in Eretz Yisrael, during the time of the coming of the Moshiach.

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Jerusalem is in the [spiritual] world of Yetzirah¹.

When a person lives in Jerusalem, he’s in the world of Yetzirah, in the world of Yetzirah. I was in Dizengoff at the Police Station. I went there with someone, a ba’al teshuva, to protect him. There was some woman there, so the policeman asked her, why don’t you come and live in Dizengoff? You live in a pit…

She said, I’d live in a pit under the ground if it was in Jerusalem, only in Jerusalem.

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The Rabbanit travelled with someone in a taxi.

One of them was going to Beit Shemesh. She said, now [in Beit Shemesh] I have a house with four rooms, five rooms. Here [in Jerusalem] I had an apartment in Beit Yisrael, under ground, with two rooms.

So, then he says to her, the secular taxi driver says to her, ‘they threw you out of Jerusalem, they threw you out…!’

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People come to live in Jerusalem, even in pits.

When Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld came, he didn’t know anyone.

He came to Jerusalem, he slept in the street. He didn’t know anything. He arrived with ten children and slept in the street. He put some blanket down on the street. Rain fell. Suddenly, someone who knew him saw him, ‘that’s Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld, what’s going on? Come, come into my house’.

At that time there was still no Jerusalem so to speak [outside the Old City walls]. There was only sheltered housing.

There was only the Old City. He came in 5634. He died in 5696.

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… So, now let’s return to our topic.

Our topic is speaking about the fact that Jerusalem, the Holy City, is the holiest place in the world.

He [Rabbi Yisrael Ber Odessa, the Saba Israel] said, if I would have come to Jerusalem, they [his sons] would have been Charedim.

He would come to Jerusalem and sleep here on the benches, in order to be with ‘our people’ [i.e. the Breslov community of Jerusalem], but he left his sons in Tiberias.

So, they all came out secular.

In the end, they made teshuva, they became a bit ‘mizrahi’. His daughter, her husband was a diplomat, he was the Consul in Greece, the Israeli Ambassador. We wanted his passport for Uman. And everything… there’s endless stories. We need to live another hundred years to tell all the stories.

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And now, soon, we’ll be ninety years old. Ninety years in Breslov. We knew all elders without exception.

The main thing is to know that Rabbi Levi Yitzchak was the true ‘continuation’. He was the true continuation.

When he showed that Breslov is what the Rebbi said, that through Torah all the prayers and requests are accepted.

Why was your prayer not accepted? Because you don’t learn Gemara. The Rebbi said in Lesson 3 [Likutei Moharan], only Gemara, Gemara – Shas. There are six sections of the Mishna, which come to rectify the six ‘rings’ of the windpipe.

A person needs to know that the first thing is to learn eight hours of Gemara.

Without this, he hasn’t started. He also hasn’t started to be Breslov. Eight hours of Gemara.

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Now, it’s the Yartzheit of Rabbenu. Everyone needs to take upon himself to complete Shas and the Rambam before the end of next year, before the next Yartzheit, which is the greatest day.

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FOOTNOTE:

1. The highest of the four spiritual worlds.

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The above is the excerpt of the Rav’s shiur.

Now, let’s bring the Chessed L’Avraham that the Rav frequently refers to, in many different shiurim.

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Chessed L’Avraham – Mayan 3, Nahar, 22 [13]

The secret of the one who lives in the land of Israel, during the coming of the Mashiach.

Know, that it is an accepted tradition in our hands, that on the day that King Mashiach will come with the ingathering of the exiles to the Land of Israel, there will be found in the Land 7000 of the children of Israel.

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On this same day, the dead of the Land of Israel shall be restored to life.

On that same day also, the walls of Jerusalem shall be removed, and rebuilt from precious stones and pearls. Then, at the time, the dead of the Land of Israel shall be restored to life, they shall be new spiritual creations. Also, the 7000 who shall be left alive at that time, they too shall be new creations, all of them with spiritual bodies, similar to the body of Adam prior to his sin, and the body of Chanoch, Moshe Rabeinu and Eliyahu.

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They shall all float in the air, soaring like eagles.

This shall be seen by all the people ingathered from the exile. When these, their brothers, are made a new creation, soaring through the air, going to dwell in the (lower) Gan Eden to learn Torah from the Mouth of the Holy One, Blessed be He, then all together the children of the ingathered exiles, with worry in their hearts and anguish in their souls cry out to King Mashiach.

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They ask, we also are the nation of the Children of Israel, like them. Why have they merited to be spiritual beings in body and soul, and not us? Why are we less?

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The Mashiach shall answer them saying,

“The character of the Holy One, Blessed be He is already known and recognised, He gives to each one ‘measure for measure’.

These ones also dwelled outside of the Land, and after great effort they succeeded to come to the Land of Israel, in order to merit a purified soul. They cared not for their physical or material well-being.

They came by sea and by land and were not dissuaded by the dangers of the sea or of being robbed along their journey. They suffered under cruel regimes, all for sake of the essence of their spirit and soul. Therefore, have they become complete spiritual beings, measure for measure.

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“However, all of you, who had the ability to come to the Land of Israel, as they did, and were discouraged over concern for your finances –

You were worried about your physical safety and your money. These things, you made to be the principal things in your lives, and your spirit and soul you made secondary. Therefore. have you remained physical beings.”

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And, for the love of your money which you loved, behold Hashem Yitbarach gives you money without limit.

All the silver, gold and precious stones and pearls that were sunk in the sea all of these years, the sea was sworn to give them out on the Sea of Yafo within three days of them being sunk, and all that which was submerged since the six days of creation until the days of King Solomon, when it was all ejected from the Sea of Yafo onto dry land, and from this Solomon was enriched.

And that which was submerged from the time of Solomon until the ingathering of the exiles, all of it is destined to be ejected from the Sea of Yafo to dry land.

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And Moshiach will share out to each and every tzadik his portion.

As it’s said: “for they draw from the riches of the sea” (Devarim 33:19). And also all the treasures that are hidden under the ground, in the future, the ground will make tunnels and tunnels to roll-along and bring all the treasure of kings, and it will bring them to Eretz Yisrael, like it says: “…and the hidden hoards of the sand” (Devarim 33:19).

And all of this will be revealed in Eretz Yisrael to the King Moshiach.

And he will share them out to the people of the ingathering of the exiles, each one his portion, and he will satiate with lots of money all those who were particular over their money and their bodies, but they will remain physical beings who are satiated with money.

And those who were not concerned for their bodies and their money but only for their spirituality, Hashem will make them new creations and lead them to the Lower Gan Eden, as mentioned.

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Ad kan, from the first passage of the Chessed L’Avraham.

And now, let me ask you, doesn’t this seem eminently fair?

We know there is ‘reward and punishment’ for every deed in the world, and we know that a person can be a very good Jew outside of Eretz Yisrael – and for sure, they will be rewarded for that greatly, as stated above. They will be loaded down with riches.

At the same time, we also know that moving to Eretz Yisrael requires enormous self-sacrifice, especially materialistically and culturally and personally, for new olim.

So those people will also be ‘rewarded’ in kind, with the type of reward that really speaks to them.

Not money and more materialism, but by achieving a totally level of ‘spirituality’.

This is totally fair, and seems to satisfy all parts of the equation of ‘reward and punishment’.

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OK, so now, let’s bring the second excerpt from the Chessed L’Avraham, which describes the zchut of living in Eretz Yisrael.

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Maayan 3, Nahar 12, Chesed L’Avraham

Explaining the difference between those Jewish souls that dwell in the land of Israel and those who dwell outside of the Holy Land.

Know then that the Jewish (Neshamot) souls that dwell in the Land of Israel come forth from the ten sefirot of [the realm of] Yetzirah.

[Thus, these souls] are called the “House of Israel”. They are also called “children”.

For when a Jewish person dwells outside the Holy Land then [all he/she] has is a (nefesh) soul from the [level of] the Ofanim (angels).

When one merits to enter the Land of Israel there comes upon him/her a new (nefesh level) soul from Yetzirah and cloaks itself within his older (nefesh) soul.

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The first night that one sleeps in the Land of Israel both souls leave [the body] and ascend above [to visit the Heavenly realms during the allotted sleep time].

Upon returning only the new soul returns. Therefore, such a person is not fit to receive any punishments [for any sins committed outside of the Holy Land], for this, the new soul [which now inhabits the body] is not the one who sinned.

Thus, our blessed Rabbis have taught (Ketubot 111A) that such a one (i.e., one that lives in the holy Land) is forgiven all his sins.

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[Thus] every Jewish person who lives in the Land of Israel is called a tzaddik (righteous person), even if to all appearances one is not such.

For if the person was not a tzaddik the Land [itself] would vomit out such a person, as it is written, “And the land shall vomit out those who dwell upon her” (Lev. 18:25). Being that the Land does not vomit out such a person, we must accept that he/she is a tzaddik (righteous person) even if the person is considered a rasha (criminal person).

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Also, know that for one to live in the Land of Israel and then go to live outside the land is considered a sin.

In addition, this sin causes the angelic prince [of whatever land one goes to] to have dominance over him/her. The one who takes upon him/herself to live all their days in the Land of Israel and not to leave to go outside the land is considered to have proclaimed the unity of the Holy One, blessed be He, all of one’s days.

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In addition, know that the Land of Israel only atones for those sins that were performed by accident (without knowledge or intent).

Yet, those sins performed intentionally (where one knows that what is being done is in violation of Torah law), these are not forgiven other than by personal sufferings.

For those [in the Holy Land] who perform intentional sins in a spirit of arrogance, these have no forgiveness other than through repentance and the study of Torah.

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Ad kan, for the second Chessed L’Avraham.

The second one is more challenging for me, to be honest.

We see so many yucky people ‘ruling’ in Eretz Yisrael, it’s incredible to me that the land hasn’t ‘vomited them out’ a long time ago.

I guess God has a lot more patience than I do.

And that clearly, the story hasn’t concluded yet.

I know a whole bunch of people have left Israel the last year, post-October 7.

Nearly all ‘chilonim’.

It’s hard to live here without seeing God in the picture, mamash.

But that is the point of all this suffering….

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UPDATE:

A couple of the readers pointed out the error in the footnote.

Here is what one sent me, via email:

I just wanted to point out that in the footnote, Yetzirah is not the highest of the Spiritual Worlds, but 3rd (Atzilut, Beriyah, Yetzirah and Assiyah).

The source for this quote from R’ Berland is Shaarei Kedusha where R’ Chaim Vital teaches that the Land of Yisrael has one less covering to Hashem, as opposed to Chul, which is rooted in Assiyah (the lowest).

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I am very aware that there is a lot I don’t know, and I’m not pretending to be a Torah scholar, so I am very grateful for all the corrections and amendments.

Keep them coming!