Shavua Tov!

The Rav gave over some awesome shiurim the last week, which BH, I hope to translate mostly in their entirety. This is the first installment, which begins with a complicated and hard to understand kabbalistic exposition, but then gets much easier to follow, so stick with it. The Rav is explaining a lot about what is currently going on spiritually, and how we get geula when we make teshuva.

And really, only when we make teshuva.

I know that’s not a popular idea in some quarters, but that is how Hashem is choosing to run His world, and Rebbe Nachman and the Rav continually stress this, that Jews have to make teshuva.

I hope to translate more over the rest of the week, BH.

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Two recent shiurim from Rav Berland, in conversation with Rav Shmuel Stern – March 2026.

Here, Rav Natan explains that if a person is ready, Moshiach will come immediately, before the time, and this is a great light – Leah.[1]

It’s forbidden to be ‘ready’ for Leah, because Leah – this is Moshiach ben David. [It’s forbidden] for Moshiach ben David to come before the time, [because he can only come] in shlemut – with completeness.

[But] the keitz (end of time) still hasn’t arrived, we are still before the time. If Moshiach came today – it would be before the time.

[People] still need to do teshuva beforehand, it’s impossible [for Moshiach to come today]. Beforehand, they need to keep Shabbat. So [Moshiach] needs to be hidden and made to disappear – it’s such a great light, this needs to be hidden.

This is from the aspect of Leah, because if [Moshiach ben David] comes before the time, so then the dinim (harsh judgements) grasp on to it, and then [there are calamities.]

Leah just cried all day, that she shouldn’t fall into ‘externalities’[2]. All the geula, that Moshiach should come at the right time, until Moshiach ben David should come, who descends from her.

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[If people make teshuva] completely, then he will come before the time.

But if they are still not making teshuva, [it’s preferable that Moshiach doesn’t come yet, because] more neshamot (souls) need to come down (and if Moshiach comes before the time, they won’t have a tikkun.)

Moshiach ben David, who is concealed slowly, slowly, the opposite – he is contained within Rachel. When Leah ‘enters’, the bottom half of Leah enters the top half of Rachel, Moshiach ben David disappears, only Moshiach ben Yosef can be revealed.

All the tzaddikim, they are Moshiach ben Yosef, who descends from Rachel. He is only in Rachel, but not in Leah. Leah is only within the charoset, David HaMelech, who will come along with the King Moshiach, even Pesach, everything is from the last keitz.[3]

It’s forbidden to bring forward the last keitz before its time.

Leah is such a great light, that if it comes before it’s time [it’s not good].

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Greatness before smallness…

Smallness then greatness, according to the order of things. Because the first wine [that a person drinks on Seder night] this is the ‘greatness of Ima’, and the matzah is the ‘greatness of Abba’.

And the smallness, this is the maror (bitter herbs), Korech. Katanut Alef, Katanut Bet, Gadlut Bet. Katanut Alef, Katanut Bet, after this, Gadlut Bet.

He says that the mochin comes down, to enter – Zeir Anpin. Only a single mochin de’katnut remains, because the karpas is the first katnut. Maror Korech (Korech sandwich, of Seder night), this is the second katnut of Zeir Anpin – the externalities.

That if we bring geula before the time, the externalities (i.e. klipot) will overpower it.

The second mochin de’gadlut, that will be spread out in its place, only after the second gadlut, which is the second matzah – this is the eating of the matzah. Then, there is the Maror Korech, this is the second gadlut.

Because, how do we make the birurim (clarifications)? By way of  making the bracha, Baruch ata H’ Elokeynu Melech HaOlam. We shout out ‘Melech HaOlam!’ – King of the World! Katnut Alef, which is only in the karpas.

The mochin of Katnut Alef, it’s only in the karpas.

[The remainder of the shiur is much easier to understand.]

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Karpas, [that we eat on Seder night], is katnut alef.

In the merit of karpas [we reach the ‘hor, karpas, techeilet’[4] which is gadlut]. How do we attain karpas, (i.e. greatness?)

If you last the distance during the time of katnut (smallness), you will merit to the karpas (of greatness).

All those who went through the Shoah, they could have revived the dead. Whoever when through the Shoah, they could have revived the dead! But they fell into katnut, the externalities overpowered them, they fell into kefira (heresy), instead of knowing that now, they could revive the dead.

[In the merit of them] enduring such birurim (spiritual clarifications), they saw Hashem, and they stayed alive, so now, they could revive the dead! They could heal all the sick, all the blind.

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Like Moshe [ at Matan Torah] – there were no blind people.

All the people ‘saw’ the kolot [noises] – there were no blind people….

[After the Shoah], all of them [fell into kefira], 90%, all of them fell into heresy. I used to sit at the Shabbat table, a child of seven years old, everyone around me were saying words of heresy. I said, what is all this kefira?! I was just seven years old. I yelled at them: Hashem, who ha Elokim!!! (Hashem, He is God!) Hashem knows!!!

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If they wouldn’t have spoken words of kefira, they would have been able to revive the dead. They could have revived the dead!

But everyone spoke, 90% fell. When there is such a test, so 90% fell, it’s not a wonder that they spoke words of heresy – they saw how children were strangled. Everything was told, around the Shabbat table. We had a lot of guests.

People came to us who didn’t have a father, didn’t have a mother. We hosted everyone, we entertained everyone. The parents saw how the children were murdered, it was like that for 90% of all the children.

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Sarah Galbach saw how her parents were murdered.

She was a girl of 15 [when the war began], when the Shoah ended, she was 20 years old. Today, she would be 100, she died a year ago, aged 100. 80 years had passed, since she buried them. She dug them a hole – for her father and mother. They came into the apartment and murdered her parents, in Uman. But, she hung on [to her faith], so she merited that her children stayed Breslov, and married other Breslovers.

But, if they hadn’t have fallen into kefira then, there would have been the geula.

5708 (1948) was the year of geula for the entire world, just everyone fell into heresy, so what could Hashem do? So then, He sent the z-ists [to found a State], because in any case, [the Jews] already needed their own country. It was impossible to endure pogroms every day.

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Now, two buildings fell down, in Dimona, and in Arad – this was a Gur neighborhood.

It was families of Gur [chassidut], where every family has ten children. All the families [who were injured] are in the hospital now – the father, the mother, and the children. A boy aged 12 was very badly injured. Everyone was Gur chassidim, the majority were Gur chassidim. Perhaps in Dimona it was only secular people,but in Arad, everyone [injured] was chareidi – everyone was Gur chassidim.

Hashem wanted to show that we need to be afraid of His characteristic of din, and to make teshuva.

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Now, it’s the moment to do teshuva.

Now, it’s the moment of the geula.

They say that the war will continue also during Pesach. Now, we are a week before Seder night – they haven’t even started, yet.

They have rockets that are 30 metres. The rockets that damaged the two buildings, each rocket was 30 metres. Even if it explodes [in the air], each rocket is 30 metres. [I.e. it still creates shrapnel that could be dangerous].

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Now, it’s the moment of teshuva, of geula.

The ikker (main point) is to pass through the mochin de katnut, because each person has some sort of question [about what Hashem is doing, and the main thing is to get a grip on ourselves, and to believe that Hashem is righteous and just in everything that He is doing.]

Suddenly, a child is sick. Suddenly, the wife is ill. Suddenly, they kick you out of your apartment, because I have no money to pay for it.

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[Skipping the Rav’s story about his own apartment, which we will come back to in the next installment, BH].

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So, the ikker is to stand up in the test of mochin de katnut.

Suddenly, you don’t have an apartment. Suddenly, the wife is sick. Suddenly, the child is ill – the ikker is to get through the mochin de katnut, because all if this [suffering is to rectify] the sin of Adam HaRishon.

Each person has a share in the sin of Adam HaRishon, who denied Hashem.

Cain said there is no din, and there is no dayan. The moment that [Adam] ate from the Tree of Knowledge, he became a denier of Hashem. Hashem told him not to eat – why are you eating?! So, you are a denier of Hashem, a total apikorus.

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[The snake] told him that [Hashem] had eaten from the tree.

Always, [the heretics] ask what was there, before Hashem? The snake said, the snake solved the question, and said that the tree came before Hashem. There was the Tree of Knowledge, and [Hashem] ate from the tree, and then, created the worlds.

And Adam HaRishon believed him! And also Chava, believed him.

He [Adam] should have passed through this stage of mochin de katnut.

They took the man’s apartment away from him. They took his child away from him – he asks, why did Hashem do this to me?! No! This is called ‘mochin de katnut’. You have to get through the mochin de katnut, and then you will merit to have mochin de gadlut.

If you can get through the mochin de katnut, then you will be able to revive the dead! You can heal the sick! You can heal the blind!

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Excerpted and translated from the special Pesach supplement to Shivivei Or, March 5786.

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FOOTNOTES:

[1] A kabbalistic reference to Tikkun Leah.

[2] I.e. into the side of evil, or the klipot.

[3] The Rav is referring to very deep kabbalistic concepts here, that I don’t pretend to understand. However, I am not skipping this material, as it’s important to sometimes present some of the Rav’s deeper teachings.

[4] The white, parsley and blue robes of royalty, in the Purim story.