Rav Berland: We Are There!

My special friend and the hot red pepper of the Jewish blogosphere, Reb Nati of Mystical Paths. met Rav Lazer Berland shlit'a earlier today. Here's what Reb Nati writes:

Dear Rabbi Lazer,

I spoke personally to Rav Lazer Berland shilta – he confirms what Rav Shalom Arush says - WE ARE THERE!

So if we are there what are we to do? We need only to listen to the words of the sages and keep our eyes in the holy texts and to do what he sages told us.

Emunah is our spiritual immunity…It protects us from spiritual disease. Just like a virus breaks down our immune system so does the negative mida Arrogance. 

Arrogance leads to Emunah Deficiency Syndrome, It is our very own ego centric self-reliant attitude that is the leading cause of our suffering in our world today.

We struggle against this daily, but know! This is an eternal struggle. From the time of Yaakov and Esav. And it is these very midot that keep us in Galus today. Arrogance, Rebellion, and Heresy.

These three negative midot are the source of the evil inclination, and feed the kilpot of Esav, Yishmael and Erev Rav. Which are the source of our Galus. These midot are what we come to repair during the days of repentance.

But mainly the mida of Arrogance.

For we know that it was on Rosh Hashanah that Yaakov battled the angel of Esav. "This encounter was on, the eternal days of atonement "for days of Rosh Hashanah  and Yom Kippur are days of the great war between Yaakov and Esav." i.e. Humility vs. Arrogance.

The Holy Zohar parshat mishpatim tells us that the angel of Esav comes every year to accuse Yaakov in this eternal court case on Rosh Hashanah. He accuses us of not being brotherly. And Yaakov is an aspect of all of Am Yisrael. "He provokes the 'Midat of Din' against us." For on the Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, Yisrael is involved in the Great War against Amalek and it is only by the strength of the Tzaddik Ha Emes, who is an aspect of Moshe Rabbenu that we can win this war. Likutey halchot

And because the main aspect of T'Shuvah is in overcoming the 'mida of Esav' which is arrogance.

The sages teach us that it is only Esav who can destroy us. i.e. his mida. That of arrogance, it is the most destructive of all forces and is the root to all sins.

And the main T'Shuvah is emulating the mida of humility which is an aspect of Moshe our teacher. Moshe was the complete opposite of Esav. Esav ha Rasha and Moshe ha Tzaddik. HaShem says that "He and the arrogant one cannot exist in the same world", thus HaShem leaves. Oy!

Prayer is an aspect of T'Shuvah as it takes a breaking of one's will to be able to pray.

And it is only through prayer and the breaking of one's will that we are able to draw closer to HaShem.

There exists in the world today an insanity which is produced by arrogance. For it is impossible to be arrogant and not be insane. The arrogant one say's "I, will do it!"   He leaves out any possibility of Hashem's involvement. FOOL!

It is as if we are saying to HaShem move over I'm sitting down on Your Throne and running my world! "Leave me alone!"  OY! Gevalt!!

And this very act is Heresy… Idol worship at its best "I am now god!"

What a terrible situation to find ourselves in, separated from our source, from all our blessing, from our life force. OY!!!

It is most unfortunate that the majority of the world today suffers from this heresy induced insanity.

Most today live in a Heresy induced dream world of thinking we are in control, sole rules of 'our' worlds.

What a lie! It is none other than the serpent himself who puts this vain thought into our minds.

BUT THERE IS HOPE! 

There is a cure for H.I.I. Heresy Induced Insanity. This is a symptom of E.D.S Emunah Deficiency Syndrome. 

 

It is humbling ourselves and opening up our mouths and crying out to HaShem in prayer!

This is exactly what our soul's needs to overcome E.D.S and avoid H.I.I.

Only by prayer can we draw close to HaShem which in Turn defeats Esav and his evil middot.

On the very day that we overcome our Arrogance we will have the Geula and the restoration of the Beis HaMikdash. Then we can be Yisrael!

What are we waiting for?

Hashem said "Return to me and I will return to you".

A big hug, and looking forward to seeing you in Uman on Rosh Hashana, with wishes for a miraculous emuna-filled New Year 5772, Nati