The following excerpts come from One in a Generation, Volume II.

It’s a reasonable question to ask how any one particular ‘Tzaddik’ can sweeten horrible decrees upon the nation, when no other tzaddikim could apparently do this during World War 2, etc.

The answer lies in learning Rebbe Nachman’s teachings, where he clearly explains how things really work, on the spiritual level.

But if people – even true tzaddikim – don’t know this information, they won’t do what’s required to get things sweetened, even if they are tremendously huge tzaddikim.

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The first excerpt is from page 26 of One in a Generation II:

A HOLOCAUST EVERY 70 YEARS

Rav Eliezer Berland’s grandson, Rav Shmuel Isaac Zucker, once related that:

“My mother told me, in the name of her father that in the year 5742 (1981), the Rav told her that every 70 years there really ought to be another holocaust but, through suffering the most extreme insults and humiliation, it’s possible to cancel it.

He said that if there had been a tzaddik at the time of the Holocaust who would have been prepared to accept terrible shame and humiliation upon himself, the Holocaust wouldn’t have occurred.”

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This second excerpt is from page 31 – and it really is the crux of understanding everything that goes on with Rav Berland, and Shuvu Banim:

ACCEPTING AN INSULT LOVINGLY PROTECTS A THOUSAND JEWS

The following excerpt comes from a shiur the Rav gave more than 20 years ago, where he described how accepting insults and humiliation with love could save the lives of thousands and even millions of people.

“The Rebbe says that, in the merit of those who accept disgrace upon themselves, people are saved from getting killed. It says in Likutei Moharan that when a person accepts an insult lovingly, he saves tens of thousands of Jews from getting killed.

“To accept an insult lovingly is the same thing as a person protecting thousands of Jews.

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“It says in Likutei Moharan Torah 260 that when a person lovingly accepts insults and disgrace upon himself, it’s the exact same thing as when a person dies for the sanctification of Hashem’s Name. It’s the exact same thing! When a person lovingly accepts insults upon himself, he can save the entire Jewish people.

“The Rebbe says that there are those tzaddikim who willingly and lovingly accept the insults that come their way, and there are those who are insulted against their will, and they also sweeten the judgments; they also save a number of people. But those who chase after insults, who are looking for people to insult them and disgrace them at every moment, and who are trying to give others a reason to disgrace them and insult them, these people are saving all of Am Yisrael! Not just hundreds and not just thousands, they are saving all of Am Yisrael!

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“A regular person is afraid of getting insulted, because he doesn’t know that through every single insult he merits rising up ten levels.

The Rebbe brings here in Torah 260 that the greatest spiritual unification is when a person accepts insults with love. It’s the same spiritual unification that can be achieved by dying to sanctify God’s Name, but every time a person is insulted, it happens again [i.e., each fresh insult is considered a new ‘death’ and a new sanctification of God’s name].

“The Rebbe tells us that there are many different levels. Some people don’t want to be insulted but when they are, they don’t answer back. That is also a level. But there are those who do all different kinds of tricks in order that they should be insulted.

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“The students want an explanation!

“They ask, “Why are you bringing all this machlokes on yourself!? It’s hard for us!” So [the Rebbe] says, ‘It’s your life insurance! It would be harder for you to be blown up in a terrorist attack or end up missing an eye, or who knows what else could happen to you.”

“The major tzaddikim would seek different ways to encourage people to insult them, any possible way, so that people should persecute them. That is how they save thousands and thousands, and cancel all of the harsh decrees. They save the entire nation. This is why the Zohar says that the greatest thing is to die for the sanctification of Hashem’s Name.

“And the Rebbe adds that this is what happens when a person takes all of the insults upon himself and actually behaves in order that the disgrace should only continue. Even if people are saying things about him that he never did, and they are spreading a terrible blood libel against him, he accepts it even more joyfully. “

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At the time this was said, Rabbi Berland instructed one of his students, Nachman Fuchs, to print this teaching of Rebbe Nachman and to distribute it throughout the Yeshiva, so that everyone would have it on them at all times. Rabbi Berland told Fuchs that there would come a time when the people of Shuvu Banim would very much need to remember that when a person receives an insult, he is saving the Jewish People from destruction.

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Ad kan.

When there is a huge tzaddik in the generation who is willing to take awful disgrace and insults upon himself, with love, that ‘sweetens’ the harsh decrees, and the ‘holocaust every 70 years’ that the Jewish people would otherwise be subject to.

It’s not about one person being a bigger tzaddik than another – it’s solely about this aspect of being willing to take on personal disgrace and humiliation, in order to sweeten the horrible judgements awaiting Am Yisrael.

That’s it.

This is Rebbe Nachman’s teachings, not my idea, not the Rav’s idea.

So, look around and see which tzaddik, or tzaddikim, are actually doing this in our days… and then understand what is going on here, and why we still have so much cause to remain optimistic, even though we really are faced with very harsh judgements on all sides.

Ashreinu, she yesh lanu Rebbe k’zeh.

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You can get One in a Generation on Amazon, HERE, or try THIS, if you want a version that is more geared to the non-frum reading public.

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