WOE TO US THAT SUCH IS THE CASE TODAY!
A mighty protest and denunciation from the elders of Chassidei Breslov and the important mashpi’im in Eretz Yisrael and abroad.
After illustrious Talmidei Chachamim and important Rabbis, people of truth
collected witnesses and testimonies, and carefully investigated and examined
all the terrible rumors about
THE DEEDS OF ELIEZER BERLAND
who is well-known many years already as a Tzaddik, a miracle-worker, a Rav, and leader,
It was made clear to them without a doubt that his inside is not like his outside at all, and he committed these despicable deeds not just once or twice; the person breaks boundaries in Torah and Halacha, and sins and leads others to sin with the gravest sins. He behaves like Zimri and demands reward as if he is Pinchas.
As is written at length in the letter ‘Psak Din and Grave Warning’, which is written and signed in their names,
we fully agree to what they say, and we support them completely
to continue to stand on guard for the completion of Torah and the upholding of Halacha, to set up boundaries without fear.
We are obligated to publicly announce that
THIS PERSON IS A TERRIBLE, AWFUL STUMBLING BLOCK FOR KLAL YISRAEL
And whoever guards his soul, purity and faith should distance themselves from him as if from fire, and he should distance his family, children, and all those under his influence from this man and from all those who justify his actions and drift after him, of whom most are not satisfied with their own misdeed, but they heap misdeed onto misdeed and use all tactics to trap innocent souls in the net of their false emuna which destroys the body and soul and of which who knows to what it will lead?
We turn with a warning from our holy Torah to all of those who consider themselves smart, small foxes sabotaging vineyards
who under the cover of false compassion dare to undermine the conclusions of the important Rabbanim mentioned above, and to weaken the impact of their ruling with idle explanations and false interpretations. Directly or indirectly, they cause an uprooting and destruction of the foundations of Halacha and Yiddishkeit, and the introducing of poisonous heresy into the pure faith of Klal Yisrael.
Please, have mercy on your souls and let the terrifying words of one of the Rishonim stand before your eyes,
((טור חו”מ סי’ ב’ בבדק הבית בשם הריקאנטי in which he describes the awful punishment of a ‘Dayan who judges and justifies the sinner, and removes himself from punishing him, and looks to find an opening to save him from judgement.’ (See his exact sharp phrase inside, which we feared to put in writing, so as not to give an opening for the Satan chalilah, and we’ll make do with this warning.) All the more so in this matter, where they call bad – good and good – bad. They expound on the Torah falsely, upon which Shlomo Hamelech said: ‘He who justifies the wicked and convicts the Tzaddik, both are an abomination to Hashem.’
And the one who listens to our words will dwell in peace…
[Note: Not all signatures were translated; see the original Hebrew announcement below.]
The aforementioned words of the Rabbis are simple and clear, and we have already publicized our clear opinion on the obligation of keeping away from the above mentioned leader of Shuvu Banim, as we have seen for years the problems and wrong doings done by his leadership on common basis – things that oppose the basics of the jewish belief and law, and in particular lately which there have been consistently bad rumors of sins of the most severe kind – woe is to us that such things occurred in our times!
And now after great rabbis and scholars got together with witnesses, clarified the matter thoroughly and cross examined the witnesses and verified beyond the shadow of a doubt that the rumors are true as clearly stated in their letter, we publicize again our opinion and strengthen their words, to remove this terrible hurdle from the jewish nation.
Signed: Yaacov Meir Shechter
Signed: Shmuel Moshe Kramer
Signed: Nosson Leibermensch
Psak Din and Grave Warning
After a long period of terrible rumors being spread about the man referred to by his students as
‘Harav’ Eliezer Berland, the head of the institution Shuvu Banim
about the matter of him being a sinner who leads others to sin time after time with the gravest sins, both in private – with sins that require death by Beis Din, and in public – with sins that go under the title of ‘Yehareg v’al yaavor’, besides for being distorted and corrupt in the foundations of emuna, and breaking fences in Torah and in law in action and in teaching, and has already caused very much awful, terrible damage and desecration of Hashem’s name in the whole world.
And after many of the victims sent messengers to lots of important Batei Dinim in Eretz Yisrael, begging the Dayanim to convene on the matter and declare the true judgement, but they responded that due to various reasons, it is preferable that the matter should first be clarified by Talmidei Chachamim and Dayanim from between Breslov itself, and after that they’ll go into the matter properly – we, the undersigned, were asked to delve into the matter.
We convened a Beis Din, and received the witnesses according to Halacha.
We were convinced without the slightest of doubts that indeed, the rumors are true, and we also received many witnesses who testified that even though he said many times that he regrets his offensive deeds and does teshuva, he continued committing them shamelessly.
Therefore, we want to announce our opinion which is the Daas Torah, that this person is a terrible stumbling block for Klal Yisrael, and is surely not worthy of being called a ‘Rav and leader’. We warn and caution every G-d-fearing person to distance themselves from having any connection to the man and to all those who believe in him.
The elders of Breslov have already written in their great cry on the seventh of Tammuz 5776, that this person ‘strays and leads astray in the foundations of faith and law, especially in matters of holiness, in speech and in action, and presents a grave danger. Whoever protects himself should distance himself from him and his people.’
Woe unto those who attempt to validate the creep and deny the truth, which has been proven and verified. They insist on interpreting the Torah falsely with speeches of folly, both written and orally, and they thereby provide a stumbling block before the blind with a shameful lack of responsibility which will surely be harshly punished.
We call out to all those standing at the side, hiding behind the excuse of not involving themselves in arguments. Chazal have already taught us: (Shavuos 39)
‘Silence in the face of the deeds of a transgressor is reckoned as reinforcement and a cover for his actions, and one who remains silent is punished along with him.’
At such a time, there is an obligation for everyone who stood at Har Sinai, to whom our holy Torah is precious in his eyes, to raise a mighty strong protest to warn and be warned, to stay away from the dangers of this man and his believers.
We conclude with a loving call coming from a heart full of pain to all our brothers, the people of ‘Shuvu Banim’, who are trapped in this evil tyrant’s net:
Don’t be like a horse or mule that has no understanding, following with closed eyes and misplaced belief after this hypocrite wrapped in a tallis which doesn’t belong to him, taking advantage of your simplicity and destroying your bodies, souls, wealth, time and strength for stupidity and emptiness. Open your eyes and remove yourselves from his tent, attach yourselves to Talmidei Chachamim and people of truth, who are meticulous with every slightest detail of Halacha and Yiras Hashem without any distortions. Hashem should give you all grace in the eyes of all who see you, and you should merit to elevate yourselves higher and higher in Torah and Yirah, and to physical and spiritual success, and to raise your children to go in the Torah way, following the mesorah in purity, to keep, observe, do and fulfil in beauty.
May we all be zoiche together as one man with one heart to see in the return of Hashem to Tzion, and we will see the difference between a Tzaddik and a Rasha, and all the evil will be consumed like smoke, and the redeemer will come to Tzion, Amen.
Signed: Betzalel Galinsky
Signed: Reuven Nakker
Signed: Yitzchak Leznovski
I too add my signature, after having participated in all sessions of the Beis Din from the beginning until the very end, and I investigated all the terrible testimonies and witnesses fully together with my friends, the Dayanim mentioned above.
Nachman Zev Frank
Reprinted with permission.