Rav Berland Shlit”a Eulogizes Rav Moshe Barber z”l

2 ADAR ALEF 5782, WEDNESDAY, PARASHAT TERUMAH – RAV MOSHE BARBER ZT”L, WHO HAD PREVIOUSLY BEEN SERIOUSLY WOUNDED AT KEVER YOSEF, WAS BROUGHT TO ETERNAL REST IN THE CEMETERY IN HOLON.

OUR REBBE RAV ELIEZER BERLAND SHLIT”A EULOGIZED HIM IN FRONT OF A LARGE CROWD AFTER THE MA’ARIV PRAYER.  THESE ARE HIS HOLY WORDS:

“Moshe ben Esther – now, you need to know that he was the greatest Tzaddik, the greatest Tzaddik of all the generations, that a Tzaddik like this hasn’t been since the creation of the world, that he would travel every night to Yosef HaTzaddik.  He would travel at 1 at night amongst hand grenades, Molotov cocktails.  There they also fired at us some 100 bullets.  The entire army fled, hid there in Beit Porek.  A portion moved to Dubai, hid in Dubai, but not a single soldier remained there in the entire area, outside of Breslovers.  Not a single one remained.

“Barber would travel every night amidst the gunfire, amidst the Molotov cocktails, which really were.  Today there is only gunfire, then there were Molotov cocktails, grenades, gunfire mamash.  One person right then nods his head, then it [the bullet] strikes his hat, he nods his head… Nachman Weiss, then it struck his hat.  And so was there an abundance of bullets, abundance, abundance, abundance.  The windows of the heavens opened and there was great abundance.  Every bullet is endless – it’s millions of dollars, every bullet, only income tax we didn’t pay then, so there will be a bit of a problem.

“In any case, you need to know that Barber was the greatest Tzaddik.  Moshe Barber – there wasn’t such a Tzaddik since the creation of the world, who merited to being such a Tzaddik with such self-sacrifice.  He in effect atoned for the sale [of Yosef].  Because you need to bring a he-goat for a sin-offering.  Even after Mashiach comes, they’ll bring a he-goat for a sin-offering to atone for the sale of Yosef.

“Now Rav Hoffman said to me a novel insight: ‘You are the goat.’  I didn’t understand what relevance a goat is here.  Which goat?  Where is the goat?  No, this is the goat: take the goat from the Samech-Mem [the Angel of the evil forces], because the angelic representative of Egypt arrived with the he-goat from the sale of Yosef at the moment when they needed to split the Red Sea, then the angelic representative of Egypt brought the he-goat.  They [Yosef's brothers] slaughtered the he-goat in order to dip Yosef’s tunic in blood, so the heavenly representative of Egypt would go all the time with the he-goat.  Therefore, we need to atone, to bring a he-goat as a sin-offering.

“On Yom Kippur, we bring three he-goats.  Two he-goats for the lots and another he-goat of the day – three.  Rosh Hashanah, we bring two he-goats, the he-goat of Rosh Chodesh and the he-goat of the day.  Shavuot, also two he-goats, and all the he-goats always come to atone for the sale of Yosef, because it’s impossible to atone for 22 years of being in jail, in prison.  We were with a telephone close by, food.  Today, every five minutes they bring new food, chocolate, sweets, all the delicacies in the world, but why weren’t there grapes mamash?  That Hashem should bring grapes mamash – what’s the problem for Him?  He can bring grapes, prunes, dates.  No, this is all a rectification for the sale of Yosef, that in jail there aren’t grapes.  There were still dates, but not grapes.

“So, like there weren’t grapes for 22 years for Yosef, so also for me there weren’t grapes.  Therefore, forty years in the desert there were no grapes, only what the gentile merchants brought, because the manna was absorbed in the organs (and didn’t require a bathroom).  What is ‘You shall have a shovel in addition to your weapons’?  Behold, the manna was absorbed in the organs!  Rather, only what they ate from the gentile merchants (see Yoma 75b).

“This was Moshe Barber.  He was Rabbeinu of the generation.  He was Moshe Rabbeinu of the generation.  He didn’t abandon Yosef Tzaddik in any way in the world, even when there were a million Arabs there, a million Hamasniks, a million Al-Qaeda were there.  He would travel amidst Al-Qaeda, amidst Hamas, not afraid of any person in the world, and such a Tzaddik already there wasn’t and won’t be.  Therefore, we need to intend now for the elevation of his soul.

THE RAV SHLIT”A SINGS WITH THE COMMUNITY:

“Esther spoke again before the king, fell before his feet, wept and implored him” (Esther 8:3).

“My G-d, my G-d, why have You abandoned me?” (Tehilim 22).