'All the comets will come down and burn him'

WHEN SOMEONE IS AGAINST THE TZADDIK, ALL THE COMETS WILL COME DOWN AND BURN HIM

Taken from Sparks of Light, and translated from Rav Eliezer Berland’s words in a shiur given over during shacharit, Tuesday, during the week of Acharei-Mot Kedoshim, 5778.

It says in Shoftim, (5:23), אורו מרוז, ‘oru Me’roz’, cursed are you, Meroz. In the Gemara in Tractate Moed Katan 16, it says that there are a few different opinions who Meroz was. One opinion is that this was a star – a black star[1].

Another opinion is that this was an important person. And the most simple opinion [given by the Gemara] is that this was a city [that didn’t come to help the prophet Devorah in her war against Midian.]

ALL THE STARS COME AND FIGHT FOR THE TZADDIK

By Devorah’s war, all the stars came down to help her, because for the Tzaddik, all the stars come down to fight for them. The stars came down and they burnt the whole camp. Sisera’s mother cried over him a hundred tears, so [parallel to this] we need to blow a hundred shofar blasts on the shofar on Rosh Hashana.

So we can see from this [what power there is] when a mother cries over her child… All this I heard from Rav Lopian[2], z’tl.

THE GREATNESS OF RAV ELIYAHU LOPIAN

Someone who never heard Rav Lopian speak doesn’t know what chassidut really is! He doesn’t know what Torah is! Now they told me by the shiva [for the Rav’s late brother, Rav Yehzkel Berland, z’tl] that Rav Lopian used to travel to see Rav Shmuel Shapira[3], z’tl. He used to go to look at him [to learn from his avodat Hashem] and at Rav Nachman Shuster, z’tl.

He used to come to Meron the whole time. But when Rav Lopian became a maggid shiur by us in the yeshiva, then he already stopped going to Meron.

In the story of ‘oru Me’roz’, Barak [ben Avinoam, Devorah’s general] brought a hundred shofars and excommunicated all the inhabitants of Meroz.

> He excommunicated them because they didn’t come to help the Tzaddik.

[As stated earlier, there are different opinions in the Gemara as to whether Meroz was an important person, or a star, or a town. Whatever opinion is preferred,] all the stars came down to fight.

WHEN SOMEONE IS AGAINST A TZADDIK, STARS COME DOWN [TO FIGHT] AGAINST HIM, EVEN IF HE GUARDS HIS EYES A BIT[4], THIS DOESN’T MAKE A DIFFERENCE.

> All the comets will come down and burn him.

A person become sick because he argues against the Tzaddik. All the illnesses that a person has, it’s because he’s against the Tzaddik. A person argues against the Tzaddik without even knowing what there is to argue about against him. He just goes against him.

If a person even just identifies with someone that is against the Tzaddik, even if he only just gets a little bit confused by this person [who is against the Tzaddik] – straight away he’ll start to go against the Tzaddik! Because ‘they didn’t come to the help of Hashem against the mighty’ (Shoftim 5:23), they got cursed.

It says: “’Cursed are you Meroz’, said the angel of Hashem.” The curse against Meroz was said by the angel, not by Devorah. Devorah herself wasn’t angry against them, but the angel cursed them even so, because they didn’t come to help the tzaddik.

> And if someone doesn’t come to help the tzaddik, he is cursed.

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[1] The Rav explained later that a black, or dark star is one which swallows up light, as opposed to giving it out. He emphasized that a person has to give out light, not just swallow the light up, and to take everything for himself and leave no light for others.

[2] Rav Lopian was the mashgiach in Kfar Chassidim yeshiva when it first opened.

[3] Rav Shmuel Shapira was one of the Breslov elders from the previous generation.

[4] I.e. he’s following an observant lifestyle, even a strictly observant lifestyle akin to those of the true tzaddikim