The Expression of the Great Breslov Influencer Rabbi Shmuel Horowitz zt"l on the Righteous Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a and a Secret Letter He Received

From the Knishta Chada Bulletin Issue 41 Sivan 5775

An amazing story recently told on the 'Information Line' by Rabbi Aharon Berlin, Rabbi of the Breslov Beit Midrash in Flatbush, USA, the first student of our teacher, the Rav shlit"a. "When I was a young man, I would travel almost every eve of Rosh Chodesh to Meron together with Rav Berland. On one of the trips to Meron, I saw R' Shmuel Horowitz zt"l sitting and observing Rav Berland for a long time while he prayed the Shemoneh Esrei prayer. I really noticed that he was concentrating to hear and see him. I waited for a good opportunity and approached him, asking him to tell me what he thought about Rav Berland. After I persisted, he told me, 'Know that of all the people I have seen in my life, I have not yet seen one whose prayer is with such fire and such intellect. I have not seen such a thing!' So I said to him, 'What do you mean? You have seen all the greats of Breslov (from the previous generation), and you haven't seen such a thing?!' R' Shmuel answered me, 'All that I saw of the great workers in Poland and Uman, after all, they were tzaddikim but within the bounds of people. But here we are talking about an angel of God, you are not talking about a human being, it is not a comparison at all, it is completely different.' And he added to me, 'Such an intellect I have also not seen.'

Those who knew R' Shmuel Horowitz know that he was very careful with his words, and if he said such a thing, then it was truly so without exaggerations.

R' Shmuel Horowitz zt"l, whose wonderful life story filled with endless self-sacrifice was written by him and published in the book "Yemei Shmuel" in 3 volumes, drew close to Breslov in Eretz Yisrael in the year 5670. For twenty years he longed to reach the grave of Rebbe Nachman in Uman, and after countless obstacles, he reached Uman in the year 5690 with supreme self-sacrifice. There he met the elders of Breslov from the previous generation and then traveled to Lublin to meet the other elders of Breslov. For 3 years, he collected all the letters and stories that existed, including the letters of the tzaddik R' Avraham ben R' Nachman zt"l, and returned to the land to print them. Thanks to him, we have the books of Ra'aben today. Rabbi Shick zt"l once wrote about him, 'If not for R' Shmuel, not even a single leaf from the books of Ra'aben would have remained.' He once told me when he merited to print the book 'Biur HaLikutim', and behold, he saw in his dream that Ra'aben came to him and kissed him on the forehead, saying, 'This is for sacrificing your soul to print my books.'

There are also many letters that R' Shmuel collected that have not yet been printed, and one of them was sent to us by the esteemed Rabbi A.B.H shlit"a, who wishes to remain anonymous, a letter from R' Getzel, a student of Ra'aben, and this is the wording of the letter:

Friday, midday, 8th of Tammuz 5632, Rabbi Avraham n"y rose from the mikveh, and after dressing in Shabbat garments, he was in tremendous and intense enthusiasm and attachment and said, 'In approximately fifty years, a handsome and good-looking young man will arise who will renew the matter of our Rebbe in a new way that has never been such a wonder, and this will make a very great transformation for the matter of redemption and great good for the entire world, Amen speedily in our days.'

Rabbi A.B.H shlit"a, Rabbi of the Breslov synagogue in the center of the country who gives lectures throughout the country, told us that when he saw the letter, he immediately said that everything fits very well with our teacher, the Rav shlit"a, and apparently R' Avraham ben R' Nachman referred to the Rav, who was born approximately fifty years later and was a 'handsome and good-looking young man' who renewed the matter of our Rebbe in a new way, etc. In addition to the divine inspiration that R' Avraham ben R' Nachman had, as is known, he possessed the book 'Megilat Setarim' from the holy Rebbe, where the entire process of the coming of the redeemer is recorded, what will be and how. The Rebbe commanded that it remain secret until the appropriate time, and only one in a generation would be allowed to hold it. Several times Ra'aben hinted at things recorded in the scroll, and apparently, this is one of those things. And it is understood why R' Shmuel expressed himself about the Rav in such a way.

P.S. After we published these things in the bulletin, a Jew came to us who heard in the name of R' Shmuel Horowitz in this language: 'A person who has become an angel has already been seen. But an angel like Rabbi Eliezer Berland - who knows to what levels he can already reach...'

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