The Main Thing is Our Cries to Hashem Day and Night

INSPIRING CHIDUSHIM ON PARASHAT KI TAVO BY MOREINU HARAV ELIEZER BERLAND SHLIT"A, WITH MUCH CHIZZUK FOR BAALEI TESHUVA

“AND WE CRIED OUT TO HASHEM (DEVARIM 26:7)” – A PERSON MUST REVEAL THE DEEP WATERS, THE DEEP COUNSEL, THAT WILL TAKE HIM OUT OF THE LOWEST PIT AND BENEATH IT, AS IT IS WRITTEN: “COUNSEL IS LIKE DEEP WATER IN THE HEART OF MAN.”

THE ADVICE IS REVEALED THROUGH CRIES

“And the main thing is the cries that we cry out to Hashem day and night, every hour crying out to Hashem, and we must draw the advice through the cries – ‘And they cried out to Hashem in their distress.’ For all counsel is revealed by crying out to Hashem. Baruch Hashem, we sleep well, eat well, drink, are happy – this is wonderful; [may it be so] until 120 years, until a million years! But the question is – where will the eating and drinking take us to? Where will we end up? If we do not cry out to Hashem, where will we end up? Because when one eats well and sleeps well, the counsel disappears by itself, there is no advice! Breslov is only cries to Hashem. Everyone must cry out to Hashem, to get out of his own lowest pit of hell, to get out of forbidden sights, forbidden thoughts. One must constantly cry out to Hashem. One must reveal the counsel of Rabbeinu: ‘Counsel is like deep water in the heart of man.’ One must reveal the ‘Nachal Novea’ (Flowing Stream) – Rabbeinu is the ‘Nachal Novea,’ the flowing springs. You only need to dig a few centimeters, and the waters immediately gush forth upward. If a person will give one true cry to Hashem, entire geysers will gush forth, rivers of water will come out, and all the advice will be revealed to him, how to get out of the lowest pit of hell. Even when a person is in public, he can cry out quietly: ‘From the depths I called You, Hashem’ – a cry of the heart from the depths.”

ALL ADVICE IS DRAWN DOWN THROUGH THE SEVEN VOICES

“All advice is drawn down through the ‘voices.’ There are seven voices: ‘The voice of Hashem is upon the waters, the voice of Hashem hews flames of fire, the voice of Hashem shakes the wilderness… the voice of Hashem frightens the hinds and strips the forests bare.’ There are voices that strip forests bare, that uproot trees; there are such cries that uproot the trees! These are the types of cries that we need to cry out to Hashem. When Hashem gave the Torah, He gave the Torah with such voices that caused the whole world to tremble, all the mountains were uprooted from their places. We must at every moment awaken the seven voices of “Matan Torah” (the Giving of the Torah at Sinai). Hashem can give you such voices, such cries, that all the mountains will be uprooted from their place – all your foreign ideas, all your bad habits, all your lusts, all the evil that you received in your genes, in your birth, everything will be uprooted! All things will be torn out of their place.”

HASHEM CRIES OUT TO US EVERY MOMENT, AND WHEN A PERSON CRIES OUT TO HIM, HE AWAKENS THE SUPERNAL VOICE

“Rabbi Shmuel Shapira, one of the great Breslov chassidim, would cry out from Maariv until the morning until he vomited blood. The veins in his throat would burst. Blood was flowing from him, and in any case, he would still cry out to Hashem. And in that merit, he had such holy and pure grandchildren and great-grandchildren. We need to return Breslov to its former glory – we need to cry out to Hashem with such cries, such voices, until the counsel is revealed. The counsel is revealed through the voice of Hashem, because Hashem speaks to us at every second, every minute; Hashem is screaming to us at every moment. When a person cries out to Hashem, he arouses the supernal voice, the voice of Hashem, and then all the deep counsel is revealed about how to escape from the lowest pit of hell. So even if a person has long peot and a long beard – it’s all wonderful, his appearance is terrific! – but if he does not cry out to Hashem, he will sink into the lowest pit of hell and beneath it along with his peot and beard.”

 “If you merited to be a ‘baal teshuvah’ (returnee to Judaism), you merited to return in repentance, then prove that you are a baal teshuvah – prove it! Cry out to Hashem. Do not abandon the Gemara, do not abandon the Likutei Halachot, do not abandon the siddur. Cry out to Hashem: ‘I don’t want to fall anymore! I don’t want to go to the places I once was! I don’t want my children to go through what I went through!’ You are now a captive, you are in the lowest pit of hell; Esav found game, he trapped you, the “klipot” (impure forces) trapped you. Cry out to Hashem: ‘Ana Hashem Hoshi’a Na, Hashem hoshi’a! – Please Hashem save now! Hashem save!’ You were not born a tzaddik. You are now twenty years old, just starting to learn – this is a billion times harder -- a billion times -- but the reward will also be a billion times greater! The more difficult it is for a person, the greater the reward will be. If you will cry out to Hashem, the world will be built, salvations will come, wars will be nullified. If you cry out to Hashem, you will bring thousands more back in teshuvah.”

THROUGH CRIES ONE RISES UP TO THE SEFIRAH OF BINAH – THE SECRET OF REDEMPTION

“In order to reach any point of holiness, any point of Judaism, you need to cry out up to the heart of heaven. For certainly you have no desire to learn, certainly you have no desire to pray. Does a person change in a second? It is the same woman in different clothes – it is all the same, only now you put on a shtreimel and a long coat. So one says: if so, why did I become a baal teshuvah? In truth, you became a baal teshuvah in order that you should cry out to Hashem, that you should call out to Hashem – and this is the greatness of the baal teshuvah! That it is hard for him to learn Gemara, hard for him to pray, hard for him to sing Shabbat zemirot, hard for him to last in yeshiva for so many hours, and therefore he begins to cry out and scream. And through this, says the Zohar, he merits to ascend to the highest, most exalted places, he rises up to the Sefirah of Binah (the Divine Emanation of Understanding, the 8th level from the bottom) – where the secret of the redemption is. But a person born a tzaddik in Meah Shearim – what does he need to cry out for? He sings the zemirot of Shabbat easily, he prays, he sits in yeshiva serenely, he does not feel that he needs to cry out to Hashem – he just continues along the accepted path. And about him the Zohar says – he ascends only to the Sefirah of Yesod (Foundation, the 2nd level). But in truth, even one born in Meah Shearim can be in the aspect of a baal teshuvah – he too can cry out to Hashem like a baal teshuvah, and that is only if he merits to feel his lowliness and his deficiency, and to see how far he is from Hashem.”

“A person must believe that Hashem seeks to perform for him miracles and wonders at every moment, as it is written: ‘And His wonders for mankind’ – Hashem wants to perform with us awesome wonders: ‘In You our fathers trusted… to You they cried out and were rescued.’ The miracles and wonders are according to the cries, according to the screams. For a person’s salvation is ready every second, every moment to come, in whatever trouble he may be, in whatever place he may be – even in the heart of the sea, even in the midst of the desert – Hashem has aligned all of creation, all the systems of the world, to always help! All the salvations he needs are already prepared. He only needs to give one cry to Hashem, one true cry.”